Valentine's Day Ladies' Tea - Invitation Reminder & Menu

The tea party is just five days away, and I'm in crunch mode!

I've got the rest of my week all mapped out with to-do's. So far today, I have managed to accomplish about 2/3 of today's list, and should still be able to finish it before the day is over. I finally decided to reveal the theme to my guests in the hopes that they'll want to fully participate. Here is the reminder/reveal email that I sent today:

Check it out, man!

The time period that those righteous brothers hit the charts with "That Lovin' Feelin'" was the mid-60's. So, if you're bold enough, dig out your go-go boots and miniskirts, or your bell bottoms and tie-dye garb, and we'll see you at the commune to celebrate love as inspired by the cultural events of the American 1960's!

Make love, not war.

Make tea, not love.

No, you don't *have* to come in costume. But at least be prepared with a hep catch phrase, or two. :)

I was at the grocery store today to get the ingredients for the food I'll start making over the next few days. I had to leave some items on my grocery list until later in the week so that they would be as fresh as possible. I am pretty pleased with the menu, which is as follows:

Fair Trade Organic Tea

Pita Chips (to munch on upon arrival)

Cheese Fondue (with bread and apples for dipping)

Iceberg Lettuce Wedge Salad and 3 dressings (homemade Green Goddess, Ranch, and Creamy French)

Chicken Salad Sandwiches and Ham & Cheese Dandy Sandwiches

Devilled eggs

Chocolate Intrigue Bundt Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Tang based fruit salad

Cookies - Heart’s Delight & Two-Tone Cookie Slices for guests to bag and take home

Yesterday, I received the two place setting of china that I needed since my party size seems to grow each year. I'm still waiting for a book that I bought on eBay that I planned to use as a prize. I just hope it gets here in time! Up next on my list is to finalize the two games we'll be playing at the party. Oh, and more cleaning (the never ending chore!)

40th Wedding Anniversary Party

I had the great honor to organize and implement a 40th wedding anniversary party for my mother and father-in-law this summer. My sister-in-law is busy planning her own wedding, and so I donned my party planning hat and started thinking about themes!

My research quickly uncovered the fact that the 40th anniversary is the Ruby Anniversary. My in-laws just weren't the types that desire to be lavished with rubies, so I figured out ways to play up '40' and used 'ruby' as a color accent instead.

In order to get the event off the ground on relatively short notice, it was imperative to do the invitations electronically. Fortunately, I had just been given the opportunity to upgrade my account to Premium at Punchbowl. If you are not familiar with punchbowl.com, it is a great resource for party planning from invitations, to managing what dishes your guests are bringing, to posting pictures of your event when it is all over.

The first order of business to give Punchbowl a whirl, was to design the invitation. I could choose from plenty of very pretty designs and styles, with good prompts for all the necessary information. Previewing the design was simple, and editing my information was just as intuitive. I had a lot of fun tweaking the details of the design, too. My in-laws' wedding colors were yellow and light blue. I added a splash of red to the design, too, remembering that this was the ruby anniversary after all! Having gathered in my research (thank you, Google!) that the Nasturtium is the 40th anniversary flower, I added a photo of a pretty yellow Nasturtium to the invitation. Wow! I was so pleased with the look. It was pleasant and classy, which is just the impression I wanted to convey.

When I was satisfied with the design, I moved on to discover more of the features Punchbowl offers. I was thrilled with the option to add a potluck contribution manager. Since this party was just for family, and was to be held at my in-laws' backyard during the summer, we opted for a cookout celebration. The guests would be bringing dishes to share. I had already envisioned the menu. We would be grilling marinated chicken breast and steak for steak sandwiches, as well as having pulled pork. I also made spaghetti dill salad and deviled eggs. My sister-in-law made a fruit salad, brought the celebratory cake (decorated, once again, with yellow, blue and a splash of red) and supplied the beer and soda. Based on the number of guests, I selected the type and number of other dishes that the guests could choose to bring. I was really impressed with this feature! I did have to play around with it a little before I figured out that you need to remember to click "submit" or it won't save the numbers or prompt the guests to look at this section of the invitation online.

At last, I was ready to send the invitation. Punchbowl allows you the opportunity to add a specific message to all of your guests, just one, or a different message to each guest - whichever way you want. This is helpful if you want to suggest to your aunt to bring her acclaimed baked lima beans dish, and your uncle to throw a couple of folding tables in the back of the truck, too. Very cool! As the RSVPs came in, I was able to edit the online invitation to update the number of guests expected on the potluck page. Again, I had to play around with this feature, but finally realized you have to click up in the "Note" section to update this information.

