Hosting A Tea Party : Part One "The Collecting"

Our Open House at CI went great this weekend! Thank you to all of you who were able to come out! I sold a lot of my burlap pillows, my birds nest clips and some other miscellaneous smalls. I need to sell some furniture though! I 'm stuck! I have projects in the garage that need to move out! It's tough having such a small space to share when there are 80 dealers we are competing with. Mom and I are thinking we may need to expand a little. We have our names on the waiting list at a precious shop in downtown Homewood. Hopefully we will get a call from there soon.

I just had so much fun going through all of my tea party boxes in the basement. This is SO much fun for me because I have a love affair with dishes. I would LOVE to have one of those huge pantries in my kitchen that are custom built for different sets of china, everyday dishes, serving platters etc. etc....Sigh...One day. For now, I have it stashed away in my dungeon downstairs, in rubber made boxes. I hate not being able to look at it all whenever I want to. It's a sickness I tell ya...just like the magazines. (wink)...

I started planning our party MONTHS in advance because I knew that it would take a lot to host it and I knew if I waited it would be pricey. And if you know me, it's going to be done on the cheap. I made a list of all the things I thought I may need and here is what it looked like. Yours will vary, depending on what age your guest are.

1. Tea Cups- This was the most important aspect of my party because I wanted to use them for the party and for the invitations. In my case, I needed 24 because we invited 12 little girls. I didn't want the parents to have to bother with having the girls bring them back in case they might get broken. I just allowed it to be a pre party favor.
2. Serving Pieces- I was looking for vintage mix and match china with dainty roses, silver platters and glass. And don't forget the tea pots! You will need at least one per table. We only used two for the little girls because they all sat at the same table. We filled one with tea and one with hot chocolate for those who didn't care for tea.
3. Vintage lace table cloths
4. Vintage napkins- These were all mix and match as well. I didn't have exactly enough and ended up using some vintage hankies with roses on them.
5. Mix and match dainty, full size dinner plates...the rosier the better:)
6. Costume Jewelry- We allowed them to get "Dressed" when they got there in their party favor ( which I will share with you later) and in some big gaudy jewelry. They LOVED this part!
7. A craft to make and take home ( We decorated straw doll hats for their American Girls)

I started scouring the thrift stores, garage sales and antique malls. I had a really hard time finding all of the tea cups I needed. The antique stores were full of them but they were all priced way to high to use for an invitation. They varied anywhere from 12 dollars to 40 dollars EACH! I wanted them for less than a dollar:) I found about 12 of them for 25 cents to 2.00 each at garage sales and then it just stopped. I couldn't find ANYMORE! Don't forget, people, that God is in the details. He wants us to involve Him in everything....even tea cup collecting! I finally wised up and started praying about it and He lead me right to a sale where I found 12 beautiful Italian Tea cups that resembled the American Girl Felicity's tea set AND it was a fund raiser to help out a family in need of getting medical bills payed. Oh, isn't He just THAT good. God got a TWOFER...
( a two for one in southern language:)...I got my tea cups and He got to show a hurting family His love... Here are the cups! Aren't they precious?????



I took the tea cups I was going to use for an invitation, filled them with candy and wrapped them in a plastic bag. I attached the invitation to the cup and my baby girl handed them out to all of her friends. You can buy boxes to mail them if you need to. They were a HUGE hit! NO ONE turned down our invitation! How could you? If your going to give a REAL tea cup for an invitation, what in the world could be waiting for them at the party? Here are some pictures of the items I collected just to give you some ideas.

I used these platters for Sandwiches...They were free!! I actually bartered for them. I had a small group that had barter night at the end of every semester. We had a blast trading things!

This is one of my oldest's tea cups. My mom bought this in New Mexico at an Estate Sale.
Then later, I found a matching dish for a quarter at a yard sale. We used them both.

The lace table cloth was my Mother In Law's. I love the pearl beading on the end. This draped across the table.

I found all of these dishes and the teapot at a yard sale for 8.00 for all of them! Super deal!!

Okay...I coudld't wait. I just had to show you the girls party favors. My mother in law painted straw hats. She used a variety of funky colors and glued crazy things ALL over them. She used peacock feathers, boa, old rhinestone brooches, flowers...anything crazy and gaudy. We had them lined up the steps when the girls walked in the door. You should have heard the squeals...and they lasted all day! They wore their hats all during the party and got to take them home. This was the hit of the party! They were Awesome! Here is a link I Found where you can get some straw hats of your own to dress up. I found them here, at Oriental Trading.

These are some of the pictures of our hats! Some of The pictures are scanned in...Oh, how I wish I could go back with my photographic knowledge and start over...I could have taken some great pictures! I need a re do with my youngest:)
I am so thankful for my friend Laurie and my mother in law for taking pictures so I could party. I wouldn't have had a single one if it had not been for them.

Stay tuned for part two sometime this week! Don't forget about our link party and winner reveal for Wednesday! If your in town and near a computer, come party with us!