3rd Annual Tea Party

This year we celebrated my daughter's 3rd Annual (1/2 Birthday) Tea Party and I must admit that I am getting more and more excited each year to celebrate it with her. Even before I had my beautiful baby girl I knew that I wanted to plan an annual tea party for her since her birthday falls so close to Christmas (Dec. 23rd to be exact), so when the doctor said, "It's a Girl" the party planning began!



This year we celebrated at our home and the theme was Windmills & Butterflies. For an activity, we all decorated wooden butterflies with paint pens and they are now framed and hung in Aliyahs room. 




TIME FOR TEA

 
  
Our tea party menu included:

Egg Salad Sandwiches on Croissants
Spinach Pesto Pasta Salad
Grapes
Raspberry Oreo Truffles
Lemon Mini's

and for dessert: Strawberry Shortcake



For decorations I made several paper windmills out of girly spring paper I found in a booklet at Hobby Lobby. For my windmill tutorial please click HERE.





I'm also BIG TIME into wreaths right now, so I featured two for Aliyah's Party. One I simply used a wire wreath that you can get at any local craft store and then stuffed napkins into it creating a beautiful full and colorful decoration for our tea area. And the other I used a wooden wreath that I added the invitation for her party and a windmill. Came out so cute! (In fact I still have the napkin wreath hanging in the kids play room)




As always, we had such a wonderful time, celebrating with 4 generations over good food, yummy dessert and of course delicious tea!

Can't wait for next year's festivities.

Woo-Hoo Wednesday: Time for Tea

Before I had children, I always knew that someday I would have a little girl and would host the most beautiful tea parties for her and her friends. I envisioned little spring time hats, fluffy dresses, tea sandwiches, and little pinkies sticking high as everyone sipped their tea. Yes, I dreamed about things like this.

God blessed me with my beautiful little girl (and boy too--so we'll have to come up with something for him) and just so happened to place her birthday two days before Christmas. Perfect right? Perfect for a half birthday in June of course! And what better way to celebrate than with a TEA PARTY!

We have now celebrated two of my daughter's half birthday tea parties and have had so much fun doing so. The first year, she was only 6 months old and we found a little tea shop in our area. It was nice, but being that it was June in Arizona, a bit hot to walk around all the cute shops downtown.

This year, a few months before my daughters party, my grandma sent me this book...



I fell in love instantly and could not wait for June to come to start making some of the recipes.

Tracy Stern's, Tea Party, book is filled with so many tea party ideas and recipes; it is the perfect gift!

Although the day of my daughter's party I felt a little under the weather, (ok, a lot under the weather), everything came out wonderful! I purchased little spring time hats that we all decorated and now my daughter plays dress up with them all of the time! I am so anxious for next year's party...here are a few of our pictures: