Birthday Brunch

This year for my best friend’s birthday we had to get a little creative with a lot of bars and restaurant restrictions prohibiting us from having a celebration. So what is a more appropriate way to celebrate turning 25 other than a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY BRUNCH?! When we came up with this idea, there were a lot of logistics that needed figured out first (how many people to invite, who to invite, what food to have, when to do it, etc.). Luckily, two of our friends had secured an Airbnb for the weekend down in Southside in Pittsburgh, so we didn’t have to think about where to host it. The Airbnb had a huge second floor deck that was the perfect spot for the brunch set up. The property is linked here.

I handled the decorations and mimosa bar (because we all know that is the fun part 😉). For the decorations I hit up Five Below for tons of cute pink and gold decorations and then Party City for the always necessary 25 balloons. For the mimosa bar I wanted to make sure there was a variety of champagne, because let’s all be honest, does anyone really know what all of the types of champagne taste like? I got a mixed variety of extra dry, dry, brut and blush just to be safe and also went with a variety of brands. This is because some people might want to drink just a glass of champagne rather than a mimosa and so I got some nicer options and then some lower shelf brands for people who would be drinking a lot of mimosas. It worked out perfectly and it turns out 8 bottles of champagne for 13 people is a little overkill……oh well the more the merrier!

For the juices I went with orange mango, classic orange, and pressed apple juice. I had the carafes and mimosa signs from a previous party and bought those at Michael’s and Walmart. I just wrote on the signs with paint markers and added some cute designs. Now for the super fun part that makes it a mimosa bar and not just mimosas, the add-ins! Based on the juices I picked, I bought mangoes, pineapple, strawberries and apples. Mangoes and pineapple were a given because of how great it goes with orange juice, and strawberries are so cute to set on the edge of your glass. The honey crisp apples however, were inspired by a TikTok! I saw a video of someone making fall apple juice mimosas and they coated the rim of the glass with caramel and sugar then added the champagne, pressed apple juice and an apple slice. IT. WAS. AMAZING. It definitely wasn’t too hard for everyone to finish the champagne with all those goodies to add to your mimosa.

The last thing I was in charge of was the one and only DIY DONUT WALL. I thought how the heck am I supposed to get a donut wall in 4 days in time for this party. The answer was I couldn’t, so I had to get creative. I bought a foam board from Dollar Tree and some cute wrapping paper that matched the decor at Walmart and went to work. One thing I will say is it was so important to get the wrapping paper as tightly around the board as possible when I taped it on the back. Next I had to cut holes for the hooks. It is so important to measure, measure, measure. Make sure you cut the length in 5 sections vertically so there are 4 lines to put hooks on and 4 sections horizontally to draw three lines to intersect the vertical lines. KNOW WHAT HOOKS YOU ARE USING BEFORE YOU CUT THE SLITS. I blindly cut one hole just assuming that I would find hooks that fit, until I realized how stupid that was and stopped. I ran up to Lowe’s and picked up 3 packs of garage hooks which equaled a dozen. Then I went home and cut the rest of the slits and stuck the hooks through. I didn’t glue them in just because I knew with the donuts hanging on them, they would stay in. Then I took some heavier white paper I had at home and drew out “treat yourself,” then cut it out and glued it to the top of the board. TA-DA. Now all you need is donuts. Perfectly enough, my sister is a pastry chef at Oakmont Bakery and was able to do some custom donuts for us. You can place orders for donuts at Oakmont Bakery by clicking here!

My friends handled the food and the brunch menu. I printed them out on scalloped cardstock I bought at Staples and they were ADORABLE. It added the perfect touch. For food we went with bagels & cream cheese, croissants, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, egg frittata bites and then buffalo chicken dip, chips and salsa. Everyone loved the food and mimosa bar and it was the perfect way to have fun with a small group!

The cake was a custom cake from Liv Off Cake that was the cutest Minnie theme to match the decor and bring a little slice of Disney to the birthday girl’s party.