Decorating for Easter Brunch

Since this is the season when the earth is renewing and reviving after winter’s hibernation, flowers and bright colors are major themes. Celebrate these elements with decorations that celebrate nature. Buy bunches of flowers for the table and arrange them in vases. Make a centerpiece from fresh tulips cut short and arranged inside a basket. Buy a plastic liner to hold the water and a florist’s oasis to keep the tulips fresh. Or arrange a small bouquet of miniature daffodils in an egg cup at each place. Dye eggs in colors that coordinate with your chosen flowers. Using colored pencil, write your guests’ name on slips of paper and glue them onto the eggs for place cards.

You could express the spirit of the season with light-hearted and brightly colored decorations. Rather than pastels, use bold shades of green, pink and blue. Embrace the plastic eggs! Scatter them across the table along with swooping tendrils of ribbon and handfuls of jellybeans. Grow a tray of wheatgrass for a centerpiece, and then populate it with frolicking marshmallow birdies and chocolate bunnies. You could even set up an amusing diorama using plastic animal figurines on the grass surface. Or use a balloon to make a large papier-mache egg decorated by the children in the center of the table. Fold the cloth napkins at each place in a different shape.

You could also go in the other direction and opt for elegance. Make decorated eggshells in the European style and hang them from a centerpiece of bare branches in a large vase. Roll brocade napkins in simple silver or gold napkin rings. Opt for a pastel color palette that is crisp and clean. Delicate orchids are an elegant flower choice.

Whether you choose to host a brunch with a fun or elegant theme, your decorating efforts will not go unnoticed by your guests.