Daisy Themed Baby Brunch

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

I hosted a Daisy Themed Baby Brunch for my daughter-in-law (Aubree) to celebrate the arrival of our newest grand baby. Since my daughter-in-law was having a girl and it was her second baby girl, she didn’t want a full on baby shower. We decided it would be fun to do a spring Baby Brunch!

This is our first grandchild. She was so excited for all the festivities and came dressed to match the white and gold daisy theme!

The Invitation

It’s so easy to design and send invitations nowadays. I was able to download this one from GreetingsIsland.com and customize it. I sent it out via text and email which was so amazing! It was only $7.99 to make this invitation! I edited out some of my personal information but you can see how easy and simple it is to create one of these for your next event!

Daisys Themed Decorations

I had seen this daisy balloon backdrop on a local balloon shops (The Balloon Loft) instagram page and that’s where I got the idea to make it daisy themed. I ordered this balloon backdrop from them and they delivered it and set it up for me the day before.

I used an old antique table and covered it with this ruffled white tablecloth.

My other daughter-in-law (Hannah) generously agreed to make the paper daisy decorations and paper daisy chain for the shower. She has an Etsy shop and sells all sorts of cute party decor and garlands.

Be Jolley Design and Decor

I put the daisy chain on the front of the table and scattered the rest of them around the table as you can see here. Then I took the rest of the small paper Daisys and the larger ones and used double sided tape to stick them to the windows.

I sent one of my sons to the store to buy me some fresh Daisys and what he came back with were sunflowers and these other flowers. It was too late to do anything about it so we just went with what we had. I had hoped to find some Shasta daisies or one of the smaller varieties but I should have planned a ahead a little better!

Here are a few faux stem options:

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/copy-of-36-25-cosmos-spray?_pos=12&_sid=503105e97&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/gypsophila-stem?_pos=5&_sid=2f7918d2b&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/copy-of-34-inch-purple-wild-blossom-spray?_pos=4&_sid=503105e97&_ss=r

Here is the daisy flower chain up close. Linked here.

Here are the larger paper daisies. Linked here.

Here are the smaller daisies linked here, and you can also get them all in a set here.

The Dessert Table

The next thing I did was to order the daisy cakes and desserts from a local bakery here in Utah, called The Chocolate. They made these adorable daisy cakes, daisy sugar cookies, and Lemon curd cupcakes. Everything was lemon flavored. My daughter-in-law also made lemon tarts that were so delicious!

I had a smaller version of the daisy cake made for my daughter-in-law to take home after the shower. She loves lemon flavored desserts so the cakes were lemon flavored too.

The lemon tarts were so yummy!

Since this was a baby brunch and to keep it simple, I catered the food from a local bakery called Kneaders. They make an incredible French toast and have delicious pastries. I set that up over in the kitchen and put the dessert table in the living room area where all the guests were sitting.

Since it was her second baby and another girl, my daughter-in-law (Aubree) didn’t need any gifts but we did a group gift and those that wanted to contributed and we were able get them a new baby swing.

This is a great idea for second or third babies and the parents to be can get some of the larger items that you need when you have two little ones! We played some fun games as well and mostly everyone ate and visited with each other. We kept it to just family and it was so fun to celebrate our newest little grand daughter and her mama!

Me and all my girls! Quinn, Hannah, Emily, Aubree, and Maddy!

Update! She was born just a few weeks after the baby brunch. Isn’t she so darling?!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed this post and thank so much for stopping by! Please leave a comment or email me with any questions and you can always find more of my content on Instagram @homewithollyj and Pinterest!

xoxo,

I’ve linked some of the same items I used and some that are very similar below!

If you chose to use this theme for your baby shower or  baby brunch, you could also make my Laizy Daisy Cake Recipe!

