A few summers ago we had a Tea Party Bridal Shower for Sam a month and a half before her wedding in late September. We decided on a green and pink floral theme with vintage tea pot motifs. The invitations encouraged guests to wear their fanciest hats and join us for afternoon tea with the bride to be:
Everyone looked fabulous in their fancy hats:
For food we stuck to the green and pink theme with three different flavors of cake pops (strawberry, chocolate, and lemon-recipe and instructions to come). We also had light snacks including: a cheese platter, crackers, pinwheels, fruit salad (recipe to come) and mixed nuts.
We used mason jars with ribbon to hold the silverware:
The pinwheels had DIY paper flags that we made to tie in the tea party colors:
To display the cake pops we purchased green and pink flowerpots from Ikea and filled them with dry rice. This allowed us to stick the cake pops right in the rice so they appeared like flowers growing from the pots and were easy for guests to grab.
Since it was a summer tea party we offered two kinds of iced tea (black tea and passion tea) and lemonade for guests who didn't like tea. We labeled each tea dispenser with a mini chalkboard sign from Michaels craft store. Next to the tea dispensers we had a "tea bar" with a few different types of Starbucks syrup for flavoring, sugar cubes, honey and ice.
Our great grandmother had an extensive set of antique glass tea sets so each guest was able to use a glass tray with a matching tea cup. These added a fancy touch to the tea party and our Mom was excited that we could use these trays she had been holding on to for special occasions.
The tables were all decorated with white lace tablecloths and these fun green and pink striped pieces of fabrics we used as table runners. We re-purposed TAZO tea tins as vases that we filled with an assortment of pink, green and white farmers market flowers. To make sure the tea tins as vases didn't leak we set the flowers in small glasses of water that were placed in the tins. Each centerpiece also included a glass dish of cashews and party mints. The idea was to have the tea party decor all tie together but not match exactly.
As a "guest book" we had each tea party guest sign a kitchen apron for the bride to be. We used permanent fabric markers that will not wash out when the apron is washed.
As a thank you favor for each guest we sent everyone home with a small floral drinking glass that was filled with different kinds of Starbucks TAZO tea.
The bridal shower was a huge success and captured the feeling of a summer backyard tea party with loved ones we had hoped for.
Now we just need to find another occasion to wear our fancy hats to!
We hope this post can inspire other fancy tea parties with fabulous hats and great celebrations with loved ones. This tea party theme would be perfect for a birthday party, baby shower, or just an afternoon event with friends.
A huge thank you to
Ms. Abigail for taking the majority of these pictures for us!
Cheers!
CB & Sam
