When it comes to spending time with friends, many of us will go out in the evening to a restaurant or a bar, or we’ll meet up with friends to grab a coffee and have a chat. But today, many people are looking for different ways to spend time with friends, which doesn’t necessarily involve going out to an establishment and paying a premium price for drinks and food, just so they can spend time with their friends.
Hosting gatherings at home is a great way to circumvent these costs, and you can even get much more for your money. Hosting a brunch party, for example, is a great way to have some delicious food and drinks early in the day, allowing you and your friends or family to meet up and spend time together in a relaxed environment. We’ve put together this simple guide to help you to create the perfect brunch party.
Prep Your Brunch
The first thing you should think about is getting some things ready for your brunch in advance. At the end of the day, a casual gathering of you and your friends like this is meant to be enjoyable and relaxing. Doing all of the food and drinks preparation once everyone arrives will mean that you’re rushed off your feet for the whole time until you finally sit down to eat. And even at that point, it’s not uncommon to have forgotten to get people tea or coffee or take the croissants out of the oven.
Preparing food in advance is a great way to get more done with much less effort or stress. As well as preparing food the night before, such as overnight oats, you should also consider cleaning up or shop wooden side tables early. That way, you can focus on the things that need to be made fresh rather than rushing around to get everything ready.
Choose Your Dishes
Decide ahead of time on what food you’ll be serving so that you can get things prepared early, as suggested above. There are countless dishes you could choose for your brunch party, whether you want to go for a more savory selection or a sweet one or simply a balanced mixture of both. Egg dishes are a popular option for brunch, as well as pastries and pancakes.
Consider choosing a certain theme for your brunch party. Whether it’s leaning more towards breakfast with waffles and pancakes alongside a selection of fruit and yogurt or instead a range of savory dishes including things like quiche, frittata, or fried foods like bacon.
Don’t Forget Drinks
When putting a lot of focus on the foods we provide for brunch, it’s easy to forget the drinks. Get yourself a healthy selection of different drink options so that there is something for everyone. For example, instead of just simple coffees, why not consider something like hazelnut coffee or fruit tea?
In some cases, you might want to add something like prosecco, which your guests can add to their orange juice to create a refreshing mimosa. Whatever you choose, remember that providing a wide range of refreshments like this is a very important step in creating the perfect brunch.
Don’t Go Overboard
A common issue that many have when hosting brunch is simply going over the top. If you’ve only got three friends coming over, you don’t want to be putting on a spread of food and drink to feed ten people. Try not to get overexcited when planning and preparing your brunch, and ensure you don’t waste food and money.
Alongside this, if you spend all of your time preparing too much food for your guests, you’re going to struggle to enjoy the brunch yourself. You should also avoid rushing to get everything done, which is why preparing things ahead of time helps, but you should also ensure that you designate a time for brunch when nobody has anything that they need to rush off for. Confer with your guests to choose a suitable time for everyone so that people can take their time and have an enjoyable experience.
Set The Mood
As well as food and drink, don’t forget that there are many more things that will impact the overall atmosphere of your brunch. The décor can help to spruce the place up and make everything look much more pleasant, such as a vase of freshly cut flowers and a nice tablecloth. As well as the décor, you could also put some nice music on that suits the mood you’re trying to create.
If you’re looking to lean into the relaxed vibe, choose some soft instrumental background music for people to enjoy. Or, if you’re more of a rowdy bunch of friends, put one of your favorite party playlists on for you all to enjoy.
It’s also important to remember that brunch, which has become America’s most popular meal of the day, should feel revivifying, whether it’s helping to wash away the stresses of the week or energizing everyone for the days ahead. Because of this, you should also ensure that you host your brunch somewhere with lots of natural light or even outdoors if the weather is nice.
