This post is for the ladies who want to celebrate their best girlfriends! Last year I threw my first galentine's day brunch and it was a lot of fun! Right before 2020 became, well, 2020 (you all know). I'm sad to say that this year we are still taking precautions, but I thought it would be fun to share how last year turned out and the planning and decorating that went into it!
Galentine's Day Brunch To Do List:
- write down your guest list
- make an invite! I made mine on canva.com and then texted the invite to my friends!
- plan your menu
- order some pretty flowers or pick some up at a local market or Trader Joe's
- make a galentine's playlist on spotify!
When planning your guest list I would think about how formal or informal you want this gathering to be! If you want everyone to sit down and have a seat at the table (that's what I did) I made plans to use my folding table to make my dining room table longer and extra room for food set up. If you want it to be a little more informal then I'd make sure to have some seating available and your kitchen island cleared for those who want to stand and mingle!
Planning a menu can be stressful, especially if you want to make all the food yourself and not have it potluck style. I knew I was going to make some things from scratch and cut corners in other areas, but in the best way possible! Also planning to make things a day or two ahead of time is a big time saver and ends up being less you have to do day of!
Here's what we had:
- Mimosa Bar! My favorite prosecco from Trader Joes's paired with different juices
- 2 homemade breakfast quiches: bacon + cheese and cheese + chive (I made these the day before)
- pancakes + syrup (made morning of the brunch)
- blueberry and chocolate chip muffins from Trader Joe's (pre-made and packaged)
- vanilla yogurt + berries (this is simple)
- homemade valentine sugar cookies (I made these a couple days before)
- cucumber dip + ritz crackers (this crowd's favorite!)
In addition to the food...there's my favorite part. The flowers!!! In this particular instance I already had a BEAUTIFUL valentine inspired flower arrangement I made at a workshop at Beno's Flowers + Gifts. He's the best by the way! He has the cutest shop downtown Iowa City with all the pretty things and flowers of course! All I needed were a couple smaller bud vases and some greenery to complete my vision, so I picked those up from Beno's the day before the party!
Another one of my favorite things to do at the holidays is bake and frost sugar cookies! They are definitely not perfect, but making them is so much fun! Especially if you do it with a couple of friends! These cookies were perfect because we snacked on them and then the girls who had kids took some home as a little party favor! How sweet is that!?
As for setting everything up, I pull out all of my serveware and started selecting what pieces I wanted to use. It's really all about trial and error until you get the look you are going for! Making a beautiful and thoughtful set up for my friends is what I love most. It's my way of giving back to people I care about all the while filling my creative cup to the brim!
I hope this has brought you some inspiration and a not to mention...maybe...given you great reason to spend some time with those gals in your close circle! It's the little things these days that make times like this feel special.
happy almost valentine's day to you all!
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