This years theme for my daughters 7th birthday party was an vintage tea party. She was so excited at the thought of being able to use real tea cups! I have to admit this party was a lot of fun to decorate for & I loved watching the girls pretend to drink their tea & use "proper" manners.
Decorations & activies…
To decorate I transformed one end of our dining room into a play & dress up area with many of the items used found around our house. An antique hallway table displayed the dress up items. There was costume jewellery hung from a jewellery tree on top & hats placed in baskets on top & below. Feather boas were also draped from the open drawer of the table. For added decoration & vintage feel I placed a pillow with my daughters name on it, her oversize stuffed puppy & a crocheted blanket in a bronzed metal magazine rack. I also made a banner from vintage inspired scrapbook paper & pink tulle to drape across the bookshelf & hung a large turquoise & bright pink pom pom from the curtain rod. Lastly the dress up area contained an oversize Ikea mirror with a fake flower stuck to it. On the other side of the room I created a garden area by placing a square piece of astro turf we had (thanks to my husband and his obsession with practising his golf :-). I set up a little wood table with snacks & books & for seating I had pink & white flower pouffs. Girls are pretty good for keeping themselves busy so for activities I kept it pretty simple. I had fairy tattoos to keep the girls occupied while waiting for everyone to arrive. Once everyone was there they all had time to dress up & play before lunch. I had a magnetic board set up against the wall with wood dolls and clothing to play with as well as a long piece of parcel paper with stamps & markers for the girls to draw & decorate. We also played a couple of my daughters favourite games Freeze Dance & Musical Chairs (or in this case pillows & pouffs…lol) I had little section off to the side decorated with a scrapbook paper banner & pouff which I used to take pictures of each of the girls dressed up in their "tea party" wear with my daughter. These were later printed off on my computer on to premium white card stock for the "loot bags"
Now on to the table & food….
Our sideboard was used as the dessert table. On the mirror I draped another vintage scrapbook paper banner that said happy birthday (this was reused from our party last year!) I also stuck a large artificial gerber daisy to the mirror and found a "tea party" theme mylar ballon to also decorate. It's become a family tradition for the kids get a ballon each year. It is always kept in their rooms after the party until it hits the floor. They always look forward to going to the party store with me every year to get it. To finish off the sideboard I placed white square plastic plates with "tea party" theme napkins on top, a china tea pot (with Raspberry Lemonade inside) a pink rose cake on a white cake platter (since there were only 7 kids at the party & this day was her actual birthday we used this to celebrate after dinner as a family that night) & cupcakes (they were decorated with floral baking cups, light pink icing, edible sparkles & fairy picks). The table was decorated with large turquoise and bright pink pom poms hanging from the chandelier. Pink tulle was tied around the backs of the chairs with an artificial flower stuck in each bow. On the table we layer a pink disposable paper tablecloth & "tea party" theme placemats with colouring, stickers & games on them. The tea cups were indeed real and were purchased from the store (also to be used later for the 'loot bags"). For food we stuck to the "tea" theme and had mini bagels, plain & with cream cheese, fingers sandwiches, cheese & crackers, grapes & carrot sticks & turkey meat sticks. To keep it formal I used white ceramic plates & glass platters to display the food.
Loot Bags/Take Away Gifts…
I figured I would have no use for all the tea cups & saucers afterwards so I decided to use them to create our takeaway gifts. After lunch while my daughter was opening gifts I cleaned out each of the girls cups & saucers (Thank goodness I remembered where everyone was seated). I added a few pink gum balls to the inside of the cup then wrapped it up in cellophane paper & tied it with a ribbon. Finally as a keepsake & name tag so to speak I topped each package off with the appropriate printed off pictures I took earlier of my daughter & one of the girls.
I figure overall for food & decorations I spent about $150. A few of the items purchased such as the tulle & scrapbook paper I only used portions of so I can use them for next years party & others such as the boas, hats & pouffs can be reused in the basement to play. To keep costs down use your imagination...I was able to find several items around the house to help decorate such as the antique hallway table & wood/metal snack table, jewellery tree, baskets, magazine rack, blanket, stuffy, mirror, astro turf, cake platters & tea pot.
