The Perfect Fall Brunch Set Up

Last fall, my friend and I hosted a fall brunch for our mom group and I’m so excited to share it with you!

This fall brunch idea was sparked one day while my friend and I paced the local indoor mall with our kids to beat the heat. As we walked and talked, we discovered that we both love party planning! With fall right around the corner, it seemed like the perfect time to combine our talents and treat our friends.

Throughout the house, we set up multiple stations to keep everyone entertained, including a photo area, brunch nook, drink area, kids entertainment and lounge area.

If you’re planning your own fall brunch for friends or family, I hope you’re able to take away some great ideas from our party! Happy planning!

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Photo Area

For the photo area, we bought a balloon arch, hay bales, pumpkins, propped up a blanket ladder, filled the mantel with candles and laid a fallish plaid blanket across a bunch. This gave the perfect backdrop for moms to pose with their children as well as get some individual shots of their kids.

The moms loved it, because let’s be real, how often are you photo ready with a clean background with your child? Not often!

The colors ended up being a bit different than the advertised photo but still worked with what we had envisioned. What we didn’t notice, was that these balloons were double stuffed. Meaning, there was a black balloon inside those orange balloons in order to give it that burnt orange look. If you’re not used to blowing up double stuffed balloons, set some extra time aside! The best advice I can give to anyone who’s blowing up a balloon arch is to buy an electric balloon pump! The double stuffed balloons were a bit tricky to blow up but we were able to figure it out. The tiny ones though were impossible while they were double stuffed. We ended up removing the inside balloon and only inflating one layer. Overall, the arch turned out great!

Brunch Area

We made sure to have a good mix of savory and sweet so we could satisfy everyone’s fall brunch cravings!

On the heated table, we had french toasts sticks, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and tater tots. To keep everything warm, we took a large serving tray, filled it with a little water, added these flameless food warming pads, and placed smaller trays of the food over them.

Have you heard of flameless food warming pads before?? I didn’t until my friend introduced them to me. SO much better than worrying about kids running around while small tins of fire keep the food warm! They only last up to two hours. This was perfect timing for our brunch but if you’re planning on using them for a longer event, make sure you buy extra to rotate.

The other table had all of the sweet treats, minus the charcuterie board, there was no room left on the other table for it!

Aside from the charcuterie board and pumpkin donuts, I made everything else a day or two before the event. The treats I made were monkey bread, apple cream cheese danishes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pop tarts and maple banana muffins.

I love how this table turned out! Using a crate, hay bale, tiered tray and cake stands really gives the table dimension and showcases each food item. The chalkboard signs, mini pumpkins, framed fall sayings and images and string of lights helped are some decorations I added to the table that helped tie everything together and fill in any gaps.

The link to the maple banana muffins is the recipe I went off of but I did alter it in a few ways. I didn’t add the pecans, I used normal milk and regular vegetable oil. For the topping, I mixed butter, brown sugar and flour and sprinkled it on top of the muffins before putting them in the oven. Once they were cooled I drizzled some with frosting.

The pumpkin pop tarts were a HUGE hit! This was the first time I made them and they are not a fall staple in my home! Since this party, I’ve already made another three batches! Several of the moms asked if I could host a baking class to show them how they were made, others offered to buy them. If you’re looking to wow everyone with a dessert this fall, I recommend making these!

I loved these tulip cupcake liners I used for the maple banana muffins. It gave the perfect farmhouse touch I was looking for.

The monkey bread is a stable recipe that my family has been making for as long as I can remember. For the pumpkin bread, I went with the recipe I always use but used a mini loaf pan instead of the normal size pan. They were the perfect individual size and looked adorable!

Our other food station included the hot items such as pancakes, scrambled eggs, tater tots, and sausage.

Since there were going to be kids running around, we didn’t want to worry about open flames keeping the food warm. My friend was a genius and found these flameless warming pads! We placed two pads in each of the large tin pans, added as much water as necessary, then placed the smaller tin containers on top of them. The product says that they last for two hours and I would say that was pretty accurate. I would definitely use these again for future parties!

For drinks, we had apple cider (how cute is this pumpkin drink dispenser from Target??), coffee, cucumber water, orange juice and some drink pouches for the older kids.

Entertainment

For the toddlers/older kids, we had coloring pages that we found online and fall photo frames to put together from Oriental Trading.

For the babies, we had several bouncers and a pack n play to rotate them between so moms could take a few minutes to eat without little hands trying to grab everything on the plate!

Overall, my friend and I had a blast putting this on. The photo area was a hit, food was amazing, and everyone had a great time.

I hope this inspired you to gather your friends and host your own fall brunch! If you do throw one, please let me know how it turns out!