How to Host a Plaid Holiday Brunch

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company. All opinions are mine alone.#SavorTheMemory #CollectiveBias

It's that time!  Time to get the parties started and hang with your family and friends.  If you are attending a party, you've got the easy job.  Just show up with a treat in hand.  If you are the hostess, you might be ready to panic right about now.  Holiday parties can be a huge source of stress if you don't use the resources now available to you thanks to the internet.  I recently hosted a Plaid themed Holiday Brunch with my girlfriends and I've got some simple tips to help you stay cool, calm and collected during party crunch time.

I love hosting parties, but theme parties are my favorite.  This Mermaid Birthday party and this Ghostbuster party for Dylan are my favorites.  If you are looking for a party theme for kiddos, this Whoopie Pie party was so fun!  Buffalo Check plaid is a big trend right now, especially for the holidays.  You can find it in most stores so it was really easy to pick up a few decor pieces here and there while I was out shopping.  I love getting crafty, but during the holidays I usually like to give myself a break and buy as much decor items as possible.

With a couple of store bought garlands, over turned fabric bucket and plaid tea towel, this party comes together quite easily.  I happen to have this faux wood photo backdrop and curtain panels from when I was doing boutiques and used them as a backdrop.

I highly suggest grabbing a 6 ft. folding table at the store to make a party set up like this a breeze.  I've used it more times than I can count so it's more than paid for itself.

A girl can never have enough white dishes and platters as far as I'm concerned, they give a crisp, clean look to party set ups.  I paired those with some wood platters and small cast iron skillets for a rustic, outdoorsy touch.

These darling little trees cost me $1.50 and bring an great pop of green to the black, white and red color palette.

I placed them in these black tin buckets and packed paper towels around them.  This helps keep them from falling over and takes up space so I'm not having to use multiple bags of fake snow to fill.  Just a layer to cover the towels.

When your drinks match your theme and colors perfectly, add them to your decor!  My Dad has an old Coca-Cola machine at his work that dispenses glass bottles like these.  As I was shopping at Pavilions for food and drinks for the party, they totally brought back memories of how special it was to get to choose a soda pop from the machine.  I love how things like the sight of a soda label or the smell of a certain food can bring back memories.  Of course I had to grab 2 packages of Coca-Cola 8oz 6pk Glass Bottles.

A party isn't complete without paper straws.  Em I right?!  I had some jute twine on hand and tied these black and white straws to the Coca-Cola bottles so guests could just grab them and go.

A brunch without Orange Juice just isn't a brunch so I came up with a yummy mocktail I lovingly referred to as a Faux-Mosa.  I combined Minute Maid Pure Squeezed Orange Juice with Sprite Cranberry for a fruity bubbly drink.  The hint of cranberry adds such a refreshing touch, perfect for brunch.

I added whole cranberries to the glass mugs for a splash of color.  Finding ways to tie in the red, black and white color scheme in small details makes a big impact on the over all party.

These garlands would be so easy to DIY with a trip to the craft store, but they were each under $10 so it was actually cheaper to purchase them instead of make them myself.  Plus I get to keep my sanity, so that's a bonus.

Keep an eye out for ornaments that can work in your party set up.  This NOEL ornament matched perfectly and brought a little holiday spirit without being over the top Christmas.

Keeping food easy to eat is a must for any successful holiday party.  These donut holes can be eaten without utensils and in just a couple bites, great for parties.  Plus kids love to help eat the left overs.

These Sausage Croissant Bites are another great handheld item and they are a cinch to throw together.

Holiday Brunch Sausage Croissant Bites

Ingredients: Refrigerated croissant dough sheets | Fully cooked frozen sausage links

Directions: 1. Brown sausages in skillet then cut in half and set aside 2. Roll out dough sheet and slice into 1 inch thick pieces then cut those in half lengthwise  3. Roll 1 sausage half up in each piece of dough and place on baking sheet  4.  Bake as directed on dough sheet packaging.  Cool and serve with syrup.

Pancakes are traditionally breakfast, but the added twist of strawberry and peanut butter chocolate spread take them to another level.

Thanks to a friend I just discovered this magical peanut butter chocolate spread and it's a little life changing.  I love to just dip pretzels in it while watching a little tv, but it's amazing with these pancakes and sliced strawberries.

Yogurt parfaits have become a breakfast staple in our family, but I gave these a little update with some crunchy honey nut flake cereal instead of granola.

I wanted a little something sweet for dessert and found these giant marshmallows that screamed out to be dipped in chocolate.  The only thing that I don't love about smore's is that the cracker breaks and becomes a huge mess before you get halfway done eating it.  These giant smore's solve that problem.

By crushing up the graham cracker and dipping the melty chocolate side in them, it keeps your hands and outfit clean while eating them.

The brunch recipe I happen to be famous for and get requests for at every family function is my Blueberry French Toast Bake.  It's off the chains delicious and filling without being too heavy.

You can find that recipe HERE and believe me...you are going to want to pin that baby for Christmas morning.

You've got decor, you've got amazing food, now all you need is a simple activity to keep your holiday brunch guests entertained.  We put together these darling vinyl labels to customize these $1 glass mugs.

I've put together a downloadable Silhouette file HERE so you can create them for your party.

1. Cut your 3 pieces to your label (black base, red "plaid" checker, text)  2. "weed" out the negative space of your plaid checker and text 3. Peel off the red plaid and stack it on top of your black base 4. Place transfer paper on text and transfer on top of plaid checker 5. Peel complete decal and place on mug

Possibly one of the hardest things about hosting a party is documenting it through photos.  Right now Shutterfly is encouraging everyone to document those memories because when you buy 4 participating Coca-Cola products you will enjoy $20 off at Shutterfly.com!  Offer will be executed via Catalina print-out at register with unique pin code to redeem online.

I hope these tips help make your Holiday Brunch less stressful.  I'd love to hear your tips for hosting an effortless holiday brunch.