Not every Thanksgiving gathering is a five o’clock turkey. Some of the best are the morning after: pyjamas, coffee, cold pie, and the people who stayed over. Others replace the big dinner altogether with a relaxed brunch for friends who are spending the holiday with family later. This Thanksgiving Brunch Invitation captures that easy, café-morning mood with a striped awning, a slice of pie, and a lot of warm terracotta.
Three Weeks Out: Pick the Brunch Format
Start by deciding what kind of brunch you are hosting, because it changes the wording on the card.
- Morning-after brunch: leftovers, coffee, pie for breakfast. Usually the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving.
- Thanksgiving Day brunch: for friends who head to family dinners later in the day.
- Friendsgiving brunch: a full replacement for dinner, with egg dishes and a ham instead of turkey.
- Family brunch before travel: one last meal before relatives drive home on Sunday.
The sample text is written for a morning-after brunch on Saturday, November 28, at 10:30 AM.
Two Weeks Out: Edit and Send the Invitation
The card is 5 x 7 inches, portrait, on a warm cream background. Across the top is a café awning in alternating terracotta and cream vertical stripes. Its lower edge is scalloped, each stripe ending in a rounded flap, with paler cream flaps behind the cream stripes so the whole edge reads like real fabric. The awning is one grouped object, so you can recolour the stripes for a different palette, such as sage and cream or navy and white, in a single selection.
Below the awning, Thanksgiving is written in Sacramento, a thin, airy script in terracotta, above BRUNCH in wide-spaced Josefin Sans capitals in deep brown. A sage line reads pancakes · pie · mimosas · family, a quick menu that doubles as a mood.
The centrepiece is a white plate with a thick sage rim and a soft shadow, holding a realistic slice of pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream. Under the plate are the details: the date and time in bold, the morning after the big dinner in italic terracotta, the hosts and street, a line about sweaters and leftover pie, and an RSVP deadline with a phone number. At the bottom, the stripes return as a short band with upward scallops, and a small cream pill in the middle carries the brand mark.
Edit each line by clicking it. Keep the italic line short so it stays on one row; it is the line people quote back to you when they reply.
One Week Out: Plan a Brunch Menu Around the Card
If the invitation promises pancakes, pie, and mimosas, here is a simple menu that delivers without a lot of morning stress:
| Make ahead | Morning of | Leftover remix |
|---|---|---|
| Pumpkin pancake batter, kept in the fridge | Cook pancakes in batches and keep warm | Turkey and stuffing hash |
| Overnight French toast casserole | Bake while guests arrive | Cranberry sauce as pancake topping |
| Fruit salad with pomegranate | Brew coffee and chill sparkling wine | Pie slices with yoghurt |
| Spiced syrup for drinks | Scramble eggs last | Mashed potato cakes, pan-fried |
Three Days Out: Customize the Colours to Your Table
Hosts often match invitations to napkins or table linen. The terracotta on this card pairs well with rust napkins, cream plates and dried eucalyptus. If your table leans greener, change the terracotta stripes and title to sage and keep the plate rim cream; if you prefer a classic diner look, red and white stripes with a navy title work too.
The pie slice is editable vector art. Select it to see its colour swatches; you can make the filling more orange, the crust darker, or the whipped cream pale yellow. Swap it for a different piece of art from the editor’s Elements panel if your brunch is pancake-centric.
The Day Before: Print Place Cards and Signs to Match
Download the invitation as a PDF, print one extra copy, and stand it in a frame by the coffee station. It becomes a welcome sign for very little effort. If you print paper invitations, two fit on a Letter sheet; a matte cream card stock keeps the colours soft and avoids glare on the plate.
Morning Of: Share a Reminder
Download a PNG and send it to the group chat at around 8 AM with a short note (Coffee’s on!). It is a nicer reminder than a plain message, and anyone who forgot the address has it right there.
Brunch Guest Lists Need Different Wording
A brunch can draw a very different crowd from a Thanksgiving dinner, so think about who will read the card. Overnight guests already know the address, so the street line can become in the kitchen, whenever you wake up. Neighbours dropping in for an hour appreciate an end time, so change the date line to 10:30 AM to 1 PM. Friends with children like to know whether little ones are welcome; a short note such as kids and dogs welcome, pyjamas encouraged fits in place of the sweater line.
If you are inviting people who did not come to the dinner, add a word of explanation to the italic line, for example, a slow brunch to round off the long weekend, so nobody feels they missed the main event.
Coffee Station and Drinks That Suit the Awning Theme
The café awning suggests a coffee bar, so it is worth setting one up. Put the framed invitation at one end of a side table, then line up a pot of filter coffee, a jug of spiced syrup, cinnamon sticks, whipped cream, and a bowl of orange slices. For mimosas, chill both the sparkling wine and the juice overnight, and offer sparkling cider for drivers and children. Terracotta mugs and cream napkins tie the table back to the card without any extra effort.
Brunch Invitation Questions
Can I change BRUNCH to BREAKFAST?
Yes. BREAKFAST is longer, so reduce the letter spacing slightly or the font size by a few points to keep it within the margins.
Is there space for a menu?
The sage line is a mini menu. For a full one, add a second page with Add Page and use the same stripes at the top.
Can I use it for a Friendsgiving brunch?
Absolutely. Replace Thanksgiving with Friendsgiving in the script and change the italic line to something like brunch with the people we chose.
Brunch is the most forgiving meal to host: nobody minds slow coffee or a late start. Set the tone with a warm invitation and let the morning do the rest.