An easy to manage to-do list is another great feature on this site! This was very handy for me, as I was planning this event the same time I was planning my Dominos American Legends Pizza House Party.

The party itself went swimmingly! Everyone contributed such great food, and it wasn't your run-of-the-mill cookout. I wanted my in-laws to feel special, and I think they did. My in-laws have three children (my husband being one of them). To pay homage to their 40 years of marriage, their three children and I each made a list of 10 things we love about them, totaling 40 things. The list ran the gamut from touching to funny, the youngest citing such things as "You never gave me a curfew." And one that I contributed was that "Our kids love coming to visit them, and that it was only partly because there is a playground next door." My husband tugged the heart strings with things like, "By loving us and showing us that you care, you proved that love is truly the light of the world and we are all meant to carry it on to others." My sister-in-law remarked on all of the family vacations they had made over the years, and how the family time would be cherished forever.

But that wasn't the only tribute that we paid to to their anniversary. In the week leading up to the party, my husband scanned the pictures from their wedding album and enhanced them with a photo editing software. Some of the photos had been damaged in a flood many moons ago, and some had yellowed over time. They looked great, and were viewed in a wonderful slide show presentation at the party set to the music of their song. My mother-in-law in particular was truly touched by this gesture.

As a final tie-in to the 40 theme, the children each gave the couple of honor a $40 gift card for someplace meaningful to them. And although I didn't think of it at the time, I later thought a gift card to Ruby Tuesday would have been appropriate!

Later, in a thank you note, my mother-in-law said, "Thank you ever so much for the special anniversary celebration. The food was so good, our wedding pictures put to music was wonderful, and your things that you admire in us were so touching. We truly felt special and so loved. As we grow older, we find that having family is our greatest blessing."

When all was said and done, I was proud to be involved in the event, and glad to have shown such a wonderful couple that they have done well in their life together. And... I can't wait to throw a Golden Anniversary party for them!

Shindiglet: The Before-the-Party Party

Shindiglet - Like a grand shindig, only a much smaller to-do. There are times, when even a small group of people getting together creates an occasion for celebrating with a theme. And if it is within my power, I always try to make that happen.

A before-the-party party, for me, is such an occasion.

I planned to make a lunch for the family members coming to the FairlyOdd Parents Bowling Party. During the lunch, we could open gifts from them instead of toting more stuff to the bowling alley. What started off as a light lunch, soon became a shindiglet!

Inspired by the Magical Tablescape post over at Party Planning Mom, I envisioned a fairy theme spin-off of the FairlyOdd Parents theme we'd be ensconced in later. My girls were turning seven and three, and pink and green fairies (nod to Wanda and Cosmo's colors) seemed to be the perfect focal point.

Since this was to be a smaller affair, with the main party following it, I wanted only to provide a few key decorative accents. We have a green woodland fairy that sits in our kitchen, so I snagged her to reign supreme as the table centerpiece. Some silk floral stems softened her up a bit. I found a few ceramic fairies at the Dollar Tree that surrounded the woodland fairy tucked in between the flowers and leaves. The green forest bed (a square of green felt) looked very pleasant atop a pink table covering. This picture was taken a few days before the party, as I was planning it all out.

Two shades of green crepe paper were draped from the chandelier to the corners of the room to give the effect of a luncheon under the shade of a big tree.

The table setting was very simple. Every enchanted forest has flowers, so we had a floral napkin with pink utensils. We used a floral napkin spread open as the placemat, a pink plate with a white doily on it, and had a tiny pink cup filled with pop rocks which, when later added to the pink lemonade, became fairy punch (although my girls couldn't wait, and drank the pop rocks straight up!). This great drink idea came from the Magic Tablescape post previously mentioned, as did the idea of putting cotton candy into the drink cups to munch on before the lunch was served. The girls loved it!

For lunch, I served cold cut sandwiches, cheese & crackers, fruit salad, deviled eggs, pretzels, and for dessert, birthday cake, of course!

We lit seven candles for the oldest child and sang Happy Birthday to her, then repeated the process with three candles for the youngest. We ended up not having enough time to open presents before the bowling party, so we waited until afterwards. What a great day spent with family & friends!

5th Annual Valentine's Day Ladies Tea: Re-cap

Ahhhhhhh.... the satisfaction of accomplishment! Yesterday's tea party went over very well. That's not to say we didn't experience a couple of blips along the way, though.

