PARTY THEME: HOST A MOTHER & DAUGHTER AFTERNOON TEA PARTY

Remember when your mom did something special with just you and made a big fuss over it? The day my mom and I went to a fancy “dress up” afternoon tea is a still a very fond memory for me even though she made my hair look like a big doughnut on top of my head. With Mother’s Day just around the corner, why not host a Mom and Me tea party to make some memories of your own? This is a great party idea for mothers and daughters of all ages. A tea party isn’t expensive and the results can be priceless—the memories truly do last a lifetime.

Take a look at these pictures from a tea party hosted by a women’s group. The annual event is designed to give busy mothers an opportunity to spend quality time with their young daughters. This family affair was a fashion affair, too. Guests arrived wearing color coordinated outfits complete with hats for the Saturday afternoon soiree. No matter if your party is for a big crowd or your own family, here’s all you need to know to host a tea party. This is also a great theme for a birthday party, a neighborhood party or a fund-raiser for your local school or church. Getting dressed up is half of the fun so invite guests to dress in their Sunday best and encourage them to go all out by competing for prizes in a best hat contest. 

Invite guests to dress in their Sunday best. At this party, families coordinated their colors and styles. Prizes were given for best hat!

THE FOOD

A proper afternoon tea includes both savory and sweet treats. Menu items include tiny tea sandwiches like egg salad, cucumber or watercress, savory cheese puffs and warm scones served with butter, jam, and Devonshire cream. You can find Devonshire cream at Whole Foods and upscale markets. Petit fours, cookies, and other delicate cakes are always the finale of high tea. While this isn’t a  day you want to worry about calories, do include a few healthy choices like fruit for those guests dedicated to eating healthy or with dietary concerns. Include an assortment of flavored teas for the kids; they like fruit flavored or spice tea varieties. If you don’t want to make or bake yourself, buy everything you need at the bakery and grocery. Use an electric tea kettle to bring water to a boil quickly; it makes pouring the scalding water into your teapots much easier, too.

Try some of my easy recipes for your party: Classic Cheese Puffs, Ham Delights, Puff Pastry Palmiers, Strawberry Napoleons, Raspberry Lemonade and Zippy Two Cheese Pimento Cheese.

DECORATIONS

This is a marvelous reason to break out the good china! If you don’t have enough china, borrow from your friends and mix and match the patterns. A tea  party isn’t terribly expensive and if you don’t feel like cooking, you don’t have to. Use tiered trays stacked with colorful cakes, cookies, and pretty sandwiches as centerpieces. You really don’t need anything more since there will be quite a lot loaded onto your tables. If you want to add flowers and don’t have a lot of extra room, just place flowers directly on or under serving pieces.

ENTERTAINMENT

Plan a few games for all ages including a best hat contest with winners in biggest, most creative and most unusual hat categories. Prizes can be chocolates, teapots and other tea accessories. Another game for all ages is “what’s in Mom’s purse?” This is a type of seated scavenger hunt. Unusual items are called out and the first person to dig the item out of their purse wins a prize. The typical movie stub and bank receipt were obviously easy finds, but I was shocked when moms actually pulled a map of Paris, a curling iron, an unused birthday card, and a pineapple “dum-dum” sucker out of their purses!

Great fun for a crowd of fifty or a group of four, this type of party can easily be used as a fund-raising event for a club, school, church or community or a fun Saturday activity for you and your favorite little girl.

PARTY THEME: HOST A BACHELORETTE BEACH SPA PARTY

They bought the dress, pitched in on the shower, purchased a wedding gift, and some even had to spring for an airline ticket to the wedding city. And now there’s the bachelorette party to plan. A trendy bachelorette trip to Vegas or Miami would be memorable, but if you can’t justify the expense, how about planning a spa getaway at home for the bachelorette party fling? A “what happens in the ‘backyard stays in the backyard” bachelorette party is a lot of fun and you won’t have to hassle with airport delays, long security lines, and taking even more days off from work for wedding festivities! After a day in the ‘spa’ head out to a night on the town complete a limousine—now that’s a bachelorette party any bride will love! This party theme is great for so many occasions: a birthday party, a baby shower for that new mom, girls night in party, or a farewell party for a friend who is leaving town.

