Back in January I hosted my first ever “café at home” after seeing them all over social media for a while. The moment I saw the first one, I knew I wanted to host an event like this in my home.
The first step of my planning process was to choose the name for my café and create a simple logo. After these important decisions were made, I worked on the menu. Designing both the content and the physical invite makes me so happy and is always my favourite part. From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to bake everything myself, so in order to make the process easier, I made sure to choose desserts that had to be prepared at least a day before for them to set properly. It really took a lot of the pressure off my shoulders on the day of hosting the café. I also printed the menu off for each of my guests.
Updating this post a few weeks later to add that I have also ordered some round logo stickers that I’ve placed on white paper cups. So glad I have decided to do that. 🙂
Next thing on my to do list was to create the invites. Normally I would have printed these off and sent them by post, but the date that worked for most people was a little last minute, so I decided to send digital invites on this occasion instead.
I also created some small name tags for each dessert, lemonade and juices and printed those off on card. I then folded these in half and placed next to each item from the menu to make it look more like a real café.
The day before I’ve created a drinks menu – purchased a big roll of paper and handwrote all the drink choices. I’ve also added a price next to them to make it look more authentic, but everything was free, of course. I attached the drinks menu to the cupboard above the drinks station.
Originally I wasn’t planning on adding any savoury options, but while I was designing the menu, well… it kind of just happened. I have not mentioned this part to any of the guests as I wanted to surprise them. Looking back at my first café at home event this was one of the best decisions I’ve made for the café as the savoury food options were a huge hit on the day too!
What I served:
Sweet treats:
- Orzechowiec – traditional Polish nut cake – made 2 days before
- Brioche & jam – baked on the day
- Mini cheesecakes – day before
- Choux au Craquelin – baked the day before, filled and decorated on the day
- Tiramisu Brownie – day before
- Basque cheesecake – day before
Savoury:
- Honey roasted carrots – on the day
- Puff pastry pizza – on the day
- Red pepper hummus – on the day
- Beetroot & Feta salad – on the day
Drinks apart from tea & coffee:
- Hot chocolate
- Winter Lemonade
- Freshly squeezed orange juice
- Freshly squeezed green juice
I loved opening my café at home for the day and having my friends over. Sadly, I didn’t take a lot of photos of the café, but here’s a short reel I’ve put together from the videos.
I’m currently in the process of planning my second café at home event and I am so excited. I can’t divulge what will be on the menu just yet, but I look forward to sharing another blog post with you once I’ve hosted it.
Let me know if you have any questions! 🙂
Had the absolute best experience at this special pop-up café.
– J
Excited for the next one. Thank you.