How to Throw a Champagne Brunch

It’s time to celebrate! What better way than with a bubbly brunch?

Instructions

Step 1: Invite your guests a month in advance. Spare yourself from being inundated with calls by marking the invitation 'Regrets Only.'
Step 2: Plan your menu. Because brunch is a meal that serves as both breakfast and lunch, it can be anything from a simple selection of breads and pastries to steak and eggs.
Step 3: Pick wines that go with your menu. As long as you have enough champagne for a toast, you needn’t be a slave to champagne if other kinds of wine would better complement your meal. Your local wine merchant can advise you.
TIP: Plan on one bottle of wine or champagne for every two or three people.
Step 4: Have orange juice on hand for Mimosas; peach nectar to make Bellinis; and tomato juice and vodka for guests who might like Bloody Marys or Virgin Marys.
TIP: Sparkling wine, which is less expensive than the wine that gets its name from the Champagne region of France, works fine.
Step 5: Keep dessert light, especially if your brunch includes lots of breads and pastries. Consider putting out bowls of berries and arranging fine chocolates on a tiered platter.
Step 6: Whip some fresh cream to serve with coffee. Offer rock candy stirrers and chocolate spoons. Have a variety of teas on hand. Decorate plates with edible flowers and vegetable garnishes, like radish roses.
Step 7: Do as much food preparation as you can ahead of time. Don’t forget to chill the champagne!
Step 8: Give yourself plenty of time to get ready before your guests arrive. Careful planning will let you relax when your guests arrive. Cheers!
FACT: Brunches first started in Britain around the 1890s but didn’t catch on in the U.S. until the 1930s.