Celebrating Mother's Day With Multiple Generations

Coryanne Ettiene is a kitchen living and entertaining expert who appears frequently on-air, in print, and across multiple social media channels sharing her love of kitchen living and entertaining in style. Each week Coryanne answers questions from The Daily Meal's readers on the dilemmas they face while entertaining at home and celebrating the holidays, offering tips for being a confident and modern host.
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Question: How can I capture memories from a multigenerational Mother's Day party while also ensuring that I have an opportunity to play hostess and enjoy the festivities?

Coryanne: Photographs are commonplace at family parties, however, playing photographer and host can take away from your enjoyment of the festivities, and often times, the photos stay trapped in your memory card and rarely see a photo frame. I love creating guest books that can be gifted to the mother of honor as a parting gift; it is a great way to get your guests involved and an equally simple way to arrange. The idea behind the guest book is to have a blank journal book and pen available for all of your guests to write in, with an introductory letter pasted on the cover page that includes the date, time, location, who attended, and what you are celebrating. As the book is passed around, encourage your guests to note down what they love about her, funny stories they remember, heartfelt messages they want to share, or for those too young to write, a drawing of her. Involving your guests in a guest book focused on "her" will create not only a celebration of motherhood that allows you to enjoy, but also double as a family activity that will be cherished for years to come.