Holiday Brunch 2007: It's All in the Details

In my experience hosting, attending, and now planning events, a memorable fete requires four ingredients: great food, plenty of booze, lively people, and unforgettable details. For my parties, my best friend Tara Novotny always plans an amazing menu, and the liquor always flows freely; though I admit I usually underestimate how much my friends can actually drink (luckily there's a mini mart across the street with a great beer and wine selection, so a mid-party liquor run by my husband Carl usually goes unnoticed!).

For our third annual Holiday Brunch, "It's a Celebration," Tara and I wanted to "take it to the next level" by playing up the details. First, we identified our theme--a modern spin on winter wonderland, featuring polka dots and snowflakes in silver sage, olive, white, and silver--because as with weddings, a consistent and cohesive theme is crucial to setting the tone of the event. All of our linens, ribbons, candles, and accents corresponded with this color scheme, including the amazing cupcakes created by JoAnna Hiatt. Her cupcakes showcased shimmering handmade snowflakes and silver sage holly leaves and silver berries (show below).


Next, Tara went to work on the menu ("deconstructed" brunch favorites like chili rellenos, cucumbers filled with salmon mousse, grapes rolled in blue cheese and pistachios, mushroom turnovers, etc.). And I turned to my "go to" spot for personal touches: My Own Labels. They offer adorable designs on coasters, labels, and tags, great customer service, and fantastic ideas for out-of-town welcome bags, favors, and bridal party gifts. For Holiday Brunch 2007, Tara and I purchased coasters, labels, and tags in a design that coordinated with our theme. Coasters read "eat, drink, and be merry...it's a celebration!" Labels, which we stuck on candle votives and favors said simply, "enjoy!" Hang tags, which we tied around our favors with polka dotted ribbon read, "happy holidays! tara and emily."

For the favors, I headed straight to my one-stop-shop for the most wonderful products, packaging, and gift dressings: Beau Coup. As with My Own Labels, I first used Beau Coup for my own wedding, purchasing travel candles and mini tins (to fill with M&Ms) for my out-of-town welcome bags. For Holiday Brunch 2007, Tara and I filled mini spice jars with shelled pistachios and dried cranberries (shown above). With the labels and tags from My Own Labels, the result was adorable. And a huge hit with our guests!

Expected at weddings, these details will be an unexpected but welcomed surprise at a house party. For relatively little cost, they will delight your guests and make them feel honored that you went above and beyond for their benefit. More importantly, it gets them excited for your next special event!

Details and Decor, Emily H Events; Photography and photo collages, Jessica Del Vecchio ; Menu, Tara Novotny; Cupcakes, Joanna Hiatt.