A CHILDREN’S EASTER TABLE COLLABORATION with MERRIMENT DESIGN

When Kathy Beymer of Merriment Design asked me to create a tablescape to go with her sweet Easter basket place cards, I was thrilled. Kathy is a Pinterest super star, with 4.7 million monthly views of her clever DIY projects that have been featured everywhere from HGTV to The Knot Magazine. Her motto is "handmade not homemade".

Her mini-paper basket place cards are perfect for the children's table, so I set it with kiddos in mind. They are the perfect size to hold pre-dinner nibbles, foil wrapped chocolate bunnies, or pair of dyed Easter eggs. Kathy's easy tutorial for creating the baskets includes printing instructions, but you could handwrite the names if you prefer. And the colors are endlessly customizable, allowing you to coordinate the baskets with your table.

I'm a firm believer in making the children's table just as beautiful as the main table, while adding dashes of whimsy and a few sweet treats. The adorable spring meadow themed crackers (Victorian-style party favors that pull open with a snap and a shower of tiny gifts) are from Williams-Sonoma, and include small trinkets, jokes, and paper party crowns. The miniature chocolate bunnies are from Sweet's in Lake Forest. The table is set with my green glazed Majolica cabbage leaf plates, alabaster eggs, lavender twisted glass tumblers from M on the Square, and sunny King Alfred trumpet daffodils in a favorite vintage faux bois vase.