Archives for March 2014

Can I admit I’m kind of sad that this in my last Aladdin post? I’ve seriously loved sharing the gorgeous photos of my Spring brunch featuring Aladdin Mason Collection mason jars. I’ve already shown you my tips for decorating a simple spring brunch HERE and now as promised I want to share the cocktail and drink menu for this no-hassle brunch. 

Here was the food set-up. I used a lime green runner and colorful baskets, crates and cake stands to add color and different heights to the display. And of course, fabulous tulips. I love how they naturally drooped to the side.   

On the menu? I picked easy to pick up food that was light and of course, pretty to look at. 

We had muffins, mini quiche, granola squares and fruit skewers. It was the perfect assortment and really stress-free because almost all of the items could be made the day before. 

The fruit skewers are beautiful but in the effort of full disclosure (because that’s how I roll) a real pain in the arse to make. And also dangerous – those things are sharp. If you ever need a weapon you can just stab someone with one of these skewers, they WILL draw blood, I promise.  All this said the beautiful photo below makes the effort all worth it, the skewers really are prettier than a bowl full of fruit.

Now on to my next favorite topic, cocktails. Mimosas is an obvious choice for a brunch cocktail, but I decided to mix it up by making it a grapefruit mimosa. People have mixed feelings about grapefruit but I promise the tartness of the grapefruit mixes really well with the sweetness of the champagne. It’s incredibly refreshing. The Aladdin Mason pitcher might be my favorite product of the whole line and I love the blue/green color of the tumblers too. Perfection.

I love the below picture where I am pouring the mimosa into a tumbler.  My favorite part is that I have my phone in the photo, which is pretty standard for me – it’s like my third arm. I think I have a problem. In this case I had my phone ready so I could hashtag #aladdinparty whenever the moment felt right. 

To show off the equally fabulous one-gallon Aladdin Mason dispensers, I set up a spa water station which looked awesome (in my humble opinion). The best part about spa water is a) you feel like you are at a spa and b) the fruit infuses the water so quickly, you really feel like you are drinking “strawberry water.” I chose lemon/lime, orange and strawberry infused waters and they were a big hit.

I love the way this big orange slices look in the water, don’t you?

That is my simple menu – a few pretty brunch items and a couple of drink options, that’s it! Throw a couple of tulips in the background and of course serve your drinks in Aladdin Mason Jars and you’ve got yourself a banging par-tay. Here are a few more beautiful photos from the day.

Aladdin generously provided goodie bags for each of the guests to take home some Aladdin swag. I dressed up the bags with ribbon and colorful tissue paper. 

Here’s what happens behind the scenes at a photo-shoot – someone (aka me) has to hold up the fancy diffuser to block the sun. 

Friends hugging each other.

And also friends being beautiful – isn’t my friend Amanda gorge? She has the best hair. And she’s super buff because she does crossfit – she could totally benchpress me.

Speaking of beautiful, can we talk about this? My beautiful sis-in-law Drew (owner of the gorgeous yard we were in) and her daughter (my niece) Brooke? 

They’re like model mom and daughter, am I right? 

You guys. This was SO MUCH FUN to throw this party. Thanks again to my talented friend Kristen LeQuire for her gorgeous photos. I’m obsessed with it and want to do it every weekend. If you’re bored this weekend just throw a party. It will be fun, I promise. Have a GREAT weekend and enjoy the spring weather if you are lucky enough to get any! XOXO. 

As you can tell from my preview pics in my earlier post, this party was seriously colorful, bright and downright fabulous. I’m slightly obsessed and keep looking at the photos over and over again! Showcasing Aladdin’s new line of entertaining mason jar tumblers and a picture-perfect spring day, the happiness of this brunch will put a smile on your face. I guarantee it! 

I decided to split the post into two topics: the first post being about Spring party decorations and the second about an easy food and drink menu for a no-hassle brunch. Without further ado, let’s get to the decorations and beautiful photos by Kristen LeQuire! 

Everyone was able to pick their insulated tumbler to drink out of for the party, so I wanted to create a creative visual display of the tumblers that was a little different than just putting them on a table. Luckily my friend (thanks Whitney!) had this amazing teal cart from Ikea that was the perfect prop to house these equally fun mason jars. I styled the cart with different colored bud vases and of course, beautiful bright tulips. Despite having literally no use for this, I really wanted to steal the cart from my friend but I begrudgingly gave it back. 

Speaking of tulips, they really are the flower of spring, aren’t they? I searched low and high to find the perfect colorful tulips because tulips just make me happy! We put them absolutely everywhere, on every table at the party and it worked like a charm – you can never have too many flowers in my opinion. 

I love ribbon which is kind of  silly thing to say in the scheme of the world, but I can’t help it. I love it. You can use ribbon for so many things besides just wrapping packages. In this case I tied a few colorful ribbons on the back of patio chairs to add a simple pop of color and let the ribbons hang low. Word of advice: Don’t tie them on too tight or they will be impossible to get off! Don’t want to break a nail, but sometimes that the sacrifice you have to make for cute ribbon detail. 

Luckily for me, the Aladdin products are attractive on their own so they don’t need much styling to make them cute! But there are a few easy ways to style any party that can make it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. 

For the Spa Water station (loved this btw), I used a wooden crate to prop up one of the dispensers to add different heights to the display. I also tucked a colorful napkin underneath the dispenser for another layer and pop of color. For this party we didn’t really have a “color theme” we just used bright, happy colors and it all worked together pretty well! Things don’t have to be perfectly coordinated to work together, in fact sometimes they work better when they are not perfect. Good thing too because I’m not a “perfect” kinda gal. 

Below I used a tray to showcase the Grapefruit Mimosa and again, just add another layer to the decor by putting the pitcher and cups on a tray instead of directly on the table.  More on these cocktail details in the next post!

An outdoor patio or deck is the best location for a spring brunch (pending weather of course), and luckily my sister-in-law has just the setting! Her beautiful patio and teak table was the ideal backdrop for this party and also for generally having a relaxing day outside which I plan to do a lot of this spring. Thanks for the invite Drew!

As you can see in the below group shot, we also hung colorful tissue paper poms to add a little pop of color in the backdrop. I know these poms have been out forever, but I can’t quit them – I’m still a huge fan! I’m an even bigger fan of fun, smart women who are all different but come together and have plenty to talk about. Moms, Non-Moms, 30 year olds, 60 year olds – women can always find something interesting to talk about, isn’t that true? Preach sistah.

Because it’s awesome, here is a great outtake from the group shot. Something was funny I think…

And while we’re on outtakes I love this one where we sat on the hammock and it literally broke during the pictures. Whoops. Guess we’re carrying a little extra winter weight (I’m talking about myself…).

I also highly recommend having adorable kids at a brunch, purely for decoration purposes of course. Kidding! These are my gorgeous nieces and they were the most precious decoration of all!  

Whew that’s a lot of prettiness! Hopefully it will get you through Hump Day. The next post will talk about the brunch menu and will feature more fantastically fun and bright photos. All I can say (as it’s currently 30-something degrees here) is bring on the Spring!