*China tea cups/saucers, pom pom kits, scrapbook paper, floral cake cups
https://www.winners.com
*Pink Tulle, Pink Gumballs
https://www.partycity.ca
*Tea Party Balloon, napkins, placemats , tablecloth
https://www.perfectpartyplace.ca
*Premium Cardstock Paper, Pouffs (I hadn't planned on these but I saw them & at 70% off I couldn't resist. For $7.49 each I figured we could definitely use them again)
https://www.target.ca
*Feather boas, fairy tattoos
https://www.dollarama.com
Decorations & activies…
To decorate I transformed one end of our dining room into a play & dress up area with many of the items used found around our house. An antique hallway table displayed the dress up items. There was costume jewellery hung from a jewellery tree on top & hats placed in baskets on top & below. Feather boas were also draped from the open drawer of the table. For added decoration & vintage feel I placed a pillow with my daughters name on it, her oversize stuffed puppy & a crocheted blanket in a bronzed metal magazine rack. I also made a banner from vintage inspired scrapbook paper & pink tulle to drape across the bookshelf & hung a large turquoise & bright pink pom pom from the curtain rod. Lastly the dress up area contained an oversize Ikea mirror with a fake flower stuck to it. On the other side of the room I created a garden area by placing a square piece of astro turf we had (thanks to my husband and his obsession with practising his golf :-). I set up a little wood table with snacks & books & for seating I had pink & white flower pouffs. Girls are pretty good for keeping themselves busy so for activities I kept it pretty simple. I had fairy tattoos to keep the girls occupied while waiting for everyone to arrive. Once everyone was there they all had time to dress up & play before lunch. I had a magnetic board set up against the wall with wood dolls and clothing to play with as well as a long piece of parcel paper with stamps & markers for the girls to draw & decorate. We also played a couple of my daughters favourite games Freeze Dance & Musical Chairs (or in this case pillows & pouffs…lol) I had little section off to the side decorated with a scrapbook paper banner & pouff which I used to take pictures of each of the girls dressed up in their "tea party" wear with my daughter. These were later printed off on my computer on to premium white card stock for the "loot bags"
Now on to the table & food….
Our sideboard was used as the dessert table. On the mirror I draped another vintage scrapbook paper banner that said happy birthday (this was reused from our party last year!) I also stuck a large artificial gerber daisy to the mirror and found a "tea party" theme mylar ballon to also decorate. It's become a family tradition for the kids get a ballon each year. It is always kept in their rooms after the party until it hits the floor. They always look forward to going to the party store with me every year to get it. To finish off the sideboard I placed white square plastic plates with "tea party" theme napkins on top, a china tea pot (with Raspberry Lemonade inside) a pink rose cake on a white cake platter (since there were only 7 kids at the party & this day was her actual birthday we used this to celebrate after dinner as a family that night) & cupcakes (they were decorated with floral baking cups, light pink icing, edible sparkles & fairy picks). The table was decorated with large turquoise and bright pink pom poms hanging from the chandelier. Pink tulle was tied around the backs of the chairs with an artificial flower stuck in each bow. On the table we layer a pink disposable paper tablecloth & "tea party" theme placemats with colouring, stickers & games on them. The tea cups were indeed real and were purchased from the store (also to be used later for the 'loot bags"). For food we stuck to the "tea" theme and had mini bagels, plain & with cream cheese, fingers sandwiches, cheese & crackers, grapes & carrot sticks & turkey meat sticks. To keep it formal I used white ceramic plates & glass platters to display the food.
Loot Bags/Take Away Gifts…
I figured I would have no use for all the tea cups & saucers afterwards so I decided to use them to create our takeaway gifts. After lunch while my daughter was opening gifts I cleaned out each of the girls cups & saucers (Thank goodness I remembered where everyone was seated). I added a few pink gum balls to the inside of the cup then wrapped it up in cellophane paper & tied it with a ribbon. Finally as a keepsake & name tag so to speak I topped each package off with the appropriate printed off pictures I took earlier of my daughter & one of the girls.
I figure overall for food & decorations I spent about $150. A few of the items purchased such as the tulle & scrapbook paper I only used portions of so I can use them for next years party & others such as the boas, hats & pouffs can be reused in the basement to play. To keep costs down use your imagination...I was able to find several items around the house to help decorate such as the antique hallway table & wood/metal snack table, jewellery tree, baskets, magazine rack, blanket, stuffy, mirror, astro turf, cake platters & tea pot.
*China tea cups/saucers, pom pom kits, scrapbook paper, floral cake cups
https://www.winners.com
*Pink Tulle, Pink Gumballs
https://www.partycity.ca
*Tea Party Balloon, napkins, placemats , tablecloth
https://www.perfectpartyplace.ca
*Premium Cardstock Paper, Pouffs (I hadn't planned on these but I saw them & at 70% off I couldn't resist. For $7.49 each I figured we could definitely use them again)
https://www.target.ca
*Feather boas, fairy tattoos
https://www.dollarama.com