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...