Mother Daughter Tea

Sometime, early in the new year, maybe late January or early February, at one of my mom get-togethers, Tabitha mentioned that she was feeling like hosting a tea party!  I had had a similar notion just days before, so we started to play for a faraway May date!

Tabitha booked us a date with the church. Over the course of the two or three months I found a tea service set at a thrift store, for $10!, and a few teapots to compliment the set.  The set was pretty, with 13 cups and saucers.

As the date got closer, Grace started helping me plan, and create things for the party!  We pulled out a few things to put on a prize table, for the winners of the games that Tabitha had planned! = )

Grace made a Waldorf Salad.  It came out pretty tasty, though I don't recall ever having it previously.

I made some finger sandwiches, while Grace drew up a guide sheet.

I didn't have any plates that gave off a tea 'vibe' so I pulled out an idea that I'd seen years ago online, but never made!

Billy had to help me punch the final three plates, because my hands were so worn out, and Grace's hands just weren't quite strong enough for whatever finish they put on these paper plates!

Grace did an excellent job of threading and eventually had enough confidence to help tie the bows too!

The next morning, I trimmed the beautiful bush outside of my kitchen window, because some of the boughs were rubbing up against the house, and the discarded branches came with us to the tea as decor.

Grace and Lily were both excellent helpers!  They helped every step of the way.  The flowers and fans were from Tabitha's stash, and the hoop made another appearance from the basement!

Alice, Emily, and Juliet had gone to a rummage sale with my mom that morning, so she dropped them off at the tea, which meant I got to have all four of my girls there with me!!!

The food pictured is just what Tabitha and I brought, more arrived as more guests arrived, but I didn't get updated pictures.

Looking at this picture, I realize that I forgot to take the sacrificial bread off of the sandwiches before snapping it. oops.

When I found the cute little metal cups, I thought they would be perfect for the Waldorf salad, and so they were!  I also found some doilies hiding in the craft bin in the basement!

The Jello salad was really good, but meant for a bigger crowd, I think!

Everyone one got to take their teacup home as a favor, but the teapot became the prize of the hot potato game!  The other teapots also got to go to new homes, because I didn't need any of it.  I think Grace might have picked out a prize at some point though*.   I did end up bringing home the vase with the branches, and it sat on the table for another week, looking quite pretty. = )

It was a lovely, beautiful, day, and I was so happy to spend some time with all of my girls. = )

When Tabitha posted about it, I'm pretty sure she called it the first annual one of these, so this might be the first of many! ; )

later days

*which was crazy, since the prizes came from our house!

edit 5-14-25: backdated for continuity.

Murder Mystery: A Murder on the Grill

 At the end of last school year, Tabitha and I made plans to co-host a murder mystery party at her house!

I collected things for a few months, and when we went to set up, I was pleased with how well it turned out, since it didn't feel like much!

Michael manned the grill for us, cranking out burgers and hot dogs (and asparagus!)  Kristy brought some cornbread and streusel muffins, with some candy corn mixture, that I did not try.  I brought corn on the cob, buns, chips, and some condiments. It was quite a feast! Once the flies found us, we had to cover the food. 

These cool sunglasses that I had, acted like a real time filter!

It was a laid back affair, Tabitha invited some non-playing detectives, so everyone got to make some guesses!  As a side note, I totally stole some of these pictures from her facebook page, so I can only claim some of them as my own. = )

Tabitha was the lovely Ms. Kansas, Michael a rebellious mechanic.

David was an en vouge musician, while Kristy was the darling kid sister of the deceased.

Billy was a Russian scientist who defected (to Kansas?), and I was a divorcee with money. (and cool glasses)

Some of the bonus detectives!

These ladies had speaking parts, but were not suspects.  

Who dunnit?

It was Tabitha!  Or Tabitha's twin maybe?  lol.  

It was a really fun time, and I'm so glad that we got to pretend to time travel back to 1950s Kansas!  We ate, we laughed, we acted sus, and the weather was perfect for it!

Can't wait til the murderer strikes again! ; )

later days

As a side note, I bought a dress just for this event, 6 weeks in advance, and it took forever to arrive (I didn't realize it was coming from China.)  The reviews recommended ordering up a size, so I did, and it was too big. = (  I was so sad, and there was no time to order another one.  I attempted some simple alterations, but the fit was wrong, so it just didn't look good. 

I ended up in my fallout costume again, so Grace assumed we were going to another fallout party! lol.