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SPRING BABY BRUNCH

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We live part time in Utah and one of the things I love most about this state is Pioneer Day, which is celebrated on July 24th every year! Utah is the Beehive State and it represents industry and people working together, much like bee’s work together to build their beehive. This is where my Bee Themed Party Tablescape inspiration came from.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

 When the Mormon pioneers journeyed west in the mid 1800’s to settle in Utah, they all worked together to help one another survive. Some of those courageous people were my great grandparents and I feel a deep appreciation for the hardships they faced while starting a new life in what was and still is a desert.

Life was not easy for them and many had been driven from their homes and farms in the midwest and were persecuted for their religious beliefs. Many of them were converted to the Mormon church in England, Denmark, and Sweden and not only did they have to cross the plains to get to Utah, they had to cross the Atlantic Ocean first and make their way west to join the wagon trains in Nebraska and Illinois.

They faced some very difficult times while trekking west to this new territory of the United States. I can only imagine how hard that must have been. They pushed handcarts, pulled covered wagons, faced harsh weathers conditions, illness, women gave birth to children on the Great Plains, and many of the children had to walk the entire way. I remember reading a story about my one of my great grandmas and how her feet froze while walking and she got frostbite and lost part of her toes and feet.

I’m so grateful that I have been able to read many of their stories and learn so much about what they experienced. My mother is an avid genealogist and she has shared so much of the history and their stories with me. It’s truly amazing! I can’t count the number of times we have been driving through a little town in the middle of nowhere in Utah and Idaho and we stop and find a cemetery where one of our great grandparents were buried in. She would then tell me all about them and what their lives were like. What a gift that has been for me from my mother.

One of the most amazing things we discovered was that my husbands great, great, grandpa Jacob Fuhriman and his family that were from Switzerland, were in the same wagon train that crossed the plains with my great, great, grandparents, the Theussens, from Denmark. How incredible is that?!! We joke that they must have been matching making in heaven and found a way from above for my husband and I to meet.

Celebrating these amazing people who were my ancestors is always a special day and I love that we can celebrate them each year. Another reason I love Pioneer Day is it’s another excuse for me to have a party! You all know how much I enjoy that if you’ve followed along for awhile.

The Theme for this Years Party

As I mentioned earlier, Utah is the Beehive State so it was very easy to pick my theme for the party. ! I have been planning this Beehive Themed Party Tablescape for the last six months. I started collecting everything I could find for this tablescape with a bee or beehive.

(I will link everything I used that is linkable at the bottom of the post.)

One of the first things that I found for this tablescape was the beehive cake mold pans. This cake was so easy to make and I was really worried it would be so hard to make. To make this cake, you bake it in two halves, then stick them together with frosting. I used two lemon cake mixes and added a small box of lemon instant pudding to the the cake batter along with an extra 1/4 cup of oil. I had planned on drizzling some honey-lemon glaze on top but I ran out of time and so I just piped some lemon buttercream frosting around the edges. The pan is linked here and comes with instructions and a recipes as well. I also made some mini beehive cakes in the smaller cakelett pan.

Setting the Table Up Ahead of Time

I always try to set the table up ahead of time. I start pulling out all the decorations and setting them out so I can see what I have to work with. I had made the cake the day ahead so I put a glass dome lid over it to keep it from drying out. This is the stage that I start “playing around” with all the items I want to use on the tablescape.

Add Rustic, Vintage, and Antique Elements

I wanted there to be some rustic, vintage, and antique elements on the table which for me, always involves some old wood or something new that looks rustic and old. I also chose blue and yellow since a beehive is a yellow color. The blue gingham napkins set beside yellow looked very “pioneer-ish” to me. I also added this yellow antique dish which I filled with jam on the day of the party.

Create Different Heights

When I do a large serving tablescape like this one, I like to use things that add height. Here I used an antique honeypot that I bought online here and used it as a vase for the flowers. I set a glass vase inside of it to hold the water as I didn’t want to damage it. I used yellow and green flowers that looked like something you just picked from a field of wildflowers.

