My sweet niece Cari turns 13 tomorrow, and on Saturday we celebrated with a Birthday Tea at my mom's house!
In addition to the ladies in our family and her 4-year-old brother Matthew, Cari was joined by three girlfriends who decided to don formal gowns for the occasion.
My mom's formal dining room was the setting, and with one wall dedicated to Old Country Roses dishes, it has a nice "tea room" feel to it.
The decor included some of her collection of ladies head vases.
I love these—and Cari does, too. Incredibly enough, Cari as a very little girl convinced my mother to let her play with these vases, and we were astonished at how carefully she always played with them. She never hurt a single one of them!
I always love seeing how everything comes together!
Cari's favorite colors are pink and green, so we tried to include them in the decorating as much as possible, including with these Chicken Salads served in egg cups. (More about these tomorrow!)
Strawberry and Lime Macarons worked with our color palette, although my six-year-old niece Amelia told me they looked like "little hamburgers." And I guess she has a point!
Cari requested Red Velvet Cupcakes from her mom, my sister Rhonda, so she made them in cute floral cupcake papers.
And Daddy is the birthday cake baker in the family, so Cari's request this time was his famous Strawberry Cake. (And boy, is it good!)
Also on our menu: Olive Egg Salad Sandwiches and Cucumber Sandwiches cut into teapot shapes.
And Nut Bread Sandwiches.
The macarons were on a tiered server along with chocolate fudge bites.
Amelia wanted to play waitress, so she got to carry this tray of Cranberry and Double Chocolate Scones. (The pretty rose glass tray is something *my husband* picked up for me at a thrift store last week!)
Soon it was time to tackle the gift table, and Cari opened presents including a new purse and shoes, some Auburn goodies and that most welcome gift for a teenager, cash!
The girls enjoyed posing outdoors at my mom's, and when I packed and left after the party, the girls—still in formals—were flying around the property in my parents' golf cart! Tomorrow: A few behind-the-scenes tidbits about the tea!
My sweet niece Cari turns 13 tomorrow, and on Saturday we celebrated with a Birthday Tea at my mom's house!
In addition to the ladies in our family and her 4-year-old brother Matthew, Cari was joined by three girlfriends who decided to don formal gowns for the occasion.
My mom's formal dining room was the setting, and with one wall dedicated to Old Country Roses dishes, it has a nice "tea room" feel to it.
The decor included some of her collection of ladies head vases.
I love these—and Cari does, too. Incredibly enough, Cari as a very little girl convinced my mother to let her play with these vases, and we were astonished at how carefully she always played with them. She never hurt a single one of them!
I always love seeing how everything comes together!
Cari's favorite colors are pink and green, so we tried to include them in the decorating as much as possible, including with these Chicken Salads served in egg cups. (More about these tomorrow!)
Strawberry and Lime Macarons worked with our color palette, although my six-year-old niece Amelia told me they looked like "little hamburgers." And I guess she has a point!
Cari requested Red Velvet Cupcakes from her mom, my sister Rhonda, so she made them in cute floral cupcake papers.
And Daddy is the birthday cake baker in the family, so Cari's request this time was his famous Strawberry Cake. (And boy, is it good!)
Also on our menu: Olive Egg Salad Sandwiches and Cucumber Sandwiches cut into teapot shapes.
And Nut Bread Sandwiches.
The macarons were on a tiered server along with chocolate fudge bites.
Amelia wanted to play waitress, so she got to carry this tray of Cranberry and Double Chocolate Scones. (The pretty rose glass tray is something *my husband* picked up for me at a thrift store last week!)
Soon it was time to tackle the gift table, and Cari opened presents including a new purse and shoes, some Auburn goodies and that most welcome gift for a teenager, cash!
The girls enjoyed posing outdoors at my mom's, and when I packed and left after the party, the girls—still in formals—were flying around the property in my parents' golf cart! Tomorrow: A few behind-the-scenes tidbits about the tea!
Wow! You throw a good party!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Cari !!!!!
