Tea Party in the Garden

The ritual of having tea has been important to me since I was a little girl. Many of my childhood afternoons were spent sitting around my grandmother’s dining room table, sipping milky tea and eating her delicious homemade treats. When she passed away many years ago, I was lucky enough to inherit some of her bone china tea cups which I cherish. Though I am still a daily tea drinker, I rarely have the occasion to break out all of my fancy things. With warm Spring weather (though unpredictable - we had to reschedule once due to rain) and an abundance flowers in our garden, it was the perfect excuse to have a tea party. I kept it small with 5 moms and their children and it was truly delightful afternoon of sipping tea and enjoying goodies. Many thanks to Becca of the fabulous Birthday Girl blog who designed the invites & menus, crafted the cute faux fire and helped out with the styling and Sherry Heck for taking all of the beautiful photos.







Menu:
Tea sandwiches: curried chicken, egg salad, cucumber, caramelized onion & goat cheese, and peanut butter & jam
Sweets: Scones with homemade jam & lemon curd, almond raspberry petit fours, lemon bars, strawberry mini cupcakes, white chocolate cupcakes, raspberry tartlets, meringues, vanilla bean shortbread cookies and mini donuts.










Regardless of the occasion, I love giving party favors. For the ladies, I created a crepe paper party crackers filled with a handcrafted rose ring and a mini Lollia hand cream. For the kiddos, I had a hard time narrowing it down, so they got three - a handmade heart glitter wand, a sparrow ribbon necklace and a small candy bag.






I tried to use mostly things that I already owned for this party, but I did splurge on a few new things...

Vintage tea pots (I was surprisingly lacking!): Home 101, Berkeley
Paper straws, pink milk glass cake stand, glassine bags: Shop Sweet Lulu
Flower fabric for tablecloths: Sew, Mama, Sew!
Drink dispenser: HomeGoods

Many thanks again to Sherry and Becca for all of their help!