16 Mistakes You're Making When Hosting Mother's Day Brunch

Mother's Day presents us with the perfect opportunity to celebrate all the special moms in our lives — whether they're our own mother, grandmother, aunt, partner, or close family friend. One way to show your appreciation for all of these special women is to host a get-together and show off your best Mother's Day brunch recipes. 

If you're gearing up to host wonderful mother's all around, you're likely experiencing a range of emotions from excitement to nervousness — after all, plenty of mothers are known for whipping up delicious meals for their loved ones. Getting everything prepared to make sure that it goes as planned, that everyone attending your brunch has a good time, and that your food is a hit can certainly be nerve-wracking. Before it is too late, you should be aware of the most common brunch mistakes people make. These slip-ups can result in an unappetizing meal, hungry guests, a less-than-welcoming atmosphere, and so much more.

When you're hosting brunch, you want to make sure that all of your guests are happy and enjoy the meals you prepare. For this reason, it could be tempting to take individual orders for eggs and prepare them to meet each guest's preferences. Doing so will take too much time and can be a mistake that gets in the way of your entire brunch.

Even if you only have a handful of guests, cooking that many individual orders of eggs is going to be challenging. Moreover, getting the timing right to have omelets, scrambled eggs, over-easy eggs, and any other cooking methods for eggs your guests want will be challenging to finish at the same time.

Unless you somehow manage to time it perfectly, some of your guests are going to either end up with cold eggs or you won't have everything ready to serve at the same time. Instead of trying to make multiple varieties of eggs, stick with one tried-and-true classic option that can be kept warm, such as quiche, scrambled eggs, or an omelet — instead of all the varieties. You'll thank yourself when you're not running around like crazy trying to make so many different eggs the morning of your brunch.

Preparing delicious recipes for your Mother's Day brunch is important. However, delicious doesn't have to mean overly complicated. If one or more of the recipes you're planning has too many steps or is too difficult, you're setting yourself up for disaster. With everything else you need to do before and after your guests arrive, you don't want to spread yourself too thin and end up ruining your recipe or dropping the ball with another aspect of your brunch.

Plus, when you're hosting, you want to make sure that you are around to mingle with your guests and get to enjoy some nice conversation and food yourself. Instead of selecting a recipe that is going to consume too much of your time or leave too much room for error, opt for something that is more reliable and less involved, such as an easy quiche recipe, coffee cake, brioche french toast, bacon, or sausage.

While having enough variety and different menu options is important in ensuring that everyone will be able to find several things that they enjoy, you don't want to overdo it and offer too many different foods. If you plan an extensive menu, you may have a hard time getting everything prepared and ready to serve. Committing yourself to a full morning of baking and cooking before your brunch is a lot, you don't want to leave yourself completely exhausted and unable to enjoy your company.

So, how do you strike the perfect balance between too little and too much food? This is a difficult question, and the answer will likely vary some from one situation to the next. Try thinking about how many guests you have invited, what (if anything) you know about their dietary preferences or restrictions, and what you'll realistically be able to prepare. Then, make sure you have a good selection of items from each of the categories outlined above, and you should be fine.

It is essential to practice all of the recipes you want to make for your brunch. One of the reasons this is so important relates to timing. If you don't practice the recipes, you won't know exactly how long it will take for you to prepare them, so you won't be able to choose the ideal starting time. While most recipes will include a general idea for prep time and cook time, everyone — and every oven — is a little different. You want a more exact idea of how much time you'll need to prepare each menu item you're offering.

The other reason that it is so important to practice making your recipes ahead of time is so that you know what you're doing when it comes to the big day. Even more basic recipes can have a few confusing steps, and you want to be familiar with the procedures you should follow to complete them. By practicing a recipe, you can identify any errors in the recipe to fix when you're hosting brunch. Moreover, you can also make sure that the recipe actually tastes good. Many recipes sound good on paper. However, when you actually make them, you might find that they really aren't all that great or something you'll want to serve at your brunch.

No brunch is complete without at least a few sweet treats. Even if you're planning a more savory menu with glazed ham, biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage, and other similar items, you'll want to include a few sweeter options to offer the perfect finish to the meal. You can choose to serve your sweet treats alongside the other brunch entrées you prepare. Or, if you prefer, you might choose to serve them at the end of the meal as more of a dessert.

The good news is that finding some inspiration for something sweet to serve with brunch is not going to be difficult. You can find plenty of options when you think about breakfast pastries, such as cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, donuts, apple fritters, and danishes, or other fruitier dessert options that could pair nicely with your meal, like strawberry shortcake, cherry cheesecake, or lemon bars. There is also no rule saying you can't serve chocolate with brunch, so brownies, cookies, or cakes could also be a good option.

Buffets are the way to go when it comes to hosting a large group for brunch. There are several benefits to buffets over offering individually plated meals for each guest. First, with a buffet, everyone can control their own portion and choose the foods that they know they will eat. This will reduce food waste, make sure everyone will enjoy the meal, and prevent anyone from feeling obligated to eat something that was served to them that they may not really like.

Beyond the benefits of making sure that your guests are happy with what is on their plate and minimizing food waste, a buffet is just so much more manageable than putting together individual plated servings for your guest. If you choose to serve each person's plate, you're going to spend a lot of time not just scooping out the various items but also trying to make them look nice and presentable. This can delay the meal and may also cause the items on the plate to cool down before they are served to your guests.

In the U.S., Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in the month of May. In many parts of the country, you're likely to have gorgeous spring weather during this time of the year. It would be a shame not to take advantage of that glorious weather by hosting your event outside. If at all possible, consider eating outside instead of inside. Everyone can enjoy the spring-like weather while they socialize and delight in the beautiful meal you prepared.

There are several benefits that have been associated with eating outside. First, sitting outside might be more of a relaxing experience than sitting inside. You and your guests can take in the fresh air, and enjoy the views — even if it is only a few flowers and bushes in your backyard. Gathering outside is also a great change of scenery if you usually have meals indoors. 

Getting everything ready to host brunch and entertain guests is a lot of work. If you didn't already realize that before reading this, you certainly should now. Instead of trying to be a superhero, consider enlisting the help of a few trusted individuals. When more people are working together towards a common goal, it is much easier to achieve the result you want. 

If you have friends or family members helping you with preparing for brunch, you can each tackle different tasks to make sure the event turns out as planned. There will also be more hands on the day of the event, which can be invaluable for all the last-minute meal preparation and decorating that will need to be done. 

When choosing your helpers, you should not ask a guest of honor to pitch in — in this case, that would be any mother being celebrated. When you're making your to-do list, work together to assign tasks so that everyone knows what they are responsible for. Finally, another thing you might want to consider is hosting a potluck-style brunch. Not only will this save you a lot of time cooking and preparing, but it will also be better for your wallet and cleanup efforts after the event.