There was one mix-up with the first activity, which was the flower meanings match game. I inadvertently copied and distributed the game with the meanings right beside the flower names. Duh! I can't believe I didn't catch that error before it was too late. But my guests are pretty easy going and indulged me by reading through the many meanings and talking about how interesting some of them were. Thank goodness I still had two other activities planned!

I also had a last minute cancellation due to illness, so we ended up with an odd number, making the Complete the Lyrics game have uneven teams. The teams were pretty evenly matched, as it turned out, and the difference in correct answers was only one, so the margin of victory was very slim. When it was time to select prizes for this game, everyone kept what they originally opened - no prize swiping occurred!

The consequences of the heart game went over very well, with lots of laughs. Originally, the prize for this game was going to be taking home the centerpiece. However, when my friend brought it over to me, I fell in love with it, and I couldn't part with it. That meant the consequences game was just going to be a filler activity - no prize. But since the flower meaning match game didn't work out, I moved that game's prize to the consequences game. So, it all worked out in the end.


We enjoyed tea and scones as the first course and nibbled on a seed & dried fruit snack mixture that was on the table upon arrival of the guests. I decided to lay a snippet of lavender on the saucer aside the tea cup, which I thought looked very pretty. I put the lavender snippets in the seed mixture bowls, too, as garnish.


Everyone seemed to like having the menu at the table so they knew what was in store. It helps to judge how much to eat along the way if you know to save room for something at the end! The primroses looked so pretty in the salad, I regret not taking a picture. Also, I didn't stop and take the time to photograph the panna cotta when that was served. Drat! They were quite lovely plated with raspberries and quartered lychees. And the taste combination was beautiful. It is a very creamy dessert, with cream and mascarpone cheese being the main ingredients. The rose water added a touch of delicacy. As I needed to remove the fresh flowers before cutting the layer cake, I did pause to take some pictures at that point.


Before the guests left, I gave them their favor box and sent most of them off with a goody bag filled with homemade heart-shaped peppermint patties and lemon poppy seed cookies. (OK, I let a few guests leave before I remembered to have them fill their goody bag - whoops!)

I dare say that everyone had a good time, and I was satisfied overall. As always, a few things were learned along the way, which help make the next event even better.

I suppose the next shindig I'll be planning is a dinner centered around curry ketchup. A coworker of my husband brought him some curry ketchup from a specialty shop, as my husband had been telling him about having it with sausages in Germany. So we're hoping to have the coworker and his wife over to give it a sample. A much smaller affair than my tea party, but I do so love the German theme...

Delightful, Wonderful, Cheerful, Edible Flowers

I just came home from a short drive to a pesticide-free greenhouse that is serving as my supplier for the edible flowers I'm using at the tea party. What a delightful trip to make in dreary February! With my two-year-old in tow, we walked up and down the aisles of the greenhouses, allowing our senses to be cuddled by the sweetness of the floral bliss. The charming owner led us around snipping here and there, creating a collection of lovely and aromatic flowers for us. I'll admit, I was a little overwhelmed. There were so many choices, but we narrowed it down to shades of pink, and appropriate sizes for the purposes the flowers would need to serve. I ended up with stock, english daisies, snapdragons, dianthus, mini-carnations, and primrose. And THEN, just before we were ready to leave, the owner snipped a bit of lavender for my daughter to sniff. When I told her we were having lavender tea, she suggested taking some snippets of lavender, too. "You could float these in the tea if you like," she suggested. YES! Or even laying aside the teacup on the saucer, I say. It's just so pretty! How surprised and pleased was I when she told me my total was $5?! Happy day. :)



Before we left, I had to take a picture of this awesome plant, called Crown of Thorns. It's name is self-explanatory. Wow.

Valentine's Day Tea Party: Final Details

The tea party is set for the day after tomorrow. I'm excited to see that things are all coming together nicely. I've really done a good job of budgeting my time, which has not always been the case in the past. I still have two days packed full of things to do, but I'm not overly stressed or exhausted - yet. :)

I found a pretty swirly-like scroll frame, which will display the menu and double as a table decoration. I also have two small flower pots with pale pink silk roses and greens to dress up the table. My friend is working magic with fresh flowers and the tea cup and saucer I picked up recently. I don't make place cards, because everyone already has their usual seats that they migrate to upon arrival. If I can think of something fun next year, though, I might implement them just for the fun of it. So, those things, along with the burgundy table linens and my china pattern, should make for a pretty table setting. I realized that if I tried to do much more, there wouldn't be room for the food or table space for the games I have planned.

