Pink Tea Party

"Enjoy life sip by sip, not gulp by gulp"  The Minister of Leaves

 My sweet daughter has enjoyed tea parties all her life.  When she was in preschool she had them every day.  She'd set up one of her little tea sets and then get whoever was around to sit and enjoy a cup with her.  She would carefully and very seriously hold the lid of her teapot and pour a cup of pretend tea all the while chatting away.  It always made me smile when it would be her daddy sitting on the floor and holding a tiny cup in his hand.  Sometimes her younger brother would be the one sharing tea but it was usually the result of a trade:  when the tea party was over she would have to play cars with him.  It used to frustrate him, though, because her idea of  'playing cars' didn't match his.  She would turn the cars into mommy, daddy, and baby cars.  Poor Logan wanted to line them up and race them!

Victoria-Rose hosts at least two tea parties a year at our home.  One is her birthday tea party that is Christmas holiday inspired and the other is just before school begins so that the girls can get together one more time before they leave.                                                  She often hosts small tea parties at college, too.  She recently wanted to make scones in her little dorm kitchen but didn't have a mixer.  That didn't stop her!  She mixed it all with her hands!  Needless to say, I sent her back with a mixer the next time she was home.

This time Victoria-Rose asked her friend Lyda to spend a few days with us and they prepared most of the savories for this party together.  Both girls enjoyed working in the kitchen.  They made curried chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, and strawberry sandwiches with herbed cheese.   I had pinned a picture of cheese filled tomato 'tulips' and Lyda was anxious to make those.  She also made the most beautiful strawberry 'roses' to decorate the strawberry sandwich platter.

 The girls filled little pink bags with candies for small party favors.  Each guest also received a fun pink or white feather boa.

The brass bell in the background of this picture was my grandmother's.  She used to use it as a secret signaling device.  (She was too much of a lady to call us to come in from play.)  One ring out her window meant 'look at me', two rings meant 'throw kisses', three rings meant 'come in now'.

 Each guest was asked to pick a tea cup to use for the party.  I set out the ones from my collection that were the pinkest onto the kitchen table.  The tablecloth is a vintage one from the 40's and has a pale pink background.

Victoria-Rose's favorite cup is the white one with little pink roses.  It is Duchess bone china, made in England, and found in a Hospice resale shop.

The girls thought it would be fun to use different pretty sterling spoons from my collection for each place setting.  The other sterling is Delacourt by Lunt and was chosen by me in high school.  I received my first place settings as a graduation gift from my mother.  The gold rimmed china was my dear stepmother's.  The lace trimmed and hand embroidered top tablecloth was found in an antique store.  The pink one underneath is one I bought about 20 years ago.

Lyda did the beautiful calligraphy on the place cards.

 The lovely hand embroidered and lace trimmed napkins were a recent find in another antique store here in St. Petersburg.

 The pink glass tea cups and goblets were found at the Hospice resale shop.  I filled the cups with baby pink roses and baby's breath and the goblets with pink tea lights.  The pink glass candlestick holders are depression glass with etched flowers, another antique find.

 The 'tulips' were made using Marzano tomatoes from Village Farms and are grown in Texas.  Delicious!  Their 'stems' are just chives inserted into holes poked into the top of the tomatoes.

 I made several sweets for the party.  The (out of focus...sorry!) tray below displays the pink iced cranberry and white chocolate cookies and the raspberry cream filled chocolate cups.

This next photo (again, out of focus) is the almond cream and berry parfait that was the last course served.  Victoria-Rose and I chose three different teas to serve to the girls:  Teavana's Blackberry Mojito (green), Adagio's Apricot (black), and Teavana's Strawberry Pu-Erh (black).

 “The very act of preparing and serving tea encourages conversation. The little spaces in time created by teatime rituals call out to be filled with conversation. Even the tea itself–warm and comforting-inspires a feeling of relaxation and trust that fosters shared confidences.”
Emilie Barnes, If Teacups Could Talk