Galentines Day Inspo – Whether you’re brunching this weekend or have a breakfast/brunch/lunch/dinner planned for tomorrow, this table setting is the dreamiest and quite an easy thing to whip together last minute to impress your guests. First things first, a table covering. I LOVE to use the large sheets of wrapping paper from Paper Source: the designs are amazing. To cover my table, I needed about 3 large sheets. You could also buy a roll of wrapping paper and place it down the center of the table (sort of like a runner). Next up are the details – flowers obviously are needed for a girlie display. I always use Trader Joes to purchase my flowers and make arrangements. They’re so cheap compared to other stores or floral shops and you can mix and match the colors you need. Once I had the flowers chosen, I placed together other girly elements – gold utensils and other gold items, crystal glasses, a lightbox with a fun saying, napkins and knick knacks (the Target dollar section is a gold mine for things like the tiny mailbox shown above). For the plates, glasses and serveware they DO NOT need to match. Feel free to play around with what you got. And, if you need a few other things to go along with what you have, check out a Goodwill store. I bought the crystal glasses shown above for $.69 (yep, you saw that amount correctly!!).
Now, onto the food! A menu of snack type items is usually easiest for brunches. You can make most of the items ahead of time, so you’re not bogged down with prep when it comes time to eat. I set up a container to house fruits and wafers. The fruit works great on their own, but also can be added atop of yogurt. Easy peasy and no fuss. Next, I whipped up a batch of these delicious, berry chia seed mini muffins (recipe found here). If you have 6 or more people coming over, I’d do a double batch. These are so good as a grab and go snack if you have some leftover (which, honestly, you may not! yum!). Drink wise – the obvious and yummy choice is a mimosa bar. People can make their own, or you can have a pitcher pre-made, alongside water, tea and coffee. You don’t have to overdo it with your options. Everyone will be happy with what you have! Some other food options that aren’t shown above, but are still on the menu include Sweet & Spicy Bacon (this recipe is sooo good), Egg Cups/Muffins (like this recipe) or you could do a quiche as well and Baked Parmesan Hashbrowns (recipe here). This list could go on and on. I absolutely love brunch food. If you’re feeling ambition you could also do homemade cinnamon rolls (or the ones from the can, because, let’s face it, those are good too!!)
Moving on below to a date night for your sweetie.
A Valentine dessert table setting – fit for your sweetie (or someone you’d like to be your sweetie – wink, wink). This table setting is a bit more bold in color, but simplified with very few knick knacks. I went with a bright paper option for the table – but still a bit feminine with the pink florals. You could also go more moody with a dark paper selection suited to the personality of your guest. I chose this one to be a happy dessert setting, ha! Next up for florals, I chose an ombre effect with the colors (which I absolutely adore) and of course had to grab roses as well – both for part of the ombre look and for petals for the table to make it a bit more romantic. Instead of scattering the flowers on the table, I placed them into small mason jars so the arrangement was all at the same height. And then I had black and gold candlesticks laying around that I paired with the table setting as well. Those brought a good variance of height. It helps to vary heights of items to bring dimension and interest to your table. You can do that with serving pieces or stacking items/food. I used the same gold flatware as previous, but switched out the napkins to ones with little x’s on them (found here). I use these for all dinners, but how perfect are these for Valentines Day?! That’s it for the table scape – the gold charger and black and white plates were something I had laying around, but you could use all white (or clear) and no charger just the same!
Now onto the yummy dessert – because let’s face it, that’s the best part. This decadent chocolate cake recipe was adapted from (Lavender and Macarons). Instead of stacking the cakes and using pistachios (as shown in the original recipe), I opted for a single layer cake (I found the mini cake tins to bake these in at HomeGoods, but they’re available at Michaels and on Amazon for sure) and used dark chocolate chunks. The mascarpone icing is probably my favorite part because it’s not too sweet, but pairs so well with dark chocolate and strawberries. You could also drizzle the top of the cake with chocolate for that added pizazz. I mean if that doesn’t impress your guest/significant other, I’m not sure what will!
Hope your Love Day is a good one and that these have inspired you to go a little further in your decor. It’s super easy to create such a pretty look and you definitely don’t need to spend a bunch of money to do it! I’ve tried to link most items shown in the pics above throughout the text as I’m talking about them, but if I’ve missed something or you want a direct link, just shoot me a message.
xoxo
Michelle
Printed Pants – Top Picks for Summer
Striped Faux Wrap Romper
Mother’s Day 2018 – Gift Guide
Leave a Reply