My parents throw the most wonderful garden teas! I love to help prep for these teas and attend them!!! This year my flowers were looking so good, that we used mostly my flowers for the center pieces, so that was fun.
My mom has her list of what needs to be done at what time. She has right down to when she needs to get dressed. Everything is scheduled out. It runs like a well oiled machine, but then they have been doing these teas for over 20 years.
My aunt has been helping for years too.
These green set is one of my favorites.
My parents set up the tables in the garage. Each table has a different tea set on them. My mom always tells people, don't worry about breaking something- if something breaks it just gives them an excuse to buy another tea set. Also none of these sets are family heirlooms.
Each table is just so beautiful!
The back porch hosts the food and some drinks. Each table will get a pot of hot tea, but we also have water with lemon and mint, a peach tea, and I made some iced hibiscus tea as well.
Below you will see we have mini quiches, cucumber sandwiches, uncrustables- for the kids, egg salad triangles, chicken salad in tartlets.
There is also lemon bread, nuts, these amazing raspberries bars, and lemon curd.
We have eclairs, pirouettes, and chocolate covered strawberries.
If you want to have friends over for a special meal- but have no dishes, have them over anyway!!! They are not going to care how things are served- it is about time together. It's community over a shared meal or tea.
But, if you wonder where to get pieces- check second hand shops. Around here, in Ohio, it seems easy to find cake plates, tea pots, and tiered dishes at Goodwills, Salvation Army stores, or Flea Markets.
My parents have been doing this for over 20 years- so they have had time to grow their collection. And when I have people over my dishes are always mismatched, I like that style. Just find what you like and go with that.
And if you think you could not pull off food like this- know that there were FIVE of us working in the kitchen. And this was considered a light dinner- so we did have lots of food.
Start with maybe one or two sandwiches and a few desserts. And it is okay to buy things and not make everything from scratch. Find a premade chicken salad and then just put it on the bread and cut the crusts off, or take a big cookie cutter to cut it out in for a fun shape. We buy the eclairs and then just dust powered sugar on them. We also buy the mini quiches. The lemon bread is made a head of time and frozen. Don't make it too hard on yourself.
I always get to have one table to invite special friends. This year my friend Amy and her mom came. It was so fun to dress up and have tea in the garden.
I was NOT gluten free today. I could not help myself. And the bites were small, lol.
I brought some fun props for the little girls that came. I had some hats, photo props, and boas.
My parents invite people from all aspects of their lives. These are some sweet friends from church.
My mum and dad below. She is the queen and he is the gardener, hahahahaha. What a hot, but beautiful day for a tea!!! These are special memories.
This is my dear, sweet friend. I have loved getting to know her more this year. She, her husband, and I have been trying to do one ethnic restaurant a month this year. We've done: Ethiopian in Cleveland, Sushi in Wooster, Dim Sum- minus the Dim Sum in Cleveland, Mexican in Orrville, Vietnamese in Wooster, and Greek in Parma.
Party invitation below…
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