Indoor Garden Party Brunch

The irony of a self proclaimed “black thumb” throwing a garden party is not lost on me. I had originally planned to host this brunch outdoors, but 89 degree heat at 10:30am had me scrambling to rearrange furniture, and my living room acted as an air conditioned “garden”.

So what do I do to hide my emotions and ignore the reality of the move? Plan a going away brunch, of course! (Then the day of the party I cried at least six times and just wanted to wear pj’s, have her all to myself, and share a stack of pancakes.)

The girls all pitched in, making their specialties. On the menu was lox bagels, spinach quiches with Gouda, and bacon wrapped dates. For sweets we had apricot scones and blueberry French toast. A slight disaster involving the wrong burner being turned on had the French toast burning when we thought it was cooling. I could out my husband right here and tell you how his one job was to make a pot of coffee and instead he narrowly avoided ruining my favorite dish. But I’m much too forgiving to do so. (A long shift on daddy duty cleared him of all wrong doing.)

I tried my hand at a painted floral table cloth (DIY coming later this week), and the lovely folks at Minted provided the rest of the decor. We ordered Gemma’s birth announcements from Minted and loved how they turned out. When they approached me about doing a post for their new line of party goods, I did a little dance of joy and spent a solid hour on their site devouring all the decor eye candy.

As soon as I saw the Guapa line, I knew it would be perfect for this brunch. It’s feminine and colorful but also has a subtle sophistication. Usually I DIY all the details of a party myself. Sometimes, however, it’s nice to have an option to throw a beautiful party without the hours of prep before hand. (As in, I have a four-month old and am barely sleeping-forget spending hours cutting paper.) Minted has several options for grown up parties like this one or this one.


I had guests write their favorite memories with Tan on the cute little hola! cards. The scalloped drink tags made sure that the champagne mimosas weren’t confused with the Perrier versions.

And then there were babies…lots of babies. Out of six of us girls from college, four had babies this year. Now we are all mommas with nine babies between us! I so vividly remember an autumn evening about 11 years ago as we walked back from an intramural football game. We came to conclusion that we were going to be each others “real grown-up friends”, the kind who are bridesmaids in your wedding and who your kids call “aunt”. Since that night we have been through graduations, weddings, death of loved ones, getting jobs, losing jobs and all the ups and downs that your 20’s bring. I guess somewhere along the way we did become “grown-ups”, but none of us remember exactly when that happened.
These girls have literally shaped who I am as a person, especially this one. This girl who can come over unannounced and I never bother to straighten up the house or put on makeup. This girl who will always share two desserts with me. This girl who will use a hair brush as a microphone when we sing old school Destiny’s Child on road trips. This girl who I have prayed and laughed and cried and gorged on ice cream with more times than anyone else. This girl who is taking a massive step of faith and seeing new doors open for her family. This girl who does not share my blood or upbringing but most definitely is my sister. 

Party Goods: Minted
Photos: Lark Photography