Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Food and Decorations at Lydia's Tea Party

I knew we would have fun at the party, but I was really stressed about all the food and decorations coming together. I could make lots of things ahead of time, but I couldn't actually hang anything in the parish hall until the day of the party. Most of the food needed to wait until the day of the party as well so that it would be fresh. Thankfully I am surrounded by friends and family who support my crazy ideas by joining in and helping out.
Here are some pictures of the decorations and food that my team created for Lydia's Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. PJ got out his carving tools to turn a watermelon into a giant hat and it tasted as good as it looked. These were 40 pound watermelons that we bought on the way home from the beach. They had just been picked and I couldn't believe how good they were a week later.

The white rabbit I bought for Easter and the Alice teapot I finished making just a few days before the party both peak out from behind the arrangements of vegetables in tea cups. These were actually pretty easy to create. I just put some lettuce in the cup and then it held all the veggies in place. The flowers are radish roses and peppers that were cut out with a cookie cutter. I drilled a little hole in the center of the pepper flower with a knife and stuck in a baby carrot to make a center.
We also made cupcakes in tea cups, but I managed to not get a picture of that.


We had several areas where crazy signs were pointing multiple different directions.

Several tables had activities to keep the kids busy. On the coloring table I used tea cups to hold the crayons. The sign was held up with a fork!

Another activity table, this one had an Alice in Wonderland pop up book, my leather bound copy of the Lewis Carol classic edition, and Lydia's scrap books from the past two years. You can also see another fork holding up a sign. I hadn't planned that, but at the last minute, I needed something to hold it up and the fork just worked.

We had 6 tables and each had a centerpiece made of a few tea cups that were stacked and then the top one was filled with taffy. I let the taffy spill onto the tables and then scattered playing cards around. The cups were all thrift store finds and most cost less than a dollar! I found 12 plastic ones that had a great shape but were an ugly mustard color. They all got spray painted white and then decorated with various designs. The top cup in this stack is one that I painted.

Here is Aunt Betty at the buffet table. We had several small sandwiches, cupcakes, cookies, and fruit. All the food was put together by my sister and my friend Andrea. (Thanks again guys!) The table cloth is actually one part of the two long painted Indian saris that i found at a thrift store. The other piece was the backdrop to our photo booth. I love the bright colors they added to the party.

Finally, another last minute touch. These letters used to hang over Lydia's changing table. I saw them in a drawer when I was leaving the house to decorate for the party and I threw them in my bag not knowing what I would do with them. I am SO glad I had them. I loved that Lydia's name was floating in the air with the lanterns and butterflies at her party.


No comments: