Pinkies up!

Way back in March I turned the big 2-9. To ring in the last year of my 20s I decided to have a Lady Tea Party. For years I have dreamt of a party - some of my fave ladies gathered around a table full of sweets, piping hot tea, everything drenched in pink with plenty of gold glitter thrown in for good measure. What better excuse to throw such a party than one's own birthday, right?

Less talk, more pictures, I hear ya.

Tom was a doll and snapped a pic of me setting up. Here I was putting those little gold animals on the tops of the nine mini cakes I made. Yup, nine. There were nine ladies (including myself) and therefore nine mini cakes...this is not excessive in my mind in the slightest. Mom, I blame you for this logic.

Just some close ups of a few of the cakes. I'm no cake decorator, this was my first attempt at making cute cakes (maybe don't look at those pics too close...). Super thankful YouTube exists, not gonna lie. Playing with butter-cream was so much fun! Easily one of my favorite party crafts to date!

Here's a pic of the whole spread: sparking water, non sparkling water, French Press coffee (you know...in case anyone preferred that to tea), fruit, cheese & crackers, shortbread cookies from a local bakery, the mini cakes, and arguably the biggest hit- tiny little cucumber sandwiches made by my lovely sister, Melissa. They may not sound exciting, but believe me when I say they packed a punch of flavor and were all gone before the party was done - they were a smashing success!

 

Here are just a few pics of the table. Naturally the second you start looking for a pink tablecloth they are nowhere to be found. This was not a problem an afternoon of craft store hopping with my mother, Melissa, and Kerrie couldn't solve! We found some pink fabric (which Melissa so graciously hemmed for me, thanks again, sis!) to use as the tablecloth, gold glitter scrapbook paper to use as place mats, and a basic black and white stripe fabric to use as a runner. Truthfully I would have preferred a wider stripe, but this is what was available and it turned out pretty cute anyway, if not just a little cross-eyed inducing. You can also see the little vases that I crafted out of Starbucks jars and Martha Steward craft paint making an appearance. I filled them up with all the flowers I could find at Central Market that were shades of peachy-pink or white. The white flowers lasted for WEEKS. I also took basic flour sack towels (found at Target) and painted "tea" on them in gold paint to use as napkins...tea towels that say "tea"...teeheehee.

The white dishes and pretty blue glasses were my Great Aunt Nan's. She was a lovely lovely lady who I have so many great memories of. She passed away a few years ago and these treasures found their way to me - I actually remember exactly where she stored them in her amazing kitchen. Using them for this party was pretty perfect as a Ladies Tea is precisely the kind of party Aunt Nan would thoroughly approve of. She basically wrote the book on "overboard entertainment" - she's the first person I've ever known who would decorate every room in her house at Christmas with multiple themed Christmas trees. My personal favorite was the red high heel tree, which was just how it sounds - a Christmas tree decorated with red high heels. I feel proud, and lucky, to have inherited even a small bit of her sense of whimsy.

Tom went shopping with me for tea and he found these adorably perfect sugar cubes. I just love that he knows me well enough to know that they would be the perfect addition to the party, and that he was sweet enough to indulge my whims.

I have a pretty big crush on Confetti System, but the DIYer in me just won't let me spend that kind of money on something I'd have such fun creating myself. These tassels were completed over the course of a week or so. Anytime Tom and I sat down in front of the TV I would tassel away! They aren't perfect, or an exact replica of what the pros at Confetti System would create, but they were sweet and handmade and added the massive dose of pink that the party called for.

Now for the most important part of any party, especially this Tea Party - the Ladies!

I'm so lucky to have such lovely, joyful, and indulgent friends! Not a single one of them vomited from all the pink - and that is impressive.

My camera died shortly after taking these pictures (nice job charging your camera, Amanda...jeeze) so I whipped out my phone to get a few shots of my guests and their cakes (in no particular order):

Gorgeous Breanne! One of my most favorite people and kindred spirit! I made sure there was at least one cake with a mini horse on it, this girl loves mini horses...all things mini really.

My beautiful sister in law, Kerrie - she loves cats, the color coral, and lets me braid her hair whenever I want. Love. Her.

My stunning sister, Melissa. Check out that hat! It was our great-grandmother's (Aunt Nan's mom, clearly they had much in common as well) and what better occasion to bust it out than a lady tea party!? I feel like the hat alone took the party up a level.

My other amazing and lovely practically-sister, Celeste. She is my #1 craftsistant, I love it! She helped paint the little animals gold, and make the tea cup candle favors among other things. She even matched her cake here, girl after my own heart!  

Look at cute Angie! One of the sweetest people you could imagine - that little gold donkey on top of her cake now has a home in her kitchen, love it!

Adorable Meredith! Look at her and the gold pig cake! She's getting married soon and I can't wait to help with all the wedding crafts and projects!

My sweet cupcake friend, Chelsea! She just so happened to be in town the weekend of the party - could NOT have been better timing. When we were in college, and then working in the same town right after college, we would happily craft away every spare second. So glad she could partake in all the lady fun! (Every time she comes to town she brings me cupcakes from my favorite cupcakery...that's a real friend right there).

Here's sweet Maggie - my sister in washi. We can talk paper for days...and likely have. Getting a card from this lady is like receiving a little piece of artwork - love!

Tea party selfie! 

Thank you to all my sweet lady friends and family for making the day so special! Also thanks to my husband for helping so much with a party that he wasn't even invited to - he always helps calm my hostess neurosis and for that I am forever grateful. 

My next post will likely be about the invitations for this party...yup, more pink and gold. After that will be all about the crawfish boil that we had for Tom's birthday though, so no worries, I won't forever inundate the blog with pink pink pink.