The prizes are all ready, as are the party favors. I used Valentine's decor take-out boxes to hold the trinkets I picked up. I ended up with six items in the boxes. They are: an empty treat bag (rolled up and tied with a twisty) which the guests will be invited to fill with the cookies/candy I will offer at the end of the party, a 'Cupid's Dart' flower seed packet, a few pieces of tea flavored candy, a small decorative hanging heart, a whimsical flower-themed magnet that I made, and a love-themed note pad. A CD will also be given to each guest that contains the love songs used during the Complete the Lyrics Game (see below).

I have my menu finalized and have already begun some of the prep work on a few of the items. Here is the menu:

First Course

Cherry & Almond Scones

Blueberry Scones

Second Course

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Radish Poppy Seed Sandwiches

Strawberry & Cream Cheese Sandwiches

Salad with Edible Flowers

Deviled Eggs

Third Course

Rose Water Panna Cotta with Raspberries and Lychees

Vanilla Raspberry Layer Cake

Tea Selections

Lavender Herbal Tea

American Classic Black Tea 

I am going this afternoon to pick up the edible flowers. I am planning on crystallizing a few today in hopes that they'll turn out well enough to go on top of the cake. I am also using the flowers for the cold drinks. I am going to freeze them in ice cubes so they'll look pretty floating in the water glasses.

As far as games, I have the following three planned: Consequences of the Heart, Flower Meanings Match, and Love Songs Complete the Lyrics. Here is how we'll go about playing each one:

Consequences of the Heart - Give each person a sheet of paper numbered 1-10 (all have a small heart shaped hole punched in the bottom corner except for one) and a pen. Instruct everyone to write at the top (1) “one or more adjective”. Instruct everyone to fold the paper down over that word so that what has been written cannot be seen. Instruct everyone to pass their paper on to the right, but they cannot look at what was previously written. Instruct everyone to write at the ‘new’ top (2) “the name of a gentleman”. Fold and pass as before. Write (3) “one or more adjective”. Fold and pass as before. Write (4) “a lady’s name”. Fold and pass as before. Write (5) “a place to meet”. Fold and pass as before. Write (6) “something you could give”. Fold and pass as before. Write (7) “an expression”. Fold and pass as before. Write (8) “another expression”. Fold and pass as before. Write (9) “a consequence”. Fold and pass as before. Write (10) “an expression”. Read a sample Consequences of the Heart story that you prepare ahead of time (I played it myself just to see how it would work). Provide the “script” to the first volunteer reader who is to read the poem they were left holding. Everyone takes a turn. When all have been read, ask guests who has the paper without the special marking on it. That person wins the centerpiece.
Here is the "script": The [#1] [#2] met the [#3] [#4] at/in [#5] . He gave her [#6] and said to her, “ [#7] ”. She said to him, “ [#8] .” The consequence of the heart was [#9] . And the world said, “ [#10] .”

Flower Meaning Match - Provide guests with a list of flowers, set across from a list of meanings of flowers. Also rose color meanings. Guests must match the meaning to the appropriate flower/rose color. The person with the most correct wins. In order to make up this game, I researched online the meanings of flowers and picked the ones that I thought had some logic to them. Some of them will be tough, but is a game after all, and I don't want everyone to get them all right! I also have a couple of tie breaker trivia questions set aside just in case.

Love Songs Identification – Divide table into two teams. Each team is given a piece of paper and a pen. Snippets of 20 songs are played as cues. After each snippet is played, the team must decide what lyrics come next. The team with the most points at the end wins. The losing team gets to choose among the wrapped prizes and open them, but then the winners get to select from what has been opened, or they can open a new gift.

I have some more prep work to do in the kitchen today and tomorrow. That should leave me with only a few things to do on Sunday. The tea party is set for 1:30, so I shouldn't be too rushed.

If you're reading this and are planning your own Valentine's Day Tea Party, I encourage you to comment about the fun things you're doing. I truly love to hear the details!

Rose Water Panna Cotta

I have tried to find an online version of the exact recipe I'm using to make the panna cotta, but to no avail. If you have access to the Martha Stewart Living magazine, it is the dessert of the month for the February 2009 issue. But since I've mentioned it so often here, I wanted to provide at least one link to give the gist of what I am talking about. I'm really looking forward to making it and giving it a taste!

