Sip and See Baby Shower, tea party style

My sister-in-law had a gorgeous baby girl a few weeks ago.  Instead of having a traditional baby shower,  she preferred an after-the-baby-was-born type shower.  This was mostly because they decided not to find out the baby's gender...and this time, it was a GIRL! 

My SIL likes going to tea, and requested that the theme of the shower be a tea party, and that the colors be pink and blue...which worked out great because that way I could start making decorations ahead of time, before we knew the baby's gender.  Her friend Lisa and I worked together to put everything together, and had a lot of fun doing so!

Here's some action shots of our guest of honor and her new little punkin pie!

Here's what we did!
Decorations:
A white teapot filled with flowers and a teacup filled with flowers, all set atop a cake stand, were the centerpieces on the eating tables.  I also threw a few paper-cut out scatters around the base of the cake stand.  Pale pink linen tablecloths gave everything a sweet girlie touch.

Teacups filled with small flower arrangements were randomly scattered on the food table.  Each arrangement was unique, meant to compliment the teacup it was in.  I used the guest of honor's grandmother's tea cups as she requested.  I just bought 4 bunches of flowers, made tiny arrangements, rubber banded them together tightly at their base to keep them tight, and cut the stems very short so they'd fit in the shallow teacups.

 

 

A garland of teapots made with scrapbook paper hung on the mantel.  Each teapot was decorated differently.  I cut  these out by hand using this teapot pattern here, then decorated them using scrapbook paper and random decorations I found around the house.

The main flower arrangement was done in pinks, as we were honoring a baby girl and her momma!

 A garland of teapots and teacups made with scrapbook paper, hung on the fence outside. I cut these out of scrapbook paper by hand, using pictures of real teapots I found online as the templates.

Pink tissue paper-covered rose balls also hung outside. Instead of buying balls with silk flowers on them like these, I decided to make these myself using tissue paper I already had.  Each one took a couple of hours to make, but the cost was zero!

Pink and white tissue paper poufs floated from the tree outside. I made these for my daughter's B-day party 6 months ago, so these were a freebie re-use.  Super cute in the tree, don't you think?  I used Martha Stewart's instructions here.

A wreath on the front door welcomed guests. I made this using teacups and a teapot cut from thicker scrapbook paper, some ribbon, and a foam wreath I covered with wide floral ribbon.  See the tutorial at the end for how to make the wreath.

A "this is the right house" notifier was tied to a tree in the front yard. It's just a long piece of pink tulle that I tied in a knot around the tree, then I hot glued a teapot with a butterfly accent to the knot.

Lace fabric, a hat, some gloves, and some doilies were scattered randomly on the food table to add a tea party feel.

Food 
The hostess did an amazing job on the food, while keeping things simple and elegant.  She made the most fabulous cucumber sandwiches, and some delicious chicken salad sandwiches on croissants using the chicken salad with craisins from Trader Joes, and a yummy fruit salad.  She also provided candied nuts, pink licorice, and chocolate covered fruit bites for guests to munch (also from Trader Joe's).  As you can see, the delicious sandwiches went fast!

The beautiful and yummy cake was made by a dear friend of the guest of honor.  The top layer was carrot cake, and the bottom layer was chocolate cake.  Both flavors were ABSOLUTELY delish!  We all loved the pretty white china teacup and saucer on the top and the cascade of pink frosting roses!

Drinks
We served a yummy tea-punch that was so light and refreshing. We also offered a variety of hot teas along with a pretty stack of mis-matched teacups (but the weather was too hot for us to get any takers), a pitcher of ice water, and a sparkling mixed-berry punch.  

Here's the tea-punch recipe. This will serve about 16 guests.  I got the recipe from a dear lady at my former church. Boy, can that lady throw a Christmas party...and her family makes great wine, too, by the way!


Bev's Tea-Punch
Ingredients:
4 2-liter bottles of Sprite
4 raspberry zinger teabags

Directions: Take 2 cups of sprite out and put it into a small tupperware container.  Add the teabags to it, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.  Refrigerate the 4 bottles of Sprite too.  Right before the party, put 2 bottles of Sprite plus 2 cups of the mixture in a pitcher or punchbowl or other serving container.  Add another bottle of Sprite and another cup of mixture whenever needed.  Super delicious and oh so easy! 

