Hosting Easter for the First Time: Colored Glass and Floral Prints!

I feel like good bloggers would post their Easter decor before Easter. But I wanted this to be more of the details of us hosting Easter in our home for the first time! And there just wasn’t time to decorate much before the holiday.

We haven’t hosted a family holiday since Thanksgiving 2014 !!! The past few years, we’ve held a “Wilsonecker” Easter at my in-laws, but this year was too busy. I think we did a pretty good job though, so maybe we will host again!

First of all, our normal table only fits six people. We had a little trouble figuring out what to do, but ended up just using an 8-foot folding table. Once we setup the folding table, we realized how narrow it was… so we wouldn’t be able to pass food around the table, and used our other table for a buffet. Something to think about if you’re ever in this situation!

And of course, Eric started the meal by saying “I’m always worried that my dining room floor won’t hold more than 4 people, but it seems to be doing fine.” #oldhouseproblems … Apparently, he really is concerned about this. We need to support the floor ASAP (at least it’s a good rainy day activity).

I found this beautiful Kate Spade tablecloth at Home Goods, and my father-in-law pointed out that it would be a nice fabric for a dress. Which is true, so I might go back to HG and buy another haha.

Originally, we were planning on 11 people. The table only fit 10, so I set it for 10 and planned to pull up a chair after everyone was settled. Unfortunately, only 9 were able to make it yesterday, which also means I didn’t need to pull up a seat. Because of the narrow table situation, we did end up moving the flowers when we started eating because we had no space for the butter dish or water pitcher!

Stuffed Easter Bunny Favors

I know this is the moment you’ve been waiting for – let’s talk about these bunnies! I feel like you can’t leave a Mostly Sewing event without something handmade! While these go against my minimalist tendencies, they were really adorable, and I hope everyone liked them.

Here’s the Bunny Softie tutorial.

I used a fabric I bought at least 5 years ago (actually probably closer to 7)… It was supposed to be a beach coverup, but I never ended up making that, so I just wanted to use it!

In true Danielle style, I made these on Saturday (aka the day before Easter) — running to Joann’s to buy stuffing at the last minute. I also made a dress on Saturday, but more on that later this week.

Overall, a very simple project (unless you’re making 12 of them), and the longest part was hand sewing the stuffing hole… but at least I had a few episodes of Project Runway to keep me company.

The ribbons came from my stash, and I bought most of it over 10 years ago.

Depression Glass Dishes

Another favorite feature of my table was the antique colored depression glass. The amber glasses were actually my great-grandmother’s (on my mom’s side)! The pink salad dishes were my grandma’s (on my dad’s side). I didn’t have quite enough of the glasses, so I mixed with green glasses from a local antique shop (The Stock Exchange).

amber depression glass for Easter table setting

amber glasses

pink depression glass salad plate for Easter table setting on MostlySewing.com

pink salad dish

I loved incorporating this little bit of color and interest on my table! We ended up using the pink plates for dessert (I should have taken a photo of the dessert selection!), because of the buffet style dinner setup.

Other Details

Here’s a few other details to round out the table:

Dinner Plates: Emma Collection from Pottery Barn
Napkins: Linen Napkins from Pottery Barn
Rattan Placemats/ Chargers: Some from Target years ago, others from Pier 1
Tulips from the local farm market!
Vases are random
Pink pitcher is also my grandma’s
Dining chairs are actually my outdoor chairs from Ikea… they were narrow enough to fit all the guests at the table

You should know – I didn’t cook anything. My parents are caterers and they brought all the food! We had prime rib, salmon, veggies, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls… and more. The desserts were insane – so many and delicious.

Final Thoughts on Hosting

I need more serving utensils and platters. I’m not sure I have even 1 real serving spoon… so that’s always embarrassing (of course, Pierrot Catering to the rescue every time). And I always need a bag of ice. I also forget that other people put milk in their coffee… I drink it black (thank you whole30), sooooo my mom always reminds me about sugars and creamers.

I’ve actually had small panic attacks before having people over, so I’m learning what needs to happen to avoid that. This time I really planned ahead (my violin students saw the table set on Friday), and it helped a lot. Even though it seems like I was making crafts at the last minute, I knew they weren’t essential to the event.

The only problem with planning ahead is keeping my dog away from the dining table in the middle of her zoomie runway… i was pretty nervous she would get wrapped up in the tablecloth and ruin everything haha.

On Easter, my dog was as much of an angel as she could be for being an extremely-hyper giant poodle puppy hahaha. We took her for a long walk before guests arrived (FYI – this does not tire her out, but it’s a valiant effort) and put her in the crate while we were eating.