ReplyDeleteYour party looks awesome.
I loved the decoration (the first lady head vase is fenomenal!!!!) and the food seems to be delicious!
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday to your niece and congratulations for your post!
What an absolutely fun post! I loved the fact that your niece and her friends dressed for tea!♥♫
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic birthday celebration! Loved all the pictures.... such details! Happy Birthday Cari!
ReplyDeleteI could hardly wait to visit your blog today because I knew you'd be writing about Cari's tea party. What a fabulous birthday tea and one she'll always remember. What a grand way to celebrate entering the teen years! Everything looked wonderful - the tablescape, the food, the gift table, the beautiful girls. I had to look at the photos more than once to take everything in! I love the head vases. I only have one, and since they're so pricy, it's probably all I'll ever pursue. How nice of your mom to actually put them into use - but then that's what nice things are for - enjoying and using. I'll look forward to reading more about the tea party tomorrow - especially the chicken salad in egg cups with butterfly cracker garnishes. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteHi Angela,
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful! What a wonderful way to celebrate your niece's birthday. I love all of the special attention you and your family paid to every detail.
Thanks for sharing.
Spring blessings,
Darlene
Happy Birthday to Cari! What a fabulous celebration for someone so special to you. She must have been very thrilled to be the guest of honor at your beautiful party.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful Tea! I love it!
ReplyDeleteI have written before because my sisters and I hace been sharing "fabulous" tea parties for years but WOW again to yours (even better than the one you hosted for your sister) I love that these girls wanted to dress for the occasion "What Class they have"! Once again I find myself wanting to be related to you :). Everything was beautiful and looked delicious. Thank you for all the time you put into your post and for sharing. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteHi Angela,
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Cari! What a wonderful celebration and it was nice to see the young ladies in gowns.
What a beautiful tea for a beautiful birthday girl! Enjoyed this post so much and gave me lots of menu ideas. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteNancy
It was the perfect tea party in every way! Thanks so much for your hard work in putting this together. (Cari said her friends couldn't stop talking about it!)
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible party here - everything is so darling and the girls look lovely!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! Thanks for sharing it with us!
ReplyDeleteI love that these young ladies wanted to dress up for this. They all look like wonderful friends.
ReplyDeleteThese young women look beautiful. I hope to be as good of an aunt!
ReplyDeleteBe still my heart!! How completely amazing. The treats/food and setting are beyond gorgeous for sure. A real pleasure to visit today as always.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing tea party - WOW!!!
ReplyDeleteYou did it soooooooooo well! I love every attention to detail!
And - just to say - how can that sweetheart only be 13? She and her friends are so mature looking! How is it the children today grow up so quickly? My goodness, if you looked at a pic of me at 12 I was definately still a really little girl. Amazing.
They look gorgeous in their formals. What a special day for her, she will never forget it EVER.
WELL DONE!!!!
What a fabulous tea party! The food and decor is stunning and the girls all look so beautiful in the long gowns.
ReplyDeleteJudith
You and your family have made your niece feel so special! Looking forward to the rest of your party posts.
ReplyDeleteHello Angela, what a lovely post today - Happy Birthday Cari! Cari and her friends look like models and they look like they had a wonderful time. Such delicious treats and your Mom's house definitely could 'double' as a beautiful Tea Room!
ReplyDeleteSeeing the ladies head vases brought back memories - one of my neighbors in Missouri had a beautiful collection and as I went antiquing, I would be on the look-out for them, for her. (As it often happens, I found a few 'for me' too - they are habit forming!) Thanks for including the recipes, yummy! Joanie
The food looked wonderful! The table just beautiful! The lady vases, I love. That first vase reminds me of my step grandmother who had a small collection. How I wish I had gotten some of her collection, but at the time didn't appreciate them. Now every time I see one I think of her.
ReplyDeleteEverything looked perfect! How exciting for Cari to be able to celebrate in this fun abd beautiful way! Every girl needs a special aunt!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely party!
ReplyDelete