Family Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt - 2015

Over the weekend, we once again hosted our annual Family Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt.  This one had the largest number of attendees to date.  With 47 adults and 49 kids who RSVP'd "EGG-cellent" (a.k.a. YES!) to our Evite - we were ready to make this another fun, memorable event for all of our guests!

All of our amazing friends brought so much delicious food - I'll be sharing a few of the recipes soon!

We served lots of champagne, and had vodka, cranberry juice, and OJ available.  Our coolers were filled with tiny water bottles, tiny sodas, juice bags, Coors Light (sorry Dad), and "not Coors Light" (a.k.a Modelo Especial, Blue Moon, Rolling Rock, and Shock Top).  I decided to label the cooler tops to avoid having to lift each one to figure out what was in them.   I also went with smaller water bottles and sodas this year because we always find the larger ones partially consumed and abandoned!

In addition to all of that, a few of our guests brought their own concoctions - Gretchen always delivers with a cocktail in this beautiful dispenser - recipe for this Gin Fizz coming soon!  Also, a home made pepper infused vodka was brought with everything to make the perfect Bloody Mary. Lastly, another friend made some changes to a traditional Incredible Hulk  cocktail (served in the mason jar) - we called it "Arizona Hooch".  

I love buying goodies from Oriental Trading for this party.  We filled buckets with hacky sacks and paddle balls to decorate the tables, threw mini beach balls around the yard, and purchased egg fillers for the 1600-ish eggs that were "hunted".

For the kiddos, we borrowed our friend's bounce house, our friend Mindy did a great job painting faces, and we hired Tim "The Balloon Guy" to make balloon creations for all of our small party goers.  

About an hour or so into the party, The Hubby and I collect all of the dads to disperse the eggs in the common area near our home. The dads love this tradition (at least that's what I tell myself) and have become quite efficient at the process. They have learned over the years that throwing the eggs across the grass doesn't work because then they just come apart.  We also freeze all of the eggs filled with chocolate ahead of time in an effort to prevent a big, melty mess once they are being opened. 

We create a little parade to walk across the street, and once there, I let the little ones go first and then have to listen to the older ones complain about it.  I stall with them by taking selfies and singing songs.  This year - a few of my friends took pictures of me with all of them as well - I love those!   The kids end up having overflowing baskets by the end of the hunt accompanied by big smiles on their faces!  

Before heading back to the house, we ask our guests to separate their treasures from their eggs so that we have the eggs back for next year's party.  

We had a lot of fun hosting the party once again this year!  I love to see everyone's photos - all of our guests always have happy faces and look so festive all dressed up!  Thanks to everyone who shared photos with me to post here!  

We always have an annual photo of the "girls" and the "guys".  Whomever is around gets in the photo and the women always require more photos of themselves than the guys.  Shocking, I know.  :)

Thank you again to all of our friends who made the 2015 Annual Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt a success!  Cheers...and we WILL see you in 2016 :)

Easter Party Favorites......

Over the years, The Hubby and I have hosted many Easter Brunch/Egg Hunt parties.  Our first one was in 2009, I was pregnant with our 2nd child and my oldest boy was just 2 1/2 years old.  Our very good friends from Cincinnati were visiting with their (then) elementary school aged boys and it rained.  Fortunately, we only had about 25 guests, the kids were all toddling around, and we "hid" the eggs around our basement.

Since then, our Easter Party has become an annual event and we have heard from numerous guests that because of us, Easter is now their child's (or even their own!) favorite holiday.  I will say Easter is pretty awesome here in the Valley.  We are pretty much guaranteed to have sun, it won't snow (I grew up in Denver - it snowed or there was at least snow on the ground on Easter), and there is potential for swimming.

I took a year off in 2010 because of the new baby, hosted again in 2011 and have hosted every year since then.  Every year is so much fun!  I used to prepare dishes, craft cute decorations, etc. but we have so many wonderful guests who bring fantastic food to share - I put more focus on the fun, the eggs, and the cocktails.   A couple of years ago, rather than buying new paper plates for the party, I went through my pantry and found all of the partially full stacks of plates & napkins from prior birthdays, holidays, and baby showers.  Perfect.

Starting in 2014, I even planned Easter "dinner" because of the over-stayers we had in 2013.  Easter Tacos were a big hit and may become a tradition.

Here are some of my favorites from past Easters...

Orange Julius Cocktail (bottom right in photo).  This was a mid-party decision to start serving these. Easy, refreshing, delicious.

Tex-Mex Deviled Eggs (bottom left in photo).  Kind of a lot of work for a large crowd, but worth it for an intimate gathering.

Peeps Pops (top left in photo).  These take a bit of time, but the kids LOVE them.  They are sugary and Easter-y.

Carrot Napkin and Forks (top right in photo).  I received TONS of positive comments on these! Didn't take too much time to put these together, but they made a nice impact on the buffet table.

Citrus Sangria (center).  Serving a signature cocktail at a party is always fun.  It makes it even easier to drink dispenser when you have a crowd!

You can see more about my Easter 2012, Easter 2013, and Easter 2014 on my blog.  We are very excited about our upcoming Easter 2015 Party and I will be most certainly sharing photos!