I am excited to be hosting a Spring-inspired progressive dinner party with some of my favorite bloggers! If you’re joining me from one of the other ladies in the series, welcome. I’m delighted you’re here! You can learn more about me and this little piece of the internet HERE. I’m serving an easy spring dessert spread that plays double duty as your centerpiece!
Spring Porch Party
Without further ado, let’s head out to my porch. We use this space almost year-round, living here in Georgia. Since the dessert is on the table, I’m using our serving table for plates, napkins and cutlery. You can take the full tour of the porch and find all of the sources in this post.
Easy Spring Centerpiece
I am SO excited about this. I went to Home Depot and picked up an inexpensive piece of pine, already at the perfect length for my table. I picked up the flowers at Trader Joe’s and arranged them in 4 mason jars. Three to run the length of my board and a fourth for the buffet table. I usually stick to flowers in one color, but wanted to make everything as springy as possible. You can find my flower arranging video and tips in this post.
Easy Spring Dessert
For the actual dessert part, the board contained a buffet of fruit and pound cake. My thought was that some may want cake and others may go with just a fresh fruit plate.
I made the pound cake from the Williams Sonoma Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake mix but definitely prefer my homemade recipe. It saved some time in measuring, but none in mixing or baking. I also served coconut macarons. I only used one carton of each fruit. The board is skinny and a little goes a long way.
Here are the fruit and toppings I used:
- sliced pound cake
- coconut macarons (store bought – Publix)
- sliced peaches
- diced pineapple
- strawberries
- grapes
- blueberries
- raspberries
- blackberries
- sliced kiwi
- half grapefruit
- half clementines
- praline pecans (Trader Joes)
- fresh rosemary (as filler, mint would be even better)
- whipped cream (brought out for the actual party!)
I set this up Sunday morning and took pictures and then put everything away until Sunday night when my neighborhood girls came over! We lucked out in that Sunday was the sole warm, clear skied day in the course of a few weeks. I loved that everything can be prepared ahead of time and just pulled out at the time of the party.
Now, hop on over to the other ladies to see what they are serving! Thank you to Heather at Southern State of Mind for organizing us and inviting me to the party.
At Charlotte’s House
Dixie Delights
Dimples and Tangles
Haneen’s Haven
11 Magnolia Lane
Our Fifth House
Southern State of Mind
The Pink Clutch
This Is Our Bliss
Have a wonderful week!
DIXIE DELIGHTS DELIVERED
This is an excellent idea and definitely a show stopper for a centerpiece! How fun! xo
Thank you Christi!! It was fun and EASY to put together!
Wow–amazing! It’s gorgeous but yet simple, perfect for easy entertaining :) XO, Amy
Thank you Amy! I hope you are feeling better!
This looks SO flipping delicious! Putting together a yummy looking table is a real skill!
Thank you! I enjoyed partying together!
I am loving all the color! How pretty and springy!
Shelley
Ahhh me too!! Especially after so much cold. Hope your thawing out up there.
Beautiful!!
Thank you so much!
It’s gorgeous and looks great! So fresh…
Thank you!!
This is an inviting display, Amanda! Wishing I was your neighbor! I may need to steal this idea for our next Drinks on the Driveway nights in my neighborhood.
I wish we were neighbors too! I love your drinks on the driveway get together!!
This is beautiful, I always love seeing pics of your beautiful screen porch and all the fruit looks yummy!!
Have a great week!
Lindsey
Thank you!!
Amanda, how fun is this??? I absolutely love this idea! Your gorgeous patio as a backdrop doesn’t hurt, either!
Thank you Jennifer!! Fun partying with you :-)
I absolutely love this idea and presentation!! Especially for a girls’ get-together!! Just beautiful!!
Thank you Carol! It was very nice for a group of ladies!
what a fun spread! I love the colorful fruits and flowers!
Thank you so much!!
I really like this look. I have questions- Do you plan to use the board again? If so, did you coat it with some sort of clear coat? How do you keep the berries from staining the board? We have a friend who does beautiful eclectic woodwork, and almost always has a new bread board or cutting board for us when we see him. I use them as serving boards, but as those age, they become discolored, but they aren’t white like the pine.
Hi! I definitely plan to use it again. I was talking with my neighbors about making it a seasonal party where the board comes out with something different every few months :-). The berries did stain the board and I couldn’t worry about it at that point. That is honestly why I ended up putting them in the dishes. I thought about a clear coat but didn’t have time to research what would be food safe once I realized that it would stain. I might do that before the next party :-)
I’m sure you can use a little sandpaper on the stains to get rid of them. Maybe you can rub the board with mineral oil like you would do with a wooden cutting board to help protect it.
Amanda: I have a question about how you cleaned the pine wood for putting food directly on it. The wood would not be very clean coming directly from Home Depot, and I was wondering what you did. If you washed it, how long did it take to dry?
You are right – it was not clean. I dusted it off and then wiped it down with dish soap and warm water. I didn’t submerge the wood so I don’t think it took very long to dry but it was propped up in my dining rook for a few days so I can’t say for sure. I would guess overnight would be fine! I wiped it down again same procedure afterwards. (But then took it down to the basement so again I don’t know how long. Sorry!)
What a fabulous idea!! The colors are gorgeous and the dessert and fruits look scrumptious!! Love that you have such an amazing porch to enjoy and entertain on. Love it all, Amanda! :)