Tea Gift

This is the year of 40 for so many of my friends.  I was trying to figure out the perfect gift for each.  Next up in the line up is my friend Nicole.  We've had some special memories at tea rooms, so I knew I wanted to do a tea themed gift.  The plan is to celebrate at a tea room shortly, so this should tide her over until then.
I found a tea cup and added her name in vinyl.  I also bought some honey stirrers, a tea dipper thing (whatever those are called), and then I got some test tubes at Michaels, and some different loose teas at Central Market.  I filled the tubes and labeled them with my label maker.

I found a cut box I filled full of tea goodies and shipped them out.

Tea Party

 When I started teacher 16 years ago, I was a sixth grade teacher and the two teammates I started with are two of my closest friends even today.  We still work together in different capacities.  Mary is retired, but tutors at our school (a different one from where we began).  Sonia and I are both specialist together.  We moved together after our second year to a school closer to us.  She turned 50 this past spring and we decided to surprise her with a tea and some of the friends we collected along the way.

 I made a little birthday banner with scrap fabrics that reminded me of her.

 For a 'game' Mary pulled out more than ten different kinds of teas and we served different teas for all three courses and had them write down a guess each time on a card.  At the end, the people with the most correct answers got a 'prize.'  It created fun conversation regardless.  We served each person a different combination.

We lined the tables with milk, lemons, and sugar cubes.  We started out with scones, clotted cream, and jam on each plate.  We also went ahead and put some dishes in the middle of the table for used tea bags.  

 Mary had a collection of cups....which always reminds me I want to start doing this.  I don't drink teas, but (ironically) I've hosted quite a few now.

 For course number one, we served tomato soup and cheese straws.

 Course two was three different kinds of sandwiches and strawberries.

 Last up-sugar cookies, chocolate truffles, lemon cups, and petit fours.

 To get Sonia there, I had told her we wanted to take her to lunch at a new tea room near Mary's house.  I told her I made reservations at 2:30, so to arrive by 2:15 and we'd all drive together.  She was pretty shocked when she arrived to a table full of friends.

We ate, laughed, and ate some more.  A lot of the guest brought her their favorite teas, and we also had everyone sign the back of this little sign for her to take home as a moment.  

Just a few tips.  We plated everything but the soup in advance.  To keep the sandwiches from drying out we put a damp paper towel over each plate.  I put tags with each person's name on them on the cups so we could quickly dump out any left over tea, quick rinse, add a different tea bag, and then a new kind of tea.  It was a really fun way to get together and much easier than I thought with everything planted in advance!

Cucumber Sandwiches

 I recently helped host a tea for a friend of mine.  When we were deciding the menu I knew she liked cucumber sandwiches, but in all my years....it's one thing I've never tried to tackle!  I did a lot of research.  I knew I didn't want it to be too bland.  I found this recipe that had a little bit of a kick and I really did like it.  I served it open faced because I felt like the sourdough was a good friend to the cucumber, but two pieces would have been a little gummy.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Ingredients:  1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, 1/2 c. mayonnaise, 1 pkg dry Italian seasoning mix, 1 cucumber (peeled and thinly sliced), 1 loaf of sour dough bread, fresh dill.
Instructions:  
I sliced the sour dough about 1/2 inc thick.  I even toasted it for about 5 minutes just so it wouldn't be so chewy.  It was, by no means, toasted, but it did make it a little less gummy.  Prior to toasting the bread I had mixed some room temperature cream cheese with 1/2 c. mayonnaise and one pkg of dry Italian salad dressing mix.  I put that in the fridge to chill for a few hours.  I then spread that on my toasted bread and then added three pieces of peeled and thinly sliced cucumber.  I sprinkled the whole thing with some dried dill.

Yolanda's Bridal Tea

 On Halloween, I helped host a shower for my friend Yolanda.  There were four of us on the committee and the other gals had a ton of great items for hosting a tea.  Yolanda loves her teas...in particular, teas at the Ritz.

 One of the host had all these tea cups and tea pots.  How gorgeous?  The guest list included 70 invites and about 34 yes responses.  Most of these cups and punch glasses got used.

 Tea selection.

 We each tried to bring 'tea like dishes.

 Scones, a variety of jams, and clotted cream (bought from the store....yikes to the directions that goes into producing this little dollop of goodness).

 Petite Fours....my favorite.

 Gifts.

