Mother-Daughter Holiday Tea Party (2011)

Last week, I wrote about the resurrection of our holiday tea party tradition in 2010; you can read about it here.  My then-four-year-old loved every minute of the planning and partying.  So, of course, we had to do it again!

This year, we started with a charming invitation on beautiful paper from Sarah + Abraham which played on the same silhouette theme we used for the older girls' birthday party in May:

(and yes, I realize that a lot is lost by blurring out so much of the text, but you can still appreciate the sweet silhouettes!)

Next, we tweaked tradition with a purple, magenta, and fuchsia color scheme (in which I re-used many of the amethyst elements from my youngest's christening celebration) and invited 42 of my daughters' friends and their moms to the party.  After waiting patiently for our guests to arrive...

...the fun started, and the result was vibrant in every sense:

We served tea sandwiches, madeleines, scones, quiche, fruit, three kinds of tea (including pink princess tea), pink cocoa, wine for the moms, and many desserts --- cake balls, chocolate covered oreos, macarons, cupcakes, cookies, shortbread, eclairs, cream puffs, and fudge.  There was no carbohydrate shortage.

After over two hours of playing, eating, and lots and lots of squealing, the girls raided the pink and purple candy buffet and filled personalized bags with their favorites --- m&ms, salt water taffy, lollipops, peppermint sticks, Hershey's kissses, chocolate balls, rock candy sticks, ribbon candy, raspberry pretzels, chocolate covered sunflower seeds, and more:

Four days later, we are still on a sugar high.  And we feel blessed to have shared this holiday tradition with so many lovely friends.  We're already looking forward to next year!

Sources
Invitations: Sarah + Abraham

Personalized Muslin Favor Bags: Perideau Designs

Custom Chocolate-Dipped Oreos: Sweeties by Kim

Cake Balls: Austin Cake Balls
Macarons: La Patisserie
Candy: Candy Warehouse & Lammes
Ornament Jars: Crate & Barrel
Apothocary Jars: Michael's; Pottery Barn
Amethyst plates and napkins: Crate & Barrel

Special thanks to Kathie Quinn for sharing her photos!


I'm sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch, Savvy Southern Style, Sweetology, Martha's Favorites, Silken Purse, and Design Dazzle.

My daughters' joint birthday party

So let’s start with the fun and frivolous part of my parenting: planning the girls’ birthday parties.  Two of my daughters share a birthday (same day, three years apart), and I take advantage of this economy of scale by hosting one big party for both. Because we host the party at our local children’s museum each year (lots of safe space for the kids to run around + someone else doing the clean-up = easy party on the parents), we are limited in our “theme” and space design options.  Without the ability to create elaborate spreads and backdrops, I instead try to choose a simple motif to carry through the party, from the invitations to the décor to the cake to the favors to the thank-you notes.  This year, the lovely work of Sarah + Abraham, which I discovered through Etsy, provided a starting point for inspiration.  They designed and produced these charming invitations which were printed on beautiful, thick paper:

After falling in love with the invitations, I decided to use silhouettes --- of both the girls and butterflies --- as recurring themes through the party:

We made the cupcakes ourselves, but dressed them up with Sarah + Abraham’s cupcake toppers:

Even the girls' dresses had butterflies:

I must admit I became obsessed with these personalized muslin favor bags: 

which we filled with museum passes and yummy madeleine tea cakes, in honor of our eldest daughter:

After the big museum party, where we hosted 40+ kids and their parents for pizza, fruit, and cupcakes, we celebrated with a family dinner, cake, and presents at home: 

These birthday angel figurines were given to me by my grandmother many years ago; I now "re-gift" them to my girls, for a bit of nostalgia:

Finally, in honor of our middle daughter, a sassy redhead, we drank:

I am grateful to the following vendors, most of which are mom-owned businesses (which I love supporting!), for their creativity, talent, and excellent customer service:

Invitations, cupcake toppers, favor stickers, and thank-you notes: Sarah + Abraham

Personalized muslin favor bags: Perideau Designs

Butterfly oreo pops: Sweeties by Kim

Pink cakes with girls’ silhouettes: Polkadots Cupcake Factory

Rose macarons: La Patisserie

Birthday girls’ dresses: Hopscotch Designs

Birthday Girl #2’s Headband: Lizzie, Izzie, and James

Petite fille onesie on baby sister: Chocolatine

Most importantly, the kids had fun; my sweet daughters were delighted by the “prettiness” of the festivities; and because of the party’s relative simplicity, I had time to celebrate and reflect on the joy my children bring me.  I even remembered to take some cake to my aforementioned next-door neighbor.  :) And now, I’m already thinking about next year!

(sharing with Design Dazzle and Celebrations at Home)