Natural Wood Gourd Pots

Mango Wood Urns – 2 Sizes Available

Gujar Water Pot – Three sizes

Some of the other fun elements I found for the table were the honeycomb bowls, the honeycomb rolling pin, beehive candles, and the beehive drink dispenser. I also found this cute beehive pitcher that I filled with the leftover flowers and these honeycomb glasses. (links below)

I used a metal cutlery holder with a wood handle and used shiny gold plastic silverware. I also found an old milk container at an antique store a few weeks before this and planned to fill it with flowers too but it was a bit much so I just set it on there to add some height and dimension to the table.

The Menu

Fried Chicken Tenders (I ordered a platter of chicken from Chick-fil-a)

Stans Homemade Scones and Honey Butter (Click here for my recipe)

Banana Pudding

Baked Beans (Click here form my recipe)

Watermelon

Lemon Pudding Beehive Cake and Cakeletts

Party Punch

Custom Made Beehive and Bee Cookies from Victorias Cookie Co.

For this party, we invited all of our family in Utah to come and asked each of them to bring a side dish to share. We had some much amazing food on top of all the things I made. It was truly an old fashioned pioneer potluck. To simplify things for such a large group, I opted to order the chicken so I didn’t have to cook that while prepping for the party.

The Day of the Party

On the day of the party, I mainly focused on preparing the food and finishing the set up. It’s a tradition to have scones and honey butter on Pioneer Day. In Utah and Idaho, they call fried bread, scones. I don’t know how this came about but I think it dates back to pioneer frying dough when they didn’t have an oven to bake it in. All I can tell you is that my recipe above is amazing and it has quite a story of how it came about.

We set the food table up on our big dining table inside since we don’t have a lot of shade in our backyard. This kept the food cool inside and we set up tables and chairs under some shade tents outside for everyone.

We enjoyed visiting with our extended family and everyone said how much they loved it and hoped we’d do it again next year! It’s a tradition now and I can’t wait to see what I come up with next year!

Here is a peek at a past Pioneer Day Party Tablesape that I did with my friend Ashely from livingbeautahfully.com. Our theme was “Pie-oneer Day” and everything was Pie themed including the cakes! This was one of my favorite tablescapes ever and all the food we made tasted as good as it looked!

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I hope you enjoyed seeing this fun Pioneer Day Beehive Themed Party Tablescape and that it inspires you do create your own family traditions centered around your heritage.

XOXO,

Sources linked below:

This post contains affiliate links.

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I wanted to gather the women in my life who have inspired or uplifted me and what better way to do that then hosting a Mother’s Day luncheon.

For the decorations, I went with a pastel color palette and set three different tables and a separate dessert table.

The Pink and White Table

For the Pink Table, I used fresh eucalyptus and pink spray roses to create the garland and centerpiece. I layered the garland on top of a white table runner. I typically use this table outdoors in the summer but it works great for the indoors too.

For the Pink Place-setting, I used pink and white dishes, a pink napkin, silver flatware, and glass goblets.

The Robins Egg Blue Table

For the Robbins Egg Blue Table, I used a burlap table runner and created a garland with faux greenery and flowers. This was a variation of my spring and easter tablescape. Click here to see the Easter version.

The place-setting consisted of a solid robins egg blue charger, a polka dot dinner plate, and a solid teal plate. I used wood napkin rings that tied into the rustic table and hyacinth placemat.

The Lavender and Green Table

The day before the luncheon my mom and I went out exploring and looking for lilac bushes. We found some in an abandoned lot and snipped some branches off for the lavender and green table. They smelled amazing!

The beautiful purple lilacs my mom and I found driving around the back roads of Utah.

To create the Lavender and Green Table I used a hyacinth solid placemat, a white charger, green dinner plate, and a lavender salad plate. The ruffled napkin matched the green plates perfectly.

I used some of the lilacs to create a small centerpiece and laid one of the green ruffled napkins in the middle to break up the stark white of the tablecloth.

The Menu

I planned the menu around how many people were coming. I like to make my own food for my parties but you can certainly cater it. Because I had about thirty people coming, I decided to make my Homemade Lasagna which is easy to make and serves a large amount of people. I made the sauce the night before so all I had to do was assemble the lasagna and bake it.

