Mother's Day Tea Party

Today was the big day, that we've been so busy getting ready for, our Mother's Day Tea Party! It was so much fun! Everything looked beautiful; the food was delicious and everyone had fun doing the activities. Aren't our fancy tea hats pretty?

It was wonderful giving my mom and mother-in-law a special day to show them how much they mean to our family and how much we love and appreciate them! Spending time with our mother's is really what this day is all about, I love how this event gave my daughter a chance to bond and spend quality time with her Grandmas, creating wonderful memories and helping reinforce to her how much both Grandmas love her.

We're also spending Sunday with them, so we'll get lots of quality family time in! Originally, my husband told me that since we were having the tea, maybe I'd like to not drive across town to see his and my mother and celebrate mother's day with my daughter and family. We could do whatever I wanted. Then I thought about it, and realized that what I wanted to do was spend it with them☺

I have been holding on to these tissue paper pom poms since last summer, when I got a great deal on a kit by Martha Stewart. I originally planned on using them for ER's 2nd birthday party outside under our gazebo but it rained and was so humid on the day of her party that we couldn't use them. I'm glad I had the perfect opportunity to hang them up.We used the three painted polka dot pots for our centerpiece, I added a name tag to each one and decorated it with a silk flower. You can find out how we made the pots here. It was so easy, albeit time consuming since it was spread out over a few days but even a very young child can help make them. The purple pansies looked great in them, and coordinated so well with our color scheme.My mom brought her pretty china tea cups for us to use. The Grandma's each had a place of honor with their handprint heart photo frame "cards". Mom also brought her Grandmother's silver flatware, tea pot, cream, and sugar. It was so special using things once owned by my Great Grandmother, how appropriate for a Mother's Day celebration!

Our first activity was to make fancy tea party hats. I got this great idea from my Family Fun magazine, that's been such a good subscription! It has fantastic ideas and it's worth every penny!

All you do it cut two pieces of 30x30 pieces of wrapping paper. Lay them together wrong sides together. Have one person hold it on their head, while another wraps colored tape around the widest part of the head. Trim off the excess paper in a circular shape, leaving about five inches border. Flip up the sides and the front "brim" of the hat. Decorate with tissue paper flowers.

To make the flowers cut large and small circles out of several layers of tissue paper. Cut a circle out of cardstock that is smaller than the smaller circles of tissue paper. Layer from largest to smallest. Put a brad through the center and attach to hat.

For once I managed to time everything really well. While the Grandmas worked on making the hats, I made the tea sandwiches. We had a nice variety and I am pleased with how everything turned out. We had four different kinds of sandwiches, cranberry orange scones, heart shaped brownies, fruit kabobs, chocolate covered strawberries, pound cake petite fours, and a fruit tart.

Family Fun Magazine also helped me out with some of the sandwich ideas. We nibbled on mini pitas filled with hummus, cucumber, and tomato. I made mini croissants with cherry almond chicken salad I purchased at the deli. For something sweet we had baguette spread with Nutella and banana slices and whole wheat triangles filled with honey walnut cream cheese with pear slices. Everything was really good!

I made the chocolate dipped strawberries and pound cake petite fours. The petite fours are the only thing I didn't love but my mom liked them. We think that Brad and I didn't care for the almond extract added to the frosting. I'd try them again, but only add vanilla extract. They did look pretty, even if they were slightly neon colors instead of the pastels I wanted. When they say only add a drop at a time of food coloring to the frosting, they mean it! I wish I could take credit for the fruit tart, it was so yummy but that delish treat came from Whole Foods Market and so did the great two bite mini scones.

Look a man at our Mother's Day Tea! It's Brad, he came home for lunch to enjoy a tasty lunch and see his mom aka Grandma Norma! For some reason he didn't want to wear my hat for the picture ☺

Here is me and my mom aka Grammy.

The other little activity I planned was decorating frames. ER painted these when she painted the pots. The Grandmas helped her add some cute flower and butterfly foam stickers to hers. Later on, I will give each Grandma picture from today's tea to put in it. ER would not look up at the camera because, "I'm working!"

It was a lovely day, and such a special treat to have all the ladies together! I've added this to I Blame My Mother's Kid Friendly Friday.

ER and Grammy

ER and Grandma Norma

ER and Mommy