A Lovely Tea Party

We celebrated Marianna's 8th birthday with an afternoon tea. It took time to pull together, but was such fun! I'll post some party prep tips on my cooking blog soon. I was able to hire Lauren for most of the last minute work, which made that time much more relaxed--she was a great help.

The party was scheduled from 12:00-2:30, since afternoon tea is filling enough to consider as lunch. In a sweet gesture, Marianna allowed little sister Rebecca (just 3 1/2) to attend her fancy party.

That morning found us all dressed up and laying a fine table. We used real china and silver, and the good table linens.As the guests arrived they donned aprons and began decorating gingerbread cookies to be taken home as party favors. This activity was first so the icing would have time to dry and because not everyone could arrive promptly at noon.

The icing didn't dry as much as I had expected, probably because the girls were so generous in its application! ;-)The girls sat down to a first course of tiny sandwiches (from traditional cucumber to much-less-so peanut butter) and wraps.

The wraps were ham/American cheese and turkey/provolone/tomato/ranch dressing.

Scones were served next, with strawberry jam and whipped, unsweetened cream.

All the guests enjoyed hot (decaf!) tea, which was served with cream, sugar cubes (VERY popular), and lemon wedges. Some tried all the condiments at once. The resulting curdled cream was quite unattractive, leading to several "do overs". I also served cold water in the crystal glasses.

By then everyone was ready for present opening and play time. These little ladies are also energetic children.

Eventually we reconvened for the dessert course. The birthday cake (3 layers of butter cake filled with chocolate ganache) was tiny (6" diameter) and decorated with sugared roses from our garden.

It was served with an assortment of tiny treats: chocolate covered strawberries (made by a friend), raspberry bars, fudgy brownies, and lemon bars.

After that it was time for more free play. Soon all the guests were gone, leaving us with happy memories and lots of dishes to wash. ;-)