How to Host an Instagrammable Fall Brunch

We are less than a week away from the official start of fall – which means all pumpkin everything. Pumpkin patches, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie. (You get the idea) Personally, there is nothing I love more than hosting a brunch to ring in the new season. I co-hosted San Jose Creatives‘ fall brunch this last weekend and wanted to share with you my tips for hosting a fall-themed (very Instagrammable) brunch.

LOGISTICS (LOCATION, GUESTS, BUDGET, ETC.)

Let’s start with the less exciting elements of location, guests, budget, & dietary restrictions.

Location – Where are you having your event? Park, backyard, living room? You want to pick a spot that can easily become a fall-scape, bonus points if there’s good lighting.
Guests – The amount of guests you plan to invite will effect the location as well. Don’t forget to include +1s!
Invites – Nothing says bougie like a printed invite. You can find really cute cards at your local Target or grocery store. On a budget or have a time crunch? You can opt for an Evite or a Facebook invite.
- Obviously your invite should have the typical things like location, time, & date… but don’t forget to add dietary restrictions. (Something like “please contact us if you have any dietary restrictions”) as this will help you plan your menu. I also like to ask my guests to adhere to a certain theme for dress (for example – “dress for fall”)
Budget – How much do you want to spend? I’m notorious for going over budget on events like this because I start wanting to buy every cute thing I see that’s on trend. Having a budget will help keep things in perspective. I typically aim for spending about $15/guest for a bigger group, which feels quite reasonable for a full spread.

DECOR

Over time, I’ve started to collect the basic necessities for hosting events. But even then, every event is different and requires some shopping. Which for a decor fiend like me is my favorite part!

My Go To spots/ steps:

Check your kitchen (and your friends’) – what can you borrow? I rummage through my house before heading to the store. Sometimes I find things I forgot I had. For things like serving platters or pitchers, I reach out to friends to see what they have.
Head to Dollar Tree/ 99 Cent Store – Dollar Tree is ALWAYS my first stop after leaving home. Why? They tend to have some items that I’ve found at spots like Marshall’s or Target…but FOR A DOLLAR! For this event we got the small porcelain pumpkins, the gold plates, parfait glasses, napkins, and ribbon there.
Target, Michael’s & Marshall’s – After hitting the dollar stores, I’ll then head to the last bunch to see what else I can find that I couldn’t find elsewhere. For example – I got the name cards, gold silverware, and little chalk stands at Target.

Looking for some inspiration? Check out my Pinterest board here.

FOOD

With a theme like fall, you want a menu that is cozy, screams fall, and can be created in advance. Something that you can prep the night before, but pop in the oven morning of is ideal. Below is what we had on our menu – feel free to copy 🙂

Baked French Toast
Sundried Tomato Pesto Quiche
Spinach Salad with Butternut Squash, Beets & Feta
Harvest Spice Cheesecake (purchased)
Mini Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits

DRINK

What you serve to drink really depends on your crowd (and your budget).

Cocktails: If you have a home bartender, like we had for our event (check out Kaho’s Bar on Instagram), you can have 1-2 signature cocktails (and the mocktail versions).
Mimosas: On a budget and lacking a bartender? Opt for mimosas. They’re easy and you can easily customize them for fall. Try the Spiced Fall Mimosa here.
Coffee: Coffee is a must in my opinion. Being in California, it’s not quite fall weather yet, so we opted with cold brew from local coffee shop Academic Coffee.

Looking to host your own fall brunch? Let me know your questions below!

Thank you to our sponsors for making this event possible.