Use a pop up tent to create a quiet spa area with drapes and tropical plants.

CREATE AN OASIS

A day at a spa doesn’t really allow for much quality time together. Hosting the party at someone’s home is a better way to hang out with best friends before the big day. Select a place with a lot of space. A pool, tranquil fountain area, or large patio is the perfect place. Whether you go DIY and take turns giving manicures and facials using a prepackaged spa kit or hire a mobile massage therapist like we did, start by dedicating a space for treatments. We used a pop-up tent as our treatment room complete with flowing white outdoor curtains, candles, and soft music. We didn’t buy anything— we used items we had to make our spa area feel special including some potted plants and plush robes. The massage therapist supplied the oils, lotions, linens and massage table. Bridesmaids should cover the cost of the bride’s treatments. The service provider will often give the bride a complimentary treatment with the purchase of a certain number of treatments. Make sure to hire someone licensed with appropriate insurance. It is always best to hire a vendor you know and trust.  

Order retro cool pool party decor from Oriental Trading Company. Add an oversized striped beach towel as a tablecloth to make decorating easy.

DECORATIONS AND PARTY SWAG BAGS

If you don’t have the luxury of a lot of space, clear out some furniture for the party and dedicate a room for your ‘spa’ area. Create a kitschy cool vibe with lots of cheap decorations.  We wanted a Hawaiian theme for our party— and wanted to do something completely campy since it was a bachelorette party. We found inflatable palm trees, colorful leis and vibrant beach towels to anchor the decorating theme. Oriental Trading has everything you’ll need. Be resourceful with your decorations and use what you have on  hand when possible. I forgot a tablecloth for our snack table so I used two striped beach towels for a tablecloth and they worked perfectly.  Quirky melamine serving platters were inexpensive and worked perfectly for the outdoor setting and can be used again later. Add string lights, lanterns or candles for a festive glow if your party is in the evening. Each bridesmaid received a gift bag filled with inexpensive treats from the dollar store. Flip flops, scented spa body butter, sunscreen, and lip balm for the day’s festivities and really cheesy light-up necklaces for the evening’s festivities were placed in reusable tote bags in party colors.

Hit up the dollar store for swag bag items your guests can use during the party and afterwards. Sunscreen, lotion, sunglasses, flip flops and more make great favors.

MENU

Since this spa party was a “pre-party” to our night on the town bachelorette party, we opted for “spa cuisine” like wraps, veggies, and fresh fruit. Have beverages ready to pour when guests arrive. Provide an assortment of drinks so guests have plenty of options and stay hydrated. Serve iced tea or perhaps fruit flavored water called agua fresca along with your cocktails.  So that nobody gets stuck with bartending duties, pre-mixed a signature cocktail in pitchers or a dispenser. Serve in plastic margarita glasses with a candy ring pop for garnish, perfect for the theme. We found these adorable Rice Krispy treats in the shape of a flip-flop at a shop but you could easily make these yourself.

ENTERTAINMENT

These days, couples are reconsidering some of the traditional activities that go along with a “last fling” bachelor or bachelorette party in favor of respectful rites of passage from single to married life. That doesn’t mean there still can’t be fun and games! After our spa treatments and a cocktail hour, we hired a limo to pick up our group for a night on the town at a favorite restaurant followed by dancing until dawn. A limousine not only alleviates the issue of driving, you feel like a rock star when  you arrive. Some limo companies have bachelorette VIP packages available with your limo rental that may include special club admissions, etc. We adorned our bride-to-be with some of the traditional bachelorette party finery including a furry pink light up “I’m the Bride” tiara and layers of paper leis. How far do you go with decorations and debauchery? Only you know the limits for embarrassing your best friend. Just make sure whatever entertainment you plan, it won’t cause relationship issues in the light of day.

