My tea party bridal shower this past Saturday was amazing. The food, the decorations, the games–the hostesses (my mom and her best friend, Ms. T) really knocked it out of the park! The shower theme was an intimate afternoon tea. We wound up with ten guests which was just the right size. Enough that a good number of my favorite ladies were there, but few enough that my introverted self was perfectly relaxed!
The Food
The part everyone wants to hear about! I designed and printed two menus for the day:
We had a selection of teas, and a mix of savory and sweet finger foods to munch on throughout the shower. My mom picked up two quiches from our favorite local bakery, Patrick’s, and made cucumber tea sandwiches, adding chopped dill to the cream cheese spread. She also made mini cinnamon raisin scones and picked up a flourless chocolate cake from Whole Foods. We had fresh fruit and veggies, too. So delicious!
The Decorations
The whole idea for a tea party bridal shower came from these teacups. My great-grandmother (who I actually met when I was two!) collected vintage teacups and saucers. She gave them to my mom when she passed away. When I was younger, my mom, sister and I used to have tea parties with them on weekend afternoons.
Using them was a lovely way to incorporate fond memories into the day–not to mention that the collection is gorgeous.
I also purchased two cupcake platters made from vintage plates for our wedding reception a while ago, and we used those for the sandwiches and scones.
Aside from food, I hand-lettered this welcome sign for the front door. I used liquid chalk markers on a cheap blackboard from Target. I’m going to reuse the board for our reception (the paint wipes off with water) so it was good practice! Although I was a little lazy and didn’t use stencils for this one–and the slight off-centeredness of “WELCOME” is bothering me 😛
Mom and Ms. T also hung some pink streamers and some pink and gold pinwheel decorations in the living room. And there were plenty fresh flowers. It was all very pink and very cute!
The Games
After everyone munched and chatted a bit, Ms. T led three games.
The first one was a get-to-know-you game called “What’s in Your Purse.” We each were given a long list of typical (or not-so-typical) items you’d find in a purse with different point values. More common items were worth fewer points, while less common ones were worth more. We went through our purses and tallied up how many points we scored. My grandma won in a landslide!
The second game was called “Claire’s New Wedding Vows.” It was like mad-libs. I had to ask everyone for a type of word (noun, verb, etc.) without context, then my sister filled in the blanks for me. At the end, I read aloud my “new wedding vows,” which were quite funny!
The first two games were fun, but the last was my favorite. I left the room while everyone was given a wooden spoon and a sharpie. They wrote down their best marriage advice and returned it the spoon to a jar. Then I came back and read aloud everyone’s advice and tried to guess who wrote it!
The advice varied from funny–like “Use what’s in that Victoria’s Secret bag!”–to really, really thoughtful. I got to keep the jar and the spoons, and it’s a lovely keepsake from the day. When I look at it, it reminds me how lucky I am to have so many wonderful, caring women in my life.
I thought Ms. T did an excellent job with the games. We had many different age groups at the shower and the games were fun for everyone.
The Shower Itinerary
Ms. T did a good job of keeping things moving throughout the afternoon. A rough outline of the shower:
- 3pm: The shower started and we chatted over water and tea until 3:30 or so. Then, we dug into the treats!
- ~3:45: We started the games, which lasted about an hour.
- ~4:45: I opened gifts. My maid of honor/little sister took notes on the gifts for me, which I recommend–it makes it much easier to write thank-you notes this week.
- ~5:30: We took some pictures and guests started to leave.
The time flew by! There’s nothing like some quality girl time. I was worried that I might feel uncomfortable, as I’m usually the hostess, not the center of attention–but my mom and Ms. T know me well and that wasn’t the case at all. Now I want another friend or family member to get married so we can do it all over again! 😛
But tell me, what’s your ideal party? If you’re married and had a wedding/bridal shower, what was it like? If I get the chance to host a bridal shower in the future, it might just be tea party-themed again… but of course I’ll defer to whatever the bride would like!