Phase One of Party Preparation...

Matti Hamlin will be turning one this month. After months of ideas and excitement, it'll all coming together and I am so excited. Let me fill you in on what we are working on...

The Menu:
We thought it would be sweet to honor all of the grandmothers by serving one of their signature dishes: "Yaya's Lemon Icebox Cake", "Mama Kathy's Pink Punch", "MawMaw Pat's Pineapple Goulash", "MawMaw Nations's Tea Cake Cookies" and "Granny's Chicken Salad". This pretty much molded our menu but we added the following to round things out: Pork Loin on sourdough with Jezzebel Sauce, pasta salad, fresh fruit skewers, baby veggies with ranch and PB&J sandwiches for the little ones. Quite a spread for an afternoon event, but we are southern - eating is what we do!

The Partyscape:
We chose a vintage tea party inspired theme utilizing soft colors and spring time attributes. From our grandmothers and thrift shops, we have gathered a bookoodle of tea pots, milk glass, crystal and silver pieces. I wanted the table to look almost cluttered: think Alice in Wonderland-ish.

Project! I recently happened upon many vintage Coca-Cola bottles at a friend's yard sale. Thank-you, Mrs Carla! I purchased two dozen, bought some pretty ribbon, wrapped the smooth party of the bottle and added a tie with a party circle that came from the party pack I purchased on Etsy.com. These little pretties will be filled simply with baby's breath and then situated in a row down the Tea Table.

Activities:
Being that we are only turning one, the birthday party will be filled mostly with adults but who said adults don't like to have fun too? Near the gate leading to the back lawn, our guests will find a very vintage trunk (yet another yard sale find) filled with items to help them "Dress for Tea". It has been filled with everything from vintage hats and feather boas for the ladies to old ties and top hats for the gentlemen.

To accompany our dress up trunk, there will be a "photo booth" for our guests to take pictures that we will later use in our scrapbooks. It will simply consist of a decorated exterior wall and a few disposable cameras. Simple but sweet - and what fun memories once we have the photos processed.

We will also have a croquet court set up and waiting for any one to pick up a mallet and play.

Listed below are links that will lead you to the sites I used in preparation for our Tea Party. Enjoy!
Party Packs: http://www.etsy.com/shop/paigesofstyle?ga_search_query=Paiges+of+Style&ga_search_type=seller_usernames
Food Containers: http://www.smartyhadaparty.com/
Croquet Sets: http://www.croquet.com/croquet-sets/for-the-family/recreationalcroquetset.cfm