This party was a breeze to pull together because we divvied up the work load. Most of the food is available pre-made at the grocery if you don’t have time to make it yourself. To save time and gas, simply go online to shop and you can get everything you need for this party in just a few clicks! What could be easier?  You are all set for your bachelorette getaway without leaving town.

Photography: Arden Ward/Arden Photography

MARTIE PARTY TIP: STRATEGY FOR OUTDOOR PARTIES & WEDDINGS

When hosting an outdoor wedding or party, the greatest fear is always that the weather will not cooperate with your plans. Will it be too hot or cold for guests to be comfortable in the great outdoors? Rain? Bugs? Way too much sun? Producing outdoor parties and weddings do present additional challenges and as all planning professionals know, the key to stress management on event day is to understand your challenges and have a strong plan for any contingencies that may happen.

Here are some tips on how to negotiate with that uppity woman upstairs -Mother Nature- just in case she decides to crash your party: 

PITCH A TENT

Or at least have one on hold with a rental company. Maybe that view you wanted to have for your setting is compromised with a tent in the middle of it but it is far worse to have guests that resemble drowned rats or have them sitting out the festivities in their cars because of a lack of planning. Tents these days don’t have to be ugly. Many companies have made a business out of creating ideal settings in the great outdoors. Many of their tents are even climate controlled. Small tents or a covered area to keep food and beverages away from direct sun and bugs are a must. You don’t want your buttercream icing or your guests to melt in the sun. 

DON’T BUG ME

Consider odorless citronella candles, lighting that won’t attract bugs after dark (small bulbs like Christmas tree lights work great) or a pre-event visit from a pest control or lawn service can minimize the possibility of pests like bees, mosquitoes and flies at an outdoor party. If you have a problem with bees or have guests that are allergic, minimize fragrant floral arrangements that would attract their attention.  Most of these bugs are worse at some parts of the year than others. Do some research and plan accordingly. If flies are suddenly a problem, have a couple of oscillating stand fans handy. When the air moves around, there seems to be less of a fly problem.

WINDY CITY

Whether you are landlocked or at the beach, wind can be a factor. If you are using candles, place a hurricane globe or barrier around them to protect them from the elements. If you are wearing a long veil, make sure it isn’t going to blow into candles. I have seen several actually catch on fire and the material is very flammable . If it is REALLY windy, consider skipping the cathedral length veil or anchoring the bottom with some tiny fishing weights. Tablecloths are also likely to take flight on windy days. You may need to use tape or something else to anchor your tablecloths on a very windy day. Rubber bands work really well; simply gather the fabric at the bottom corners of each table leg and wrap the rubber band around it. Pull the fabric to balloon it over the rubber band so you can’t see it, like you would blouse a shirt over the top of a belt. You can also make tiny bean bags out of coordinating fabric. Sew a tiny clamp from the hardware store to the bean bag and pinch it to the hem to weight it down.                                 

BE MY GUEST

Select chairs that won’t be too hot if your wedding or party is in the sunshine. Opt for wood instead of metal if possible, and do something fun with your wedding program like designing it in the shape of a fan if the weather is predicted to be hot and humid. If it’s uncharacteristically chilly the day of the event, make sure coffee, tea or hot toddies are added to the beverage menu, and for hot days serve lemonade and plenty of ice cold water as guests arrive so they can stay hydrated prior to the reception. 

HAVE A PLAN B

Yes, the safest bet is to have a plan B. We can predict a lot of things, but the weather isn’t one of them. You’ll stress less with a solid backup plan in place ‘just in case.’

Check out this link to The Weather Channel.com to research what the average temperatures and weather conditions are for your proposed event or wedding date and location before you set the date.