Tackle it Tuesday: Out of the Ordinary Shopping

Ever since I decided to make Rose Water Panna Cotta for the dessert at my Valentine's Day tea party, I knew I would have to go out of my way to find a couple of ingredients: rose water and lychees. I did see a recipe online on how to make your own rose water, but it sounded too complicated, and I would still have to go out of my way to find pesticide-free rose petals. No thanks, I'll just buy some! After doing some research, I located a few stores in the area where I might find these two out of the ordinary items.

I first visited an asian market place called Little Saigon. There, I found the lychees. I bought more than enough for the panna cotta recipe, because I found loads of lychee cocktail recipes online, too! The second stop I made was to India Groceries & Fashions. I found the rose water there. Yay! I felt ready to make the panna cotta!

In addition to the food items, I was also in need of a teacup and saucer with which to make a floral centerpiece. It just so happens, my friend and neighbor is a florist, and she offered to make this for me. That will really help bring the cost down. I went to a nearby antique market place to prowl around for one with a pretty floral design. I saw many priced $12 and up, and a few for $5, but then I found one priced at $2.50, and I thought it was just perfect!

I tackled that out of the ordinary shopping list, and I was happy!

See more tackles here.

Menu thoughts

With a little helpful push from a friend, I've started focusing once again on my menu for this upcoming tea party. Why not start with selecting the dessert? She shared with me a recipe for Rose Water Panna Cotta. I had no idea what to expect, but when I saw the recipe picture, I was wowed. It is like custard, and can be molded and turned out onto a plate. And then when I read the list of ingredients, I realized I had some more Googling to do. Lychees? Huh? What's that? I didn't even know how to pronounce that word... which meant I just had to locate and master this exotic sounding fruit. Yes, I verified that it was a fruit, with a taste/texture similar to a grape/pear.

Google educated me that it is a Chinese fruit, but also grown in India and other places. I decided to tap into some of my resources here to get the low down. My husband has Indian coworkers and they directed me to a local market that might have lychees, as well as the rose water that the recipe names. In doing another Google search, I found someone else trying to locate lychees in my area. I took copious notes and now feel prepared to obtain all the ingredients I should need.

So, dessert is settled. Now I can go on to the other areas of the meal...

Some tips I've gleaned when trying out a new recipe:

1) Always search the Internet for the recipe online. Recipe sites or blogs often have comments posted by people who have already tried the recipe and can suggest tweaks that you might find beneficial. Also, seeing different pictures of the recipe helps give you an idea of what yours should look like.

2) Make sure you allow yourself enough time to get all the steps done. That means reading the recipe all the way through first. You will save yourself some stress if you can do as much as possible before hand.

3) When trying to find ingredients that you aren't used to, again, search the Internet. Sites like Yelp can shed brilliant light on services and shops in your local area.

4) And finally, it is probably the responsible thing to suggest you try the recipe out ahead of time before 'going live' and serving it to guests... but... I can't say I've ever done it that way. Sink or swim for me, ya know?

Those are just a few tips. Leave a comment if you have any other tips to share!

PA Farm Show Surprise Valentine's Day Tea Party Find

Yesterday, my husband, my two daughters, and I made the annual visit to the PA Farm Show. Living in the city, we find a natural curiosity for farm living. This event satisfies our curiosity, and provides fun and education for the whole family.

What could this possibly have to do with my Valentine's Day Tea? Well, there just happened to be a vendor offering a plethora of teas (that's agriculture to you and me) and accessories at his booth. My eyes were first drawn to this place by the beautiful Scherenschnitte art that was displayed. There was a lovely picture of a teapot that I would love to have acquired, but at $48, it was a little too hefty a price tag for a tea party decoration right now, but I may have to go to their store, Tea Party Linens & More, sometime in the future. I did find these little earrings that I love! And they were $8, which was a price I could justify.

I offer a new tea at every party, and I had not yet decided what to serve this year. I was thinking of trying the tea that has a flower inside the teapot, but that would mean a new teapot purchase. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to go that route. I searched for inspiration among the vast selection of tea from this vendor. I located an herbal variety that had this year's floral flourish theme written all over it: Lavender! I had never tasted it before, but couldn't resist the theme tie-in, so I bought two small packets that should give all my guests a fragrant cuppa. The vendor told me about his favorite, which is Wild Cherry. As I smelled it, he told me that instead of drinking cherry coke, he drinks this tea. Well! Cherry Coke is my favorite, so I had to have one of those, too!

I was a happy camper walking away with tea and earrings for the upcoming tea party. I must start thinking about the rest of the menu...