Tis the season! I love hosting holiday get togethers, and thought it may be helpful to share some decorating ideas for Christmas brunch. This can be helpful if you're hosting Christmas brunch for your family or for any festive get together you have planned this season. Entertaining does not have to be complex to be impactful and memorable.
We did an ugly sweater party for my husband's office this year, but made it into a brunch and it was so much fun. Historically we've hosted the party in the evening as a dinner, but with a toddler around that's not as practical or desirable. Plus, this way our kiddo could join in the festivities! Which- that's my first decorating tip! Tie your Christmas brunch into a theme. It can be super loose and casual, but it helps to have a theme to guide things along. It can be as simple as a traditional Christmas, pajama Christmas, ugly sweater, plaid, or it'd be really fun to tie the Christmas brunch into a Christmas movie theme or even a song.
Plan your Menu
It's so tempting to jump right into decoration ideas, but the first thing to do is to plan your menu. Planning your menu out will help you develop your food stations and set the tone for the party. You can even use food as your decorations at times. Sugar cookies can be a place setting or name marker. If you're planning far enough ahead you can work with a local cookie maker to have them customized.
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A few ideas for your menu! For the main course you can make it something super casual and fun, or you could make it interactive.
- Pastries are easy and can be set out a little bit ahead of time.
- Donut holes can go on a cone tower for a fun donut tree.
- A waffle bar station would be super fun, especially with one of these mini waffle makers.
- We catered in Chick-fil-a mini sandwiches and it was definitely a hit!
- Fruit parfaits with yogurt and berries
Balance homemade and store bought
Pick a few key things that you want to buy for your theme, and then a few things you'll make. For our ugly sweater brunch I decided the place settings would have a lot of impact so bought those, but used a free ugly sweater download from A Beautiful Mess to add to the garland. I also used them as name tags on the gift bags! Using bottle brush trees or mini felt trees would be great homemade additions too!
This same rule of thumb goes for your food! I can make delicious (if I do say so myself) sugar cookies with royal icing, but for the sake of time, and to keep the kitchen clean I bought a few instead. Instead of buying a fruit tray though I made little santa hats with grapes, bananas and strawberries.
Use Real Dishes
Even if the gathering is super casual like our ugly sweater brunch you can make it have a cohesive and nice look and feel by using real dishes. Bonus it's more eco-friendly. I got a set of 20-25 plain white dishes by going to thrift stores, looking on facebook marketplace and IKEA that we keep in a tote in the basement just for hosting.
If you can use cloth napkins that helps give a nice, polished look too! I recently found this plastic flatware that elevates things a bit too. The little touches go a long way to make your guests feel special!
Borrow what you can!
Borrow what you can-starting with from your own house. This goes back to making a game plan for your theme. By making a quick list of your theme and the look you're going for you can probably find a few items in your own home to start with. If you know things you're going to be short on too like plates, chairs, tablecloths, etc. text a few friends and see what they have on hand. This can save a ton of money and time, plus they might have more decorating ideas for Christmas brunch!
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Plan an Activity
This is an option/idea to help- if you're hosting Christmas brunch for your family it may not make sense or be needed. But, if you're with a group of coworkers or friends who don't necessarily know each other it can be handy to have an ice breaker. A few ideas are white elephant with a theme, or any type of table game sitting out. It can be on a cute PDF that ties into your theme and double as a decor. It also can help to have a few kiddo and baby toys sitting out if you're hosting little ones.
I hope you're having the most magical Christmas season and if you're hosting that this helps!
xoxo, Claire
Jane May says
Claire,
How clever and great ideas! I enjoyed seeing your theme and know you had fun creating and making all the goodies!
Thanks for sharing.
Jane