An Elegant Day With Mum

 Afternoon Tea at Kellog House

Afternoon Tea for Women and Girls

I had this great idea to host a tea party for the women of my church's small group. I've been wanting to do it for a long time, actually since my last one got ignored by the majority of the invited guests. I did have a great time with the _one_ who did show up though.

Adult's Table with Tea settings for four

Table for Tea and Food

Anyway, this last one was inspired by this year's womens' event, Extraordinary, which was also a tea party. It took about a month of planning, but I was able to pull it off, with the support of my dear, sweet, wonderful B-chan, who always prepares the food for us.

Child's Tabe with Tea setting for four

My theme was a fun day with mom, and my guests were women and their daughters/neices. I set up two tables with tea settings for both age groups. We ate tea sandwiches and fruit, and the ladies preferred green tea. As always, I served my homemade lemonade recipe (that _always_ gets rave reviews).
I wanted it to be a lighthearted event, so I planned activities as well. The first was a puzzle commonly found in classrooms: tangrams. The second was one found at other English themed parties: pass the parcel, complete with Alice In Wonderland tasks. Finally, I chose the last one so that everyone could go home with something: decoupage glass jars into a vase.

Guests doing decoupage activity

I wish I was able to take a picture of what I wore, but once my guests arrived, I didn't stop moving until things were cleaned up and all had left. I finally got a chance to wear my hostess apron that D-chan gave me, though! I wore it over my black & white lolita skirt and peter pan collar shirt. I wore a petticoat, too, so it created the poofing out effect that I was going for.
Even though I was exhausted afterwards, I really had a lot of fun planning, creating, and executing my afternoon tea event.Call me crazy, but I'm already gearing up for the next party/event. Just have to make it to Expo now.
I really enjoy planning parties and events that I can hostess. For me, it's tea parties and other such lolita friendly events. How about you? What, if anything, do you like planning?