The Pleasure of a Porch: Outdoor Entertaining

This post was originally published on the evening of May 11 prior to the Blogger Fiasco I told you about HERE. It’s now restored here — unfortunately without the comments that were made. To those of you who left comments the first time this was published, I enjoyed reading them all! Leave another if you like, but it’s certainly not necessary.
 
Welcome to My Place to Yours! I’m glad you stopped by for a visit … and I’ll hope you join me again. This week I’m showing you a quick tablescape from a bridal shower I hosted on Mother’s Day.
 
You may remember that the last time I was here, I showed you in THIS post how I embellished these sculptural metal plant holders to get them ready for a bridal shower I’d be hosting. Don’t they look cute standing sentinel on my porch … just waiting to welcome my guests?
pleasure1
 
It turns out that, due to a last-minute change of plans, the come-and-go shower took place on the porch rather than in the house. It was a beautiful day … with just a little breeze.  Perfect!
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I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the entire porch, so here’s a previous picture of My Place so you can visualize it. The porch wraps around on the left side of the house…

 
Both the bride and groom-to-be are English teachers, so I used books in my decorating. The bride also loves black and white, and that became another piece of inspiration.  Of course, Renaissance Man’s flowers always inspire me — and I put flowers in clear canning jars then set them inside a picket-style planter Renaissance Man made for me.

 
The baker’s rack from the kitchen got moved to the porch to collect gifts…

 
… and I hung a little whimsy above the wicker settee where the bride and groom opened their gifts.

 
On the L end of the porch, I served light desserts…

 
Two fruity flavored dessert cheeseballs …


 
… and individual chocolate and toffee yummies.

 
I couldn’t resist adding these black and white jelly beans, too.

 
And since we were on the porch, I decided to forgo mixing punch and had serve-yourself sparkling white grape juice and bottled water on ice in an aluminum tub.

 
I’ve had family meals on the porch before, but never a party. It turns out that I kinda liked it … and I’ll do it again sometime!  Once I decided what I was doing, it all came together pretty quickly.

 
Wind & Willow dessert cheeseballs are a favorite go-to when I want something pretty and delicious — but quick to make. I found these recently at Market Street when I was in Texas, but I usually buy them online at Voltaire’s Cup. Wind & Willow also makes the most delicious savory cheeseball mixes as well as fantastic dip mixes.

 
If you’d like to try the Toffee Trifle, click HERE for the recipe. It’s been a favorite of our family for a long time…

 
I’m joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday. Go there to see lots of fantastic tablescapes!

Comments

  1. I have never heard of a porch shower before, but what a great idea. The food and decorations (love the picket fence planter) are all wonderful. Cute planter with flip flops. Congrats to the couple. Joni

  2. Susan, what a great idea you had here. Everything looks lovely.

  3. What a great setting and you did such a beautiful job! Thanks for sharing…

  4. Perfect place for a lovely shower. I like the use of books and the black and white is lovely. I would have hung around that dessert table!

  5. Susan,

    What a lovely porch design! I adore your black/white theme.

  6. An absolutely beautiful shower!! I love the idea of using the bakers rack for the gifts, and your picket fence planter with the vases of flowers is stunning!!

  7. Everything looks dee-lish! And I love your post title: Porch Party! just sounds like fun!! And love the pop of pink flowers set in the white picket fence container!

    xo Lynda

  8. Hi lovely lady. I love the porch party!!! You did a lovely job putting it together !!!! I do miss your comments sweet lady. I hope you have a Great Day with your lovely family.
    xxoo
    Diane

  9. What a gorgeous and fun party, Susan! First of all, the little flipflops on your plant holder are too cute — very clever! You did a great job with the black and white theme, and the food looked amazing.

  10. Great job with the bridal shower. I’m hosting a shower next month, so will want to borrow some of your ideas. I love that it was a porch party! Thanks for posting. ~CJ

  11. You did an amazing job with the porch. The food looked scrumptious, and the arrangement of the gifts and flowers gave the porch-scape a magazine cover-line flare. Wonderful gift to your friends!

  12. Susan, your porch looks like the perfect place to entertain. I’d be out there all the time. lol
    The cheese balls look absolutely delicous. I’m going to see if I can find them near here. Your Toffee Trifle looks yummy too and I’m copying the recipe to try it. Love the black and white theme too.. really pretty.
    Babs

  13. What a beautiful shower! I love that you could have the celebration on the front porch. You made everything look so magical; so many fine details. Very nice job!
    Tammy

  14. Hi Susan, Love this party. All your special touches made it so memorable for your guests. I do love the black and white jelly beans; they were perfect. You are fortunate to have such a large porch for entertaining or just relaxing.
    ~ Julie