Fun side note, one of the gals hosting had seen this 'game' where you wrap a bag of dates, kisses, and bottle of shout  You place them among the gifts and when the bride unwraps them, they have to tell about their first date, first kiss, and their first fight.  Games make me cringe, but this one was just right for a group of host that decided we did NOT want to do any games, but we did want to make it a little personal.  Tonight is the rehearsal, tomorrow is the wedding.  I can't wait to see what life brings next.  

Miss Spider's Tea Party Gift Set

This year for Blythe's Christmas I wanted to get Blythe a paint your own tea set.  I think she's finally old enough to handle the ceramic, and enjoy the painting it up to fit her style.  I made some little tea bags, sugar cubes, and lemon wedge pieces to add to the playset (I blogged about these a few months ago).  Per usual, it's necessary that each gift I give to small children comes with a book-so I added Miss Spider's Tea Party. Simple, educational, and lots of imagination required. I can't wait to have 4 year old hosted tea parties with Blythe.

Play Tea: Sugar Cubes and Lemon Slices

Here's part two of three of a birthday gift I'm working on for Blythe.  There is a tea party involved in this one.  I try to make gifts based on books.  I posted about the little fabric tea bags I made yesterday with some scraps I had left over from a quilt.  I usually toss fabric this small, so this was the perfect solution.  I decided every good tea service has lemon and sugar cubes.
I took some felt (yellow and white) and cut out some lemon shapes.  Here is a free template for those.

 I then sewed them all together, but you could use fabric glue as well.

 Finished....

 For the cubes, I bought some little wood squares at the craft store in the unfinished wood section.  They have these in all sizes.  You could paint them white, or even get some glittery white paint.  I used what I had on hand.  I sprayed them white, then sprayed them with glue and rolled them in glitter.

 Finished...

 Every great project includes a little glitter.  This also applies for all work projects.

 Here is the finished set.  For now.  There will be more.  Soon.

Fabric Play Tea Bags

 I had a bunch of tiny scraps of 20's style fabrics left over from a quilt this summer.  I decided to make little fabric tea bags to go along with a birthday gift I'm currently working on for my niece.  There is a theme.  It involves a book.  No doubt, this won't be the last I write about it, but it is the start.  These were super simple to put together, cheap, and affordable.  I drew out a little template you can download for free here.  Instead of sewing the edges, I used pinking sheers to cut out the template so it just had a fun edge.  I doubled the fabric and put the two back sides facing each other.  I sewed around everything but the top of the tea bag, and 3/4 the way around the little square tabs.

I bought some then rick rack, but any thin ribbon or string would do.  I inserted a small piece (about 4 inches) into the open top of the tea bag, and the 1 open side of the tab.  I then sewed over that so it was attached.  It would be cute to put a little stuffing inside as well, but I was working with the supplies on hand.  If you aren't into sewing, you could also us fabric glue and put these together.  Up next lemons and sugar cubes...

Coffee: Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cubes

 I made these white chocolate covered  this week to go on a coffee bar for a shower I helped host.

 Next week I'll be posting a week's worth of post culminating in a coffee themed bridal shower for my pal Amber.  I have so many post that they spilled over into this week as well, so....I thought I'd share these little guys. I saw this idea on cutefood.  I wanted some fun sugars to add to the coffees, and I went with the color scheme (green for Starbuck's-the location of Amber's first date with her fiance). 

These are super simple, and really....chocolate dipped sugar?  Who needs dinner?  The one key to making these is that you need to freeze the sugar cubes in advance so when you dip them in the warmed melted chocolates they don't start melting. 

A little chocolate went a long ways.  I just melted it in the microwave, dipped and added a white heart form some Valentine's sprinkle I have. 

Coffee: Build Your Own Tiered Platter

Next week I'll be posting a week's worth of post covering a shower we threw for a friend of mine.  There are a lot of details, so a few have spilled over into this week.  This is a super easy project, and I've seen versions of this throughout the net, but.....in case you need a quick way to make multiple tiered platters.....here ya go. 

In this case, we wanted natural colors, so I bought these earth friendly, overpriced plates at Sprouts.  These would be really cute in bright colors with fun cups. 

I glued the plates together via the cups, and then used these on all the guest tables to offer some coffee desserts.  It would be a good tea party platter idea as well, and if I had a time machine....I might go back in time and try this out instead of asking friends to let me borrow their china (biting nails).