Never Too Old for a Tea Party: 25th Birthday

You know those old black and white movies, where the lady of the house is bustling about in pearls and heels, preparing for the evenings dinner guests. That's exactly what I wanted for my birthday...a vintage upscale atmosphere. I chose to do this by hosting my first dinner party. And since I have quite the little collection of antique tea cups, I decided on a tea party theme. 

Dessert Table 

So we hosted 8 guests, making a total of 10 people including ourselves. My dinner table only seats four, so we definitely needed to create more space. We disassembled the sofa and moved it along with some other furniture pieces into the bedroom. This allowed us to make room for a bigger table.

I rented the table, chairs, and table cloth allowing me to comfortably seat everyone. Behind the table, I placed a decorative scrap fabric banner that I DIYed. Because I didn't want a crowded dinner table we kept things simple. We added a few candles to the table and my amazing husband made signs, which we placed throughout the room. They all had cute tea inspired sayings on them to help highlight the tea party theme. 

I have a bar connected to my kitchen so that served as the perfect spot for drinks. And if you read this post, you shouldn't be surprised that one of the signature cocktails was the Orange Dreamsickle Punch. I figured out how to reproduce it using orange juice, orange citrus vodka, vanilla ice cream, and orange sherbet. It was the most popular drink all night. 

Bar Decor

Bar Decor

  

My Birthday Outfit

Shirt: Lilly Pulitzer Terrance Top 

Pants: Gap Skinny Mini Skimmer

Sandals: Kenneth Cole Reaction

Bracelet: J Crew Factory 

Serving Station 

Since most of the living room furniture was tucked away in the bedroom, we moved my dresser out into the living room. The pink dresser blended in perfectly with the party theme and it served as the buffet for the evening. 

The Dinner Menu

Greek Salad 

Deviled Eggs 

Basmati Rice & Sweet Corn Pilaf 

Pineapple Baked Salmon

Grilled Beef & Potato Kabobs 

Grilled Lemon Rosemary Chicken Kabobs 

The best part of the party was definitely the dessert table. It's major centerpiece was a silver tea service that was a birthday gift from my husband. 

Mini Fruit Tartlets & Lemon Squares

The Dessert Menu

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling 

Red Velvet Mini Bundt Cakes 

Mini Fruit Tartlets 

Lemon Squares 

Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes 

Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes 

For the most part I think that the party was a great success. As with any party, there were of course a few hiccups. I don't know if I handled it as gracefully as the lovely ladies in those black and white movies, but I did my best. The most important aspect was that my guests had a good time. At one point I was asked if the party was catered. This was the ultimate complement because aside from the birthday cake and mini bundt cakes, my husband and I made all of the dessert and dinner items from scratch. Also, most of our guests stayed until 3am so I'm assuming that everyone enjoyed themselves. It will be quite a while before I take on the task of planning something like this again, but I really did have a great time and enjoyed hosting. For me, it was the perfect way to celebrate my 25th birthday.