I love Easter! It’s one of my favorite holidays. The pastels, the flowers, the brunch! The past three years I’ve been able to celebrate Easter with a pair of close friends in Los Angeles and it’s always a guaranteed good time.

This year I volunteered to host and expanded the size of the group significantly! I invited 10 people over to eat. Now my table does not hold 10 people (or even 8) so it was fortunate that two friends couldn’t stay the whole time and two were coming later. 8 people was a manageable amount and an easier table to track down.

Since the weather has been absolutely perfect out in LA I was really married to the idea of having brunch outside. My lovely neighbor loaned me a table she had in storage and I started figuring out the rest!

With the larger crowd I wanted to focus my energies on two bigger dishes and one munchy item. I decided on Ina Garten’s Bread Pudding and a larger version of the Frittata Cups I normally make (You can find a similar version in my Friendship Brunch post). A fruit salad, some Trader Joe’s croissants, jams, and mixers for mimosas completed my responsibilities as hostess!

Thankfully my friends brought champagne, scones, and an additional egg dish so there was food to spare!

After brunch, a few of us stuck around to finish the open champagne and play croquet. “It was so very.”

All in all, it was a lovely way to spend more time outside on a lovely day. Now that I have this massive table I’ll need to make an effort to have more meals out of doors.