For the salad, I made Simple Tomato Cucumber Salad.

I love this recipe because it’s so light and so easy to make. It’s a perfect complement to the rich lasagna. I also served some rustic french bread . I didn’t make my own this time but my Braided French Bread recipe is to die for!

The Dessert Table

For dessert, I asked my sweet friend Ashely Klaja, also known as Living BeaUtahfully to make the dessert for the gathering. She made the most beautiful cakes and cupcakes. My favorite is her churro cupcakes!

Ashely is one the most talented cake baker/decorators I’ve ever seen. Her cakes are works of art and they all taste amazing too!

For the desert table I used my pastel colored cake stands and a pink vase with some faux flowers for some added decoration. I also added some small bud vases with fresh flowers and added the flowers and eucalyptus to the top of the pink ombre cake. This is a great example of how you can mix fresh and faux flowers in your table decor.

This was an amazing day and it felt so wonderful to be surrounded by so many women that uplift and inspire me. I also loved that my mom, daughter, and daughter-in-law (who was pregnant with our first grand baby Quinn) were able to be there. Mothers are what make the world go around. I’m so glad I could gather these amazing women together and share a a beautiful lunch with them.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Wishing all of the amazing mothers out there a happy Mothers Day!

xoxo.

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To see more of Ashely-@livingbeautahfully cakes and desserts, here’s the link to her website.

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The post Mother’s Day Luncheon | Hosting Your Mom For Mother’s Day appeared first on Home With Holly J.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Pumpkin Themed Fall Tablescape

When I saw these cute pumpkin dishes at HomeGoods, I knew I had to do a Pumpkin Themed Fall Tablescape. I often search for unique dishes for my tablescapes and when I found these cute pumpkin plates and bowls, I envisioned this festive table with different types of pumpkins.

The one downside with HomeGoods is that there is not always a full set of any place setting.  After searching six different stores in two different states, I finally had enough for 10 place settings!  Whew!  It was a lot of work tracking these dishes down but it has been so worth it. My sweet husband actually found half of them for me! He’s a keeper!

I did two different tablescapes with these dishes, mainly because I forgot to use the pumpkins the first go-round!  In the first attempt, I used the pumpkin dinner plate, salad plate, and bowl.  For the middle of the table, I used a garland and then layered in more greenery with white and orange faux flowers.

For the second version of the pumpkin table, I put a large wooden pumpkin in the middle as a centerpiece and nestled in orange, tan, and brown, velvet pumpkins throughout the greenery and flowers. I changed out the salad plate to a beautiful orange colored plate to help tie in more orange hues and add some contrast to the tan pumpkin plates. Also, I added in more orange flowers and some different cream-colored flowers as well.  The second version is my favorite!

I used tan colored napkins, wicker napkin rings, white chargers, and hyacinth placemats.

Everyone always asks me where I find all my dishes and the truth is, it’s like a treasure hunt!  Check HomeGoods, TJMaxx, Marshalls, and Tuesday Morning if your looking for a bargain.  You can often find cute sets for a decent price if you’re willing to do a little shopping and hunt them down at different locations. I also find great items for my tablescapes at Target, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Pier1, Anthropology, West Elm, and Crate and Barrell.

I find the greenery and flowers at different hobby stores like Hobby Lobby, Kirklands, Michaels, Ben Franklin, Target, Crate and Barrel, and Pottery Barn. Find local home decor stores and garden centers near you for inspiration and unique finds!

I’ve linked the sources I could find at the bottom of the post for you. I hope you enjoy this fun, festive, pumpkin themed fall tablescape!

Holly’s Helpful Hints

Glasses are from Target-Hearth and Hand Fluted Tumblers.  If they are not available anymore, I’ve linked similar items below.  The chargers are from Hobby Lobby. I couldn’t find them on their website so I’ve linked another option below too.

