M. Julia Pflum celebrated her 91st birthday this past weekend at a party thrown by her daughter, Julie Davis, right, and her granddaughter, Kathryn, left. Davis used simple ideas and followed a bunny theme to dress the table for the occasion, below.

Some people live to plan their next party. Julie Davis of Bristol is one of them.

Having an aunt who made it to the Pillsbury Bake-Off helped fuel her passion for cooking.

Her career choice of flight attendant was a clear signal of her sociability and desire to serve people.

“I just love to get things ready for parties, from the flowers to the food,” she said.

“And everything must have a theme.”

Born in Indianapolis, she’s called Rhode Island home for just 11 years. With husband Larry, Davis has lived in Texas and Colorado and Ohio, where she was Mrs. Springfield for the Mrs. America beauty pageant.

These days, she is one of the state’s editors for Taste of Home, the Wisconsin-based food magazine that has 3.5 million subscribers. All the recipes in it are submitted by home cooks who serve as “editors” by submitting recipes to be tested in the kitchens at magazine headquarters in Greendale, Wis. She signed up for the non-paying position four years ago and while she waits to have a recipe published, she continues to cook here at home.

A bridge player, Davis has six parties a year that serve as bridge luncheons.

But this year’s big party was last Friday when she held a 91st birthday celebration for her mother, M. Julia Pflum, with 21 guests for a sit-down luncheon.

The theme, being so close to Easter and owing to the fact that her mother collects Herend figurines, made it easy to choose — bunny rabbits.

All the seats were marked with a place card with a pink bunny cutout. Bouquets of tulips lined the table as did wine goblets in a variety of shades including green, purple, gold and burgundy. She bought giant globes at the Christmas Tree Shops to fill with jelly beans and candles. Green hatboxes were stacked to display one of Pflum’s Herend rabbits. A pink tablecloth was highlighted by a green silk runner that she bought as a skirt at a thrift store for $1.

“My daughter tells me I don’t see what other people see,” she said.

Her eye connects what appear to be unconnected dots to create a beautiful tableau.

“If everything looks good, you know the food will look good,” she said. “I also like to give people a lot to look at.”

But all of that happens with a plan.

Davis starts early planning a party, getting all her ideas down on paper. As she starts shopping, a theme evolves. When she plans the menu, she mixes and matches dishes she can do ahead and offers two choices in each course or category.

For her mother’s party, she made a brisket ahead but made the second main course, clams over fettuccine, just before serving. She offered both biscuits, which she made that morning, and orange blossom muffins she had made ahead. She’s been making those muffins for 30 years. She started making this 150-year-old recipe when she lived in Dallas.

Davis made two vegetable dishes, a do-ahead crunchy Oriental salad made with uncooked ramen noodles and a simple, last-minute dish with peas and mint. For dessert, she made bunny sugar cookies and one special cookie for her mother. That was in the shape of an alligator. Pflum lived in Florida for 36 years and Davis likes to honor that memory with the “Florida Easter Bunny.”

Davis asked all the guests to dress in pink and green to complete her spring-like theme.

“That’s another thing that makes it fun,” she said.

Fun and food always make for a perfect party theme.

gciampa@projo.com