Who doesn't love brunch? It is an excuse to sit down with your best pals, open some bottles of bubbly, and catch up over delicious foods. If you are looking for a way to take your party to the next level, a DIY mimosa bar is the way to go! Whether you are hosting a bridal shower, celebrating an engagement, or having a birthday celebration, creating a mimosa bar is the perfect way to celebrate!
Not only will guests have a blast crafting their own mimosas, but you will be free to join the party along with them, leaving you stress-free with a drink in hand. To help you get started creating the perfect mimosa bar for your next event, Zola has created a seven-step guide that walks you through everything from decor ideas to drink recipes. Enjoy!
What You’ll Need:
In order to create the perfect mimosa bar, you’ll need a few key ingredients. Since one bottle of champagne is equivalent to around six to eight mimosas, keep your guest list in mind when shopping for your favorite bottles of bubbly. See our list below for the essentials you’ll need to make a mimosa bar that will impress your guests.
- Champagne: The number of bottles will vary depending on the size of your party. Consider purchasing one bottle of champagne per four guests.
- Juices: We used pomegranate, pineapple, grapefruit, and orange juice, but feel free to select juices based on your taste and color scheme.
- Garnishes: We used pomegranate seeds, strawberries, pineapple wedges, edible flowers, and rosemary, but any fragrant herb or complementing fruit will work too.
- Juice carafes: Put your juices on display in unique vessels for a clean look like juice carafes. We used 12 oz. carafes for each flavor of juice.
- Champagne flutes: Can’t forget the most important part! Make sure you have enough champagne glasses available for everyone attending the party.
- Sugar (optional): We created a sugaring station so guests have an option to add a sugar rim to their glass. In order to make the sugar stick, you will need to include a small bowl of lime juice or water.
- Decorations: Some ideas include flowers, banners, straws, coasters, and flute charms.
How to Set Up a Mimosa Bar
Now it’s time for the fun part! Follow these seven steps to create the ultimate mimosa bar for your next celebration. Feel free to add or skip any steps based on the supplies you can find and the number of guests at your party. Remember to have a theme in mind when setting up your mimosa bar. If you want to reuse your mimosa bar decor and supplies at your wedding, stick to the same color scheme.
1. Make all items easily accessible
Presentation is key and the same goes for your mimosa bar. In order to make sure guests can easily access all ingredients, set up your mimosa bar in order of sequence by starting with the champagne flutes and ending with garnishes, plates, and napkins. If you choose to add a sugaring station, make sure to have it at the beginning of the bar, since that’s one of the first steps when making a mimosa.
2. Create a backdrop
Use your theme to get as creative as you can with this step. For our mimosa bar, we used a wooden “love sign” and assorted greenery. Make sure to be cognizant of the rest of the room’s decor when creating your backdrop to make sure that it doesn’t overpower and stays consistent with your theme.
3. Decorate your bar or table
Whether you will be placing your mimosa essentials on a bar or a table, make sure to add some fun decor to complement the setup. Some ideas include banners, appetizers, confetti, and straws. For our design, we included mini muffins and cinnamon buns as appetizers for guests to snack on, as well as fun straws meant to accessorize their mimosas. If you’re stuck on what to add to your bar decor, fresh flowers will help liven up the space and go great with any design.
4. Pour juices into serving glasses and add labels
Pour your juices into serving glasses and label them so guests know what they are. Make sure the design of your labels works with the rest of your bar decor. We used heart shaped labels to match our love sign and banner. We also put our juices in 12-oz. carafes with wooden corks to compliment the rest of the table set up. Pro tip: Use clear jars so that guests can easily differentiate between the juices.
5. Place chopped fruit and garnishes in serving dishes
Depending on the type of mimosas you will be making, put your garnishes in serving dishes so guests can easily access them. Include a sign next to the garnishes so guests know exactly what to use them for. Adding garnishes to your mimosa is one of the best parts of the mimosa-making process, so get creative with the types of garnishes you include. If you’re stuck on what to add, edible flowers are always a great accessory! You can find these at you local farmer’s market or organic supermarket.
6. Include a sugaring station
This step is optional, but definitely a fun touch for your mimosa bar. This will allow guests to add sugar to the rim of their champagne glass, which will give their mimosa an extra kick of sweetness. For this, you will need a small bowl of lime juice (water or lemon juice will work as well) and a dish filled with sugar. Let your guests know that they should dip their champagne rims into the lime juice before applying sugar so that it will stick.
7. Keep champagne chilled
One of the most important parts of your mimosa bar is the champagne, which should be kept chilled at all times. A bucket is ideal for this so that you can have multiple champagne bottles on the table at once. We decorated our bucket of bubbly with greenery and edible flowers to match the rest of the decor.
How to Make a Mimosa
Making a mimosa can be done in four simple steps. We recommend a 1:1 ratio of champagne to juice. However, guests can serve themselves and make the mimosa according to their own preferences.
- Create a sugar rim.
- Pour the bubbly.
- Add your choice of juice.
- Top with a garnish.
- Enjoy!
Mimosa Bar Recipes
Included in the infographic below are recipes for each mimosa that we made for our mimosa bar. Depending on the number of guests and your budget for the celebration, feel free to include as many options as you like.
If you’re looking for more wedding planning tips, check out Zola's wedding planning timeline. Congratulations!