How to Set a Beautiful Table for Easter Brunch

Feb 10th 2023

Easter table setting with colorful Easter eggs and spray of tulips

If you want to create a beautiful Easter table setting, remember: Details make the difference. It isn’t enough to dig out the “good dishes” (do people even have those anymore?) and matching silverware. Your table linens, centerpiece and decorations are all part of the overall effect.

Since Easter brunch is one of the few celebrations held early to mid-day, the whole feel is different. Unlike Christmas, there’s less glitz and glam, less reliance on glitter, candles and twinkling lights. Instead, with an event held in full daylight, during a season celebrating new life and rebirth, colors tend to be bright and the mood is more casual.

Although you still want to create an amazing decor and a delicious meal, Easter brunch seems more about enjoyment and less about perfection.

What is Brunch?

The word “brunch” describes a mid-morning meal (although it can be served later) that consists of a mix of breakfast and “non breakfast” foods.

The traditional Easter symbol, the egg, stands out both as a decor and menu item at many Easter meals. The versatile egg can be served many ways, including hard boiled, devilled, fried, scrambled, or cooked in an omelet or casserole.

Breakfast-style accompaniments can include bacon, sausage, hash brown potatoes, fresh fruit, pastries, breads, rolls, pancakes, waffles, bagels, cinnamon rolls and donuts.

But brunch also includes foods typically served later in the day, like salad, raw vegetables, pasta, potatoes, ham, turkey, roast beef or cold cuts.

Serving options can vary, also. Since Easter brunch often is a less formal meal than Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, no one will mind if you make things a little easier on yourself by serving it buffet style.

Start with the Essentials

The best way to plan your Easter table setting is to evaluate what you have and decide what you still need. Dishes and silverware are essential. So are glassware and serving pieces. If your set falls short, think about borrowing pieces or adding to your collection. Don’t neglect thrift stores for some great, inexpensive finds!

A table covering of some kind will protect your table’s finish and set the tone for your brunch decor. These days, however, a full tablecloth is just one option. Modern table settings use table runners, with or without placemats, to let a table’s natural wood grain or live edge shine.

Table Accessories

You can use paper napkins for convenience, but cloth napkins always elevate a table setting. Napkin rings are a pretty and fun accessory. If you don’t have any napkin rings, colorful ribbon works just as nicely. For a neutral color scheme, try using jute or twine. You could even string some colorful crystal or natural wood beads onto a short length of elastic for a quick DIY napkin ring set.

You won’t even need napkin rings if you head to YouTube to learn “how to fold a napkin into an Easter bunny.”

Many hosts enjoy using place card holders to announce seating arrangements. Again, social media is a helpful resource, offering ideas on how to make Easter place cards from Easter eggs, paper cut-outs and many other materials.

Brunch Decor Themes

Spring and Easter offer many different design motifs for your brunch table. Try one of these or design your own:

Spring is in Bloom

Who isn’t excited by the sight of the first flowers of spring? Incorporate that same exhilaration into your tablescape with a floral-forward theme.

-Set flowered dishes onto a flowered tablecloth
-Create a floral arrangement or centerpiece of real or artificial spring flowers like tulips, daffodils and hyacinths
-Place multiple low bouquets all around the serving and buffet table
-Lay a flower on each plate or tuck a stem into each napkin ring
-Arrange a spring floral garland down the center of your serving table or buffet table
-Hang a spring floral wreath on the wall above your buffet table

Shop the Look:

Bunny Table Runner

bundle of artificial long stemmed pink tulips

Artificial Pink Tulips

Floral Spring Wreath

Pops of Color

Mother nature is a master at spring accessorizing, scattering pops of bright color across a winter-weary landscape. Here are some ways to add the same cheery greens, yellows, pinks and lilacs of spring to your Easter tablescape.

-Mix and match your colorful glassware and china
-Make each place setting a different color: blue for Aunt Mary, green for Gary, and so on
-A pristine white table covering makes the colors of your china and glassware pop
-Scatter vibrantly colored easter eggs all around the table, gather them in bowls or use them as place cards
-Choose a bright centerpiece as a focal point for the serving table and buffet
-Tie a bow of bright ribbon around each chair

Shop the Look:

Woven Round Purple Placemats

Brown Bunny

Decor

Easter

Ribbon

Colorful

Candleholder

Pass the Pastels

Color doesn’t have to be saturated to be impactful. Soft and romantic pastel colors are also springtime favorites.

-Set pastel dishes on a white tablecloth, or white dishes on a pastel colored tablecloth
-Use pastel placemats and napkins to support the color theme
-For a buffet-style brunch, corral your silverware in a pretty pastel basket
-Scatter flowers or decorated Easter eggs in soft colors across each table
-Drape pastel colored Easter lights down the center or across the front of your buffet table
-You can even place a small decorated Easter tree on your buffet table

Shop the Look:

Easter Egg String Lights

Yellow Braided Basket

Spring Gnome Table Decorations

Pastel Easter

Trees

Easter au Naturel

A tablescape in neutral tones is calm and soothing, never plain. While it trends casual, a well-composed neutral table setting appears elevated and stylish.

-Set the table with linens and dishes in neutral tones
-Texture is integral to a successful neutral tablescape: Think linen, burlap, canvas or embroidered detailing
-Display fresh brown eggs in a woven serving basket
-Mix in wood, woven, raffia or twine napkin rings and placemats
-Introduce a refreshing touch of spring green to your neutral table with a few small artificial plants or succulents
-Tuck artificial greens into napkin rings; lay branches of greens or green floral garland down the center of the table
-Scatter multiple small leafy bouquets in small clear glasses around the table
-It wouldn’t be Easter without a bunny! A moss bunny adds a touch of green

Shop the Look:

Stone Brown

Table Runner

Round Woven Serving Trays

White Peony Garland

Moss

Bunny

Easter is a joyful celebration held during a cheerful time of year. Creating an attractive Easter tablescape and displaying Easter decor that expresses your own joy in the season is one of the most satisfying accomplishments a hostess can achieve.

Visit our Easter section for more Easter decorating ideas.