tea party baby shower: the decor

this weekend was the baby shower that i've mentioned before. i think it was a success: good food and great fellowship and the mommy of honor felt very loved. all the components necessary for a successful party in my mind.




i decided that to have a proper tea party there must be no plastic present at the party. that meant i had to find enough tea cups and saucers for 30 people. oh boy. thankfully the endeavor was not that difficult - i had so many friends that have china {all white with gold!} and with my white dinner plates and white napkins the table was set!


as i have blogged about before, i made the centerpieces out of pink tissue paper. very cheap yet looked stunning against the bright blue tablecloth. i used paper doilies underneath the centerpieces. total cost for all the tables: $5. the key to keeping it so cheap was using paper. i had selected several scrapbook papers as my color inspiration and used every inch of those papers. i cut out tons of circles to sprinkle the table with and to place on the napkins as a pop of color. simple and cheap yet it was a nice added detail.

the final bit of decorating that i did was made pompom flowers for the ceiling and made a garland out of ribbons that matched my color scheme. 1/2 price ribbon at hobby lobby, so final cost for the garland was maybe $5 too.



the one "big" expense for the party was the tablecloths. $15 for a king sized sheet at target, then cut into 3 pieces and the edges sewn. for me though this was an investment. i love the color of the tablecloths and can see it being used at birthday parties and easter celebrations. and for a special someone's bridal shower i am planning for in march...

tea party baby shower: the menu

this is what really made the shower a success. i have very talented friends who made savory sandwiches and delicious desserts.

for some reason i struggled with what to serve at the party. i don't want you to struggle. i want you to copy if you would like!

we had chicken salad sandwiches served on crust-less white and wheat bread. i also made cucumber dill sandwiches on pumpernickel and my friend made tortilla spinners. all of these items were served on cake stands with paper doilies to continue the tea party feel.

my friends also made two salads and an assorted fruit tray. the final part of the menu was the most amazing part in my opinion.

charlotte's apricot and orange marmalade danishes:


melissa's white chocolate fudge:


and her cherry almond petit fours {garnished with white hydrangea which is not edible}:


and melissa's monogrammed sugar cookies {m is for micah, the baby girl's name}:


and finally melissa made mini carrot cake cupcakes which she embellished with toothpicks and paper that also had an "m":


the idea for food was to keep this fancy and dainty. i think my friends helped me to accomplish this! {thanks!}

of course there was tea, coffee and hot chocolate for non-tea drinkers.

tea party baby shower: tissue paper centerpieces

do you see tissue paper pom pom flowers on just about every blog?

i do.

so what is my response? copy it!


So last night, i decided to try one myself. my friend melissa had told me they were super easy to make. i was skeptical.

she was right.


i made a few large poms to hang from the ceiling in minutes. then i decided to try some smaller ones to see if they would look good in the tea tins i am planning on decorating the tables with.

they did.


see, for our guest of honor i really want to make her feel special - and she loves tea and flowers! problem is that real flowers are out of my budget. however, tissue paper flowers fit nicely into the budget, and if you try hard enough, i think you can convince yourself that they are peonies!




check out martha for instructions!

tea party invites

have i mentioned how i love to throw parties?


well, i do. if it is possible, i think it might be my love language. maybe my spiritual gift? ok, maybe not.


anyways, i have a great one coming up. a tea party baby shower.


first step, of course, is getting the word out for the shower. i needed ideas, so i started searching the internet. {remember, i am a copy cat.} found this idea:



this was my inspiration. close to what i wanted, but not it completely. i wanted something where you had to pull the teabag out of the teapot.


so with a little bit of originality, this is what i came up with:


like it? go ahead! try it!

supply list:
- teapot pattern {printed from internet. i did a google images search and found it}

- scrapbook paper {got mine on sale at hobby lobby for 30 cents a sheet}

- white cardstock {about the same price as scrapbook paper}

- white ribbon {again, half price at hobby lobby for $1}

- glue or modge podge {maybe $3 a bottle? i've had mine a long time, so i don't remember...}

- needle


how to:
1.) on half of the paper trace the teapot face up.



2.) on the other half, trace the invite face down. this is so you can glue the two pieces together to have a front and a back. {i learned this lesson the hard way..}



3.) cut out the teapots and glue them together. glue only on the white side of the paper towards the borders on the bottom half only. you want to create a pocket with the invitations so don't glue them together completely and don't glue towards the top. i stopped gluing at the "lid" of the teapot.



4.) i decided to embellish the teapot. i printed "tea for two" on cardstock and also cut out some red paper to glue on the front to show where the lid of the teapot would be. i decided tea for two meaning mama and baby!



5.) next is the "tea bag". I printed all the information for the shower on cardstock and cut them out so they'd look like a teabag. I used the needle to put the string on the "teabag".


6.) stick the "tea bag" inside of the teapot and your invitations are ready to send!