Tea Party July 24, 2010 – Posted in: Cooking

A few weeks ago, my sister and I started formulating an idea. My Mom had wanted to take her Granddaughters out for tea before they went back to school (my kids would just be tag-alongs as they’re obviously not school-aged yet). But since our girls are so young, we figured it would be more fun to have it at home, so I offered to host it at our house! I called my Aunt, cousin and Grandmother and invited them to come along, too. Our cousin is taking classes to get her Master’s so she was unable to come, but the rest of us had a blast!

I started planning 2 days before. I ended up grocery shopping at midnight Wednesday night, but boy am I glad I did! Taking the girls is hard and I was able to meander and actually concentrate on what I was getting. All day Thursday I baked and cleaned and Friday morning we were ready for our guests!

While we waited for everyone to show up, I tried to get pictures of my girls because they were wearing dresses I made. Sofie’s I actually made for her first Easter, and even though she was swimming in it, she pulled it off! 15 months later, it’s STILL big on her! Poor skinny thing. It’s a Laura Ashley McCall’s pattern and I changed almost nothing. Added the contrast, omitted the bows, and made the straps adjustable. Chloe’s dress is Made by Rae’s Itty Bitty Baby dress. I cut it out the size she provides, but used a 1/4″ seam allowance, and it fits my nearly 4 month old baby just fine! I also made her shoes!

I like occasions when I get to use my dining room! I used my vintage 1930s china for the big day. It belonged to my Great Grandparents. In fact, so did the furniture!!

I know traditionally the host would serve warm tea. But it was 98 degrees outside with about 1000% humidity, so I opted for iced tea! We had Strawberry Punch, Orange Lemonade, and Almond Tea.

To eat we had Brownie Biscotti, Pecan Tarts (that are to DIE for—and I don’t much care for pecans!),

peanut butter and strawberry jelly, chicken salad, and cucumber salad sandwiches,

this sensational Spinach and Strawberry Salad that The Hubs and I LOVE,

and finally Key Lime Cookies (I omitted the powdered sugar, and added 6 ozs of white chocolate chips), along with key lime cupcakes my Aunt found at Target.

We sat down to a delicious lunch at noon. My nieces were thrilled they got to drink water out of “fancy glasses” and eat dessert with their lunch!

The rest of the day the little girls played and the grown girls chatted. Before Meredith left she wanted to get a few shots of her girls together. But Sofie wanted to be included so we decided on cousin pictures instead. Have you ever tried to take a picture of 5 kids under the age of 7? In miserable heat? At the end of the day? With 2 separate cameras?

I just hope my sister has something cute!

Thanks for coming, everyone! We’re looking forward to doing it again next year!

…or maybe not because I just realized Sofie will start preschool next Fall! GULP!