Games and Activities
The prizes for the games were all tea-related.  I just put them in gift bags with tissue paper (darn..I forgot to take a pic!). I found most of these prizes at Ross, as they had quite a selection of tea-related items.  The prizes included:

• a tea towel and a matching tea mug
• tea-pot shaped gift tags, a box of tea, and a box of those chocolate stick cookies
• a large tea mug and a box of tea
• a clear plastic iced tea cup (looks like the clear cups at Starbucks but sturdier) and a box of tea
• a cute tea cup and saucer set
• a lavender scented sachet, a magnetic note pad, and a box of tea

When I have some time, I'll upload these games in printable form, along with the answer keys, so anyone can use them. I typed most of them up using facts found on the internet.

We each wrote the baby a sheet of advice/words of love/etc. by taking each letter of her name and writing one thing for each letter.  I'm going to bind these into a book to give to her as a keepsake.

We did a baby trivia game, which tested our knowledge of facts like which state in the US has the most babies born in it each year.

We played the quarter game, where you have to try to drop a quarter into a glass jar with a skinny opening, by holding the quarter between your thighs.  Whoever "delivers" the quarter into the jar gets a prize.

We partnered up and played a game where you had to unscramble the names of baby-related items.

We played a diaper toss game.  5 wrapped up diapers and a small trash can for the target.  It was hard because I used a very small trashcan, so anyone who made a basket got a prize!

There was another game I typed up but we did not play, a trivia game where you have to tell the names for baby animals (cow =calf).
Favors
My co-hostess found the cutest tiny pink gift bags, decorated them with a cute sticker, and filled them with four different kinds of tea bags.  They smelled amazing!!!!

Tutorials
Tissue paper rose balls
Supplies needed:

• lots of tissue paper (you'll get 5 roses out of one 20x20 piece of tissue paper...so let's see...that's 8 sheets of tissue paper per ball.
• ruler
• pencil
• 3" or 5" green or white styrofoam balls
• clear fishing line
• a straight pin
• scissors
• hot glue gun and LOTS of sticks

Directions:
1. Lay 10 or more sheets of tissue paper on top of each other.  My pieces were 20 inches by 20 inches square.

2. Mark the tissue paper every 4 inches using the ruler and pencil

3. Cut the paper into 4 inch strips.

 4. To make a rose: (I used about 40 roses per ball)
Fold a strip in half length wise
Fold the far right end down into a triangle shape.  Be sure that the open side is toward you.

Start wrapping that end tightly toward the other end of the paper

Keep wrapping until you are about an inch past the fold you made.Then, gradually start loosening your wrap as you go.  The tighter you wrap, the smaller your rose will end up.

Fold the end down to form another triangle.
 

 Hot glue that end down

 

 Hot glue end down to the rose to seal it closed.

 Ta da!  Now, make 39 more roses!!!!

5. Hot glue one rose onto the styrofoam ball, then continue going around the ball to make one complete circle.  I used LOTS of glue on each rose, making a circle of glue around the whole outside edge of the rose, then an X across the middle.  I went through hot glue sticks like crazy, and sustained a few finger burns....be careful!!!!

6. Make another circle of roses, crossing over the first circle (so you end up with an X)

7. Fill in the 4 holes left with 6 to 8 roses for each hole.

8. Make the hanging line.  Cut off 3-4 feet of fishing line.  At one end of the line, tie a knot of it around a straight pin.  Cover the straight pin with glue and stick it into the ball. 

 9. Tie a ribbon around the line, close to the ball, for an accent.

Viola!  So pretty!

Tea Cup Door Wreath

 1. Take a piece of foam tubing (pipe insulation) from the hardware store, and duct tape the ends together to form a circle.

 2. Wrap the entire thing with inexpensive, wide floral ribbon.

 

 3. Secure the end with hot glue.

4. Hot glue paper tea cups all over it, made from heavy scrapbook paper, in coordinating colors. Tilt the teacups at various angles, and use at least 3 different kinds of tea cup shapes.
5. Hot glue a tea pot on at one side as a focal point.
6. Hot glue on a sign that welcomes everyone to the party.
7. Hot glue a bow made out of coordinating colors of ribbon on.
8. Hot glue a loop made of ribbon to the back to hang it by.
9. Decorate the cups with little paper roses and other add-ons.  I bought a few boxes of paper do-dads at Hobby Lobby and used them for all sorts of things at this shower.

Fall Activities Board

I saw this super cute Thankfulness board tutorial (pictured to the left) with the instructions right here:

...and got inspired!  I wanted to make one for myself to use in November, but then I got to thinking that this would be cute up in my house during September and October too.

So I came up with uses for it those months too.  To make it,  my pockets are just the same, but my title is put on with velcro instead of with mod podge, so I can switch it out for use in September and October too!

Have a fabulous fall, everyone!