A great resource for the authentic velvet pumpkins is from HotSkwash.  Be prepared though as they are not cheap!  There are YouTube videos on how to make them if you are a DIY’er.  I’ve linked another source below and you can find less expensive options if you don’t mind them having a fake stem.  I prefer the real stems though as they are cuter and more authentic but it’s an investment and they will keep for years if you care for them properly. Make sure they are filled with rice or beans and not just batting. The batting filled pumpkins don’t weigh much so they aren’t as easy to work with.

If you can’t find the pumpkin plates, look for another plain option that is tan or off white and use other plates, like I did in the second version and use different kinds of pumpkins to create the same look.

I hope you enjoyed this Pumpkin Themed Fall Tablescape! If you’d like to see more pumpkin themed tablescapes here are a few others I’ve shared over the years! All have pumpkins mixed in somewhere.

Green, Gold, and White Thanksgiving Tablescape

Green and Gold Fall Harvest Tablescape 

Thanksgiving Silver and White Tablescape

Outdoor Farm to Table Entertaining

Blue and Orange Pumpkin Themed Tablescape

Enjoy!

xoxo,

All Sources Linked Below

White and Brown charger – less expensive version is linked here: HobbyLobby

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A few months back I had the opportunity to attend a floral arranging workshop at a beautiful rose farm in Washington. It was a wonderful day and I met some very lovely and talented ladies.  After the workshop, we stayed in touch and soon we were talking about doing a collaboration. We brainstormed our ideas and thought it would be so much fun to utilize all our different skills to create a farm to table meal and outdoor tablescape.  We wanted to create the perfect outdoor entertaining environment where friends could gather and enjoy the last bit of summer and transition into fall.  Part of what was so amazing about this collaboration was that one of the ladies owns a farm where she grows fresh flowers and produce.  This was a dream come true!  Creating a beautiful tablescape with locally grown flowers and cooking farm-fresh food from a local farm was something I’ve always dreamed about doing. A gorgeous farm to fable entertainment. I plant a garden each year as well, but my garden has become the local buffet for the deer that have discovered I grow everything they like to eat! They didn’t leave much for us to eat.

I really enjoy cooking and creating a beautiful table.  I was excited to create some recipes after finding out what was available from the farm. I went out to Enumclaw, a town not far from my home in Ravensdale, Washington, and met up with Amy Brown at her beautiful farm. The farm is fittingly called Laughing Goat Flower Farm and rightfully named because she has the cutest goats ever. The views from the farm are incredible and there is a perfect view of Mount Rainier. Amy grows many varieties of flowers for the Seattle flower market and for local floral designers. She is also a great gardener and I loved walking through her garden.  She sells her produce to local restaurants where I’ve had the pleasure of eating.  Amy is so knowledgable about growing flowers and food.  She is planting 1200 peony plants this fall and has begun adding roses and hydrangeas.  I could get lost in her acres of flowers!  Amy and I have become friends since meeting and I have visited her frequently at her farm.  The farm is a work in process and Amy and her husband Steve, are planning to have floral arranging workshops, weddings, and other events at the farm in the near future.  I can’t wait to see the farms progression and gorgeous farm to table entertainment!

Tammy Myers is the owner of First and Bloom, a floral design company in Fall City, Washington.  She is a talented floral designer and finds creative ways to use native plants and greenery in her floral designs. At the workshop, I watched Tammy make her arrangement and she is a true professional.  She used items that could be cut right from her yard along with all the beautiful flowers from the rose farm. Tammy uses locally grown flowers whenever possible as it helps support the local farming communities.  Her floral designs are so unique and beautiful.  When I told what I envisioned for the tablescape and the color palette, she brought it to life in the most beautiful way.  I wanted white flowers mixed with greenery.  It was absolutely perfect. 

Through Tammy, I later met Missy Palacol.  She is a talented photographer in the greater Seattle area. She has worked with other bloggers and is so good at capturing the details of what you’re photographing. I had seen her work on other instagram accounts and was excited to work on this project with her.  I do a lot of the photography myself so it was nice to be able to focus on cooking the food and decorating the table and let Missy do her magic. Her beautiful photos brought to life this amazing collaboration.  

