Mad Hatter Tea Party

On April 26th, I threw my best friend from high school, Phuong, a tea party. It all started out as a Christmas gift. I treated her to a "Lady Anne Tea" at the Aubrey Rose Tea Room for a Christmas gift and she redeemed her gift at the end of January. Phuong works out of town for the majority of the week and I tend to get a once-a-month or once-every-other month visit with her due to both of our busy schedules. Knowing this, I brought up her birthday and offered to throw her a tea party since we both love having tea so much.

March came around when I found out that I was pregnant, so I needed to plan the party in between all the other activity that was soon to happen (renovations, Easter, visitors, travelling) so I wouldn't get burned out.

I planned to have a "Mad Hatter Tea" where people wear hats and there's an mild "Alice in Wonderland" air to the event. The colors were vibrant - hot pink, lime green, and aqua blue. After much searching, we held the party at Briercrest Park in La Mesa - a nice quiet park with gentle rolling terrain.

The invitations reflected the tone of the event. It was a hot pink gate-fold invitation with a white overlay accented with rhinestones, with a green and blue ribbon around it. I made it the perfect size to fit our leftover RSVP envelopes from our wedding.



A strong Santa Ana blew in the day of the party so it was warm and windy - especially for April. We struggled a bit with the curtains and prayed that the tent wouldn't blow over. But everything turned out just fine.

I kept the menu close to a traditional tea with a few modern twists...

(Thanks Sherry for taking photos! I can't believe I forgot my camera!!)

1st Course
Sun-Dried Tomato Palmiers
Feta and Olive mini-quiches

2nd Course
Cucumber Sandwich
Egg-Salad Sandwich
Smoked Salmon Pinwheel
Pear, Proscuitto and Gorgonzola Sandwich

Intermezzo

Grapes, Strawberries, Melon

3rd Course/Dessert
Ginger Scone with Cream and preserves
Cherry Petit Fours (birthday cake)
Mini Pecan Tassies

Beverages
Assorted Hot Teas
Iced Tea
Water
Strawberry Citrus Sparkler

Decorations
Pink and Blue Lanterns, Green tissue pom hanging
Fuschia Petunias with Teapot centerpiece and playing cards

Favors
Pink, Green, and Blue Purse Boxes
filled with decorated sugar cubes, a peach tea bag
and a heart-shaped cookie inscribed with "Eat Me"

I brought my fine Noritake china to the party and was pretty confident that they would stay intact. I got out our 10x10 pop up tent and some old curtains for extra shade. Am I glad I brought that!

The party went well even with being 12 weeks pregnant. I think I handled it in stride. I battled an ant raid in our kitchen while preparing the food and had to deal with a kitchen that didn't have all the small appliances and tools in place. Nor did we have floors in the house!

I'm glad that none of that reflected during the party. The guests really enjoyed the party and that's all that matters.