Miss M's Tea Party

Miss M said this was her best birthday party yet. (Of course, she has only had six of them!) The guests all arrived wearing their fanciest clothes - one party goer even had an evening bag! Miss M greeted everyone at the door and escorted them through the "curtains" into the living room.
The "curtains" made of tulle and ribbon left from another project. We did this before Mr C got up for the day and he said "Wow" upon entering the room. They are still hanging and will probably be there for at least a few more days!

We played a variation of Jenga using sugar cubes and something akin to hot potato, but with a tea party flair. One girl sat in the middle of the circle with her eyes closed while the others passed around a teacup. When the music stopped, the one in the middle tried to guess who was holding the teacup.

After the games, the young ladies were seated in the dining room. Cupcake Nana helped me prepare all the "dainty food". Fruit kabobs, tiny ham/cheese and peanut butter sandwiches, tiny pretzel twists, pink lemonade with ginger ale, and peach tea. We also had the yummy mints we made while visiting our friends two weeks ago. A few moms stayed for the party and they were treated to a veggie tray and chicken salad with red grapes and apples.
Ladybugs....grapes and strawberries on a toothpick with mini chocolate chips (tips down) pressed into the berries.
Raspberry tea sandwiches....theses were really quite good!
The runner is a remnant found in my grandmother's fabric stash, the flowers are from the grocery store, and the pink cloth napkins were thrifted. The glass dishes were borrowed from church and each girl took home a thrifted spoon as part of her favor. You can't really see it very well, but I found some tulle butterflies in the basement that were tied on a gift a few years back...tied them to the overhead light with some ribbon for an extra little touch.
Cupcake Nana made the napkin rings out of more vintage fabric from grandma's house, with a little batting, ribbon, and a few buttons. So cute, don't you think? I plan to use her idea for other parties and events. Miss M and Nana also made the little cupcake place cards.
A better shot of the hand painted cups and saucers Nana worked on. Remember what they looked like to begin with? Each girl took her set home, personalized with her first initial.
We packaged them in Chinese take-out boxes, along with a few homemade tea shaped sugar cookies. Again, these were baked by Nana...she loves a theme and loves Miss M, can you tell?
The giant cupcake cake...did you know you can add powdered sugar to canned frosting and it works with pastry bags? Did you also know you can work in A LOT of powered sugar with canned frosting and use it like fondant to form shapes...like the cherry on top? A little trick Cupcake Nana recently learned and shared with me!
All the happy party girls....

and their most favorite pose of the day....looks like Miss M and a few of friends have had some practice at this!
I know it may look like I spent a lot of money (and time) on this party. Almost everything we used was something I already had, thrifted, or borrowed. It did take a lot of time, but Miss M was involved with every step and it was a fun and productive way to spend a few hot and muggy days instead of watching the boob tube! Also, I have not forgotten the mint post...I forgot to take a good picture of them at the party. I have a few left in the freezer so I will take a pic of them soon and post with the recipe.