The Tea Party

Yesterday I went to a tea party. This tea party was in honor of my friend, Bonnie, who is getting married next month. It was held out at her family farm about an hour outside of town. Her farm was a lovely place with rolling hills and a beautiful veranda where the tea party was held along with gorgeous views and lovely surroundings.
There were about about 20 people there and we all brought a plate of food. We started with the savory food, which included deviled eggs, egg sandwiches, mini-quiches, spinach dip in bread bowls and my chicken salad cups. To drink you had your choice of punch or champagne (don’t worry, the tea comes later). The punch was served in long stemmed glasses with little fruit kebabs in them….very pretty, such a nice touch.

After the savory course then we went to the tea course, here you had your choice of the above mentioned drinks or a variety of herbal and regular teas served in all sorts of lovely and delicate little tea cups and saucers. It was such a pretty setting with all the cute tea pots.

Then, it was time to dress up! They had borrowed a smattering of dresses, jewelry, and gorgeous hats and fascinators from the local theatre company…and I mean really pretty hats and fascinators, they were all so pretty. We all played dress up…some added hats and gloves, others added gowns and jewelry…it was really fun to watch. Then, we all had our tea party names, which are derived from the name of your first pet and your current city. So, add Lady to your pets name and if your pet’s name was Fluffy and you lived in Wollongong, you would say you were Lady Fluffy of Wollongong. It was really quite cute. We took pictures and laughed and had a really fun time.

After pictures, it was dessert time! We had quite a spread of desserts…more than we could have eaten in probably 2 tea parties…but they all looked really good. We had scones with jam and cream (my favorite), petit fors, custards, cakes, slices, brownies, rocky road, chocolate dipped strawberries and much more. It was really a sugar delight!
After dessert, then we played a game where you tried to toss the tea bag into a tea pot and if you got it in, you got a prize. We found that tea bags aren’t heavy so they are easily carried in the wind and that most of us are not very accurate at tossing into the tea pot. The winners were awarded kitchen gadgets for prizes and it was quite fun.

The rest of the time was spent chatting and drinking and eating more delectables from the dessert table. It was such a girlie time and really fun. It was a perfect afternoon and we all wish Bonnie the very best in her upcoming wedding…of course we are hoping that there are lots more things to celebrate so that we can all be invited back for another tea party soon!

I took a ton of pictures, so here they are:

This is Bonnie with her darling mother and sisters, the hostesses.

This is the photo of all the university ladies. We all go to school or work at the university with Bonnie.
Michelle, going down the slide looking glamorous. Helen waiting to go next.
Helen's turn.
The corner of the dessert table...the scones, jam, and cream were my favorite!
The beautiful bride Bonnie after playing dress up.

Some of the ladies after the dress up fun.
Bonnie and her friend.

Michelle posing in her fab hat.
Me and my hat that matched perfectly...plus the jewelry...it is like they knew what I would wear!
Helen and Steph after dressing up....looking lovely ladies!
Michelle, Stacy, Maree, and Helen...ready to have some tea.
Bonnie again...gorgeous!
The tea tables...
They had frames with lovely old pictures of women and old advertisements and such with gloves and other cute things scattered all over.
The tea pots.
This area was off to the side but I loved the little fabric pennant string that they made and decorated with...so cute. Behind this you can see a lovely gazebo with purple flowers growing and draping over the sides...so beautiful.

The tea party...the weather was beautiful!
Michelle and her tea cup.
Stephanie with a pretty smile chatting away with the girls.
My chicken salad baskets...phyllo dough cups with my mother's famous tea room salad (from when they owned a tea room) with little flower spoons I made. I was so pleased with how it turned out.
The other end of the table...
Truly a grand day! So fun and memorable, thanks Bonnie for a lovely day out in the country!