This passed Sunday was my birthday so I decided to invite a few friends over for a backyard brunch. Due to COVID, I did not travel as I usually do, so what better way to celebrate a birthday than with friend and family. I did make sure to keep the CDC guidelines in mind so I limited the guest list to 10 people and provided mask. I didn’t want to go too crazy with spending so I found budget friendly ways to make the brunch happen. The girls had a great time if I do say so myself. Below are some ways you can have your very own backyard brunch without breaking the bank.

DECOR

What’s a back yard brunch without decorations? When thinking of decorating ideas, I knew I didn’t want to use plastic wear. To me, glassware totally elevates a table. Don’t get me wrong, their are risk when using glassware, such as the chance of them breaking . The best solution to that problem is to not use expensive glassware. I took a trip to my local Dollar Tree and found all of my glassware there. Unlike plastic, I can totally use them again.

The theme color scheme for the brunch was orange and pink. With a quick search on Amazon, I was able to find the cutest orange and pink floral napkins. Much like glassware, I believe cloth napkins can elevate a table setting as well. The chargers are from Hobby Lobby and I got them at 50% off. If you are an avid Hobby Lobby shopper then you know everything there eventually goes on sale. A centerpiece is the highlight of your table decorations. You can go big or keep it small depending on your liking. I actually won the floral arrangements for one of my table thanks to an IG contest (Thanks Frankie & Flora )  the floral garland is artificial and I grabbed it from my local Marshalls Home Goods.

I wanted to add a personalized flare to the party so I made place cards for my guest. They too came from Amazon and I bought stencils and a chalk pin to write in the names.  Because I truly believe that you can find almost anything on Amazon, I found the placemats on Amazon as well. Gathering all the pieces to the puzzle was fairly easy and putting it all together was pretty quick as well.

FOOD

You can’t have brunch without food.  The food is by far the most important part of brunch, after all, you can not have brunch without it. Much like decorations, you can go as big or as small as you want when it comes to food. Because I am not that much of a cook, I decided to outsource. I picked an amazing local chief to cater the food. Because it was brunch , I didn’t want to make it too heavy of a meal but I also did want my guest to go home hungry. We had, fried catfish, shrimp and grits, sausage, fruit, salad and cake. Actually, this does appear to be a very heavy menu but they guest had a choice of what they wanted to eat and what they didn’t.

The great thing about having an event at your home is that you can totally cook it yourself. Though I choose to hire someone to do it for me, preparing the meal yourself could save you even more money.

GUEST

As I stated previously, due to COVID, I had limit the amount of guest that I could  invite. That wasn’t a problem for me because I don’t necessarily enjoy lot of people in my home at one time. It give me anxiety. I had a few friends travel down from Louisiana which is always a treat. The guest list can truly make are break your gathering. Theirs nothing worse than inviting someone who doesn’t know how to have a good time. Or inviting guest that might not get along. That is a disaster waiting to happening. Luckily for me, my guest were amazing and truly know how to have a good time.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Your backyard brunch can be whatever  you want it to be and that goes for  your budget as well. Everyone’s budget is different however the formula is still the same. As long as you have nice décor, great food and lovely guest, you are sure to have a fantastic time at your backyard brunch . Hope these tips were helpful and as always, if you have additional questions, drop them in the comments section below.