I asked Missy if she had any tips on photographing a party or entertaining event so you can remember what you did. I always take photos so I can remember what I did in case I want to recreate it and it’s also nice to take some photos when your guests arrive.  I’m a big fan of making memories and documenting it.  Here are some tips Missy shared with me.

*Don’t think you have to take just one photo and be done with it.

*Always shoot from multiple angles and play around with the light at each angle. Not only does this allow you to find the perfect shot, but you will get multiple pics of the same subject.

*Get up high

*Get down low

*Straight on

*To the left

*To the right

*Shoot through something so you have a foreground which can really add another level to the depth of field to your image.

For the tablescape, I had this vision of an outdoor french country theme. I had these beautiful blue and white dishes that I hadn’t used before that gave me the inspiration for the color palette.  I didn’t want to do traditional fall colors as the colors hadn’t changed yet in my yard. I also had this beautiful custom farm table that I keep outdoors and some french bistro chairs that completed to french vibe.

We all met at Amy’s flower farm the night before to pick out what we wanted for the flowers and greenery.  Amy and Tammy loved the color palette I had chosen and what I was envisioning.  We then set about to find the perfect flowers to go with the dishes and linens I had selected and then cut the flowers we had selected.  Amy and I then went to her garden and picked the vegetables for the recipes. We picked san marzano tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, shallots, garlic, basil, carrots!  I was in heaven and couldn’t wait to start cooking with these perfect vegetables that were so fresh! We love this gorgeous farm to table entertainment.

The next morning, Amy and Tammy brought all the flowers we cut the night before and brought them to my home. When they arrived, they wandered around my eleven acres of wooded property and found many more items to use in the floral arrangements we planned to make. One plant we are lucky to have in the Pacific Northwest is salal.  It’s a native plant that grows wild. I had a lot of it in my yard so Tammy snipped a bunch of it to make the simple garland. I really enjoyed having Tammy show me how she made the garland. It is so simple and creates a lovely effect on any table. It also holds up well outside of water for awhile.

For the centerpiece, I envisioned a garland running down the middle on top of a blue table runner with a centerpiece in the middle.  I wanted a mix of white flowers and greenery and I wanted to keep it simple and elegant at the same time. Tammy created a centerpiece that had a rustic feel to it and used the beautiful dahlias and other white and cream colored flowers from Amy’s farm.  

We then set the table with the beautiful blue and white dishes, blue napkins, silver flatware, and stemware.  I then added in some rustic candlesticks, votive candleholders, and some velvet pumpkins.

In between all this, I cooked the food with Amy’s help and we had such a great time talking about all the fresh vegetables from her farm. I shared some cooking tips with Missy and Amy while we gathered in the kitchen.  

I chose to make my Homemade Lasagna when I discovered that Amy had san marzano tomatoes in her garden. They are the best tomato for a red pasta sauce.  She had an abundance of small cherry tomatoes which inspired the Simple Tomato and Cucumber Salad.  Yakima peaches were also in season and local so I decided to make my Fresh Peach Dessert.

When it was finally time to sit down and eat and enjoy the beautiful table, we all reflected on how much fun we had getting to know each other through this entire experience.  We all share a love of flowers and farm to table cooking. I truly enjoyed creating this inspirational tablescape and having the abundance of Amy’s fresh produce to make our meal with.

I think it’s safe to say they LOVED the food and I think that it was the best lasagna I’ve ever made.  I credit that to Amy’s San Marzano tomatoes. What a treat to get to cook straight from her garden and to have the beautiful flowers surrounding us.  Tammy made my vision come to life and Missy captured this whole experience perfectly. An amazing and gorgeous farm to table entertainment vision came to life!

I hope you will find inspiration in what we created and that you can see the true joy we had doing this. I seriously adore and admire these darling friends I’ve made.  I truly hope you find as much joy reading this as we did creating it.

Sources linked here:

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GORGEOUS FARM TO TABLE ENTERTAINMENT

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