My very first post on my very first blog.
I've actually been thinking about making this blog for a long time, but it wasn't until about 2am last night that I decided that it was time to get started. Mostly because I wanted to write about the activity that we had last night. Perhaps it could be of help to someone planning something similar. (Dare I dream of getting my blog put on Pinterest?) Even if that never happens, it's certainly an event I want to remember for myself.
I was put in charge of putting together a nice mid week activity for all of the Young Women and their mothers to celebrate mother's day. I decided (quite ambitiously) to put together a tea party. This was especially intimidating because I come from the scorching land of Arizona, where the idea of drinking a hot beverage is generally not preferable. The Cactus State is just about as far from the influence of the British Empire and their etiquette as you can get. I had my first "afternoon tea" on my honeymoon last August, and loved it. However, I am quite inexperienced in this tradition compared to all of the British Columbians in my ward. There has been much fretting and stressing at my house over the past few weeks. (Just ask my sweet husband.) I will pretend that none of that happened, though, and instead, I will tell you how it all turned out, as if I just breezed through it all...
Invitations
I found this link to make a teapot card:
http://papercraftinspirations.themakingspot.com/blog/make-a-teapot-shaped-card
This is my living room floor after spending two hours trying to create my first prototype:
And here's what I came up with. (I'm obviously not a naturally crafty person.) I got better with practice. I took the prototype with me to a Beehive Class activity the week before the big event and had the Beehives help me make the invitations for all of the Mothers. That's actually part of my success story. That activity was so much fun! I had a blast chatting with the girls, and they brought some fun scrapbook items and so many great ideas to make the invitations even cuter. The final invitations were adorable... but you'll just have to imagine them because they were already sent out. At the same activity, the Beehives also helped me work on....
The Take Home Gift
I wanted the Mothers to get some sort of small gift when they left the tea party. So we did that flower pen thing where you use green tape to attach a fake flower at the end of a pen. We also scrapbooked the cover of a small composition book. Here's what each Mother got to take home:
Decorations and Dishes
Being a young married, I haven't had time to collect a lot of "hosting" items (particularly teapots and teacups.) So I had to do a lot of begging and borrowing to make this event happen. Tables, chairs, flatware, and many random dishes were provided by the church. I borrowed white tablecloths from the Relief Society and pretty teal overlays from the YW First Counselor who had them left over from a child's wedding. I also was blessed to get linked up with a lady in the ward who is a fabulous hostess. She let me come over to her house and borrow some of her decorations, dainty plates, teacups, and tiered serving trays. I still didn't have quite enough "tea items," however. I tried a few garage sales and thrift shops and found some good deals, but still not enough. I finally sent a sign up sheet to Relief Society and we got what we needed. Yeah for all of the awesome women in my ward! After filling the tables with all of our tea stuff, there wasn't much room for decorations. Our YW Secretary brought a small beautiful flower arrangement for each table and we decorated the side tables with tablecloths, flowers and vines. The room looked great, and I forgot my camera! Luckily, our Secretary had a good camera phone. Thanks Yoshie!
Food and Beverages
I delegated out a lot of the food. The Beehives brought Cucumber and Ham Sandwiches. The Advisers brought a variety of cookies, cupcakes, bars, and treats. My contribution was scones, mock devonshire cream, strawberry jelly, and the drinks.
Here's a video I found helpful in making my first
scones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK7i16vz868
I didn't put in the currants, and I used buttermilk instead of real milk. They turned out yummy, but not quite as pretty as his. I had to triple the recipe to make enough scones for everyone, and they were still all gone pretty quickly.
I found a recipe for
mock devonshire cream (a fun and impossible to find traditional topping for scones) in a cute book by
Stephanie Dunnewind called
"Come to Tea." Lots of other cute ideas in there, as well. Here's the recipe:
1 cup Cool Whip
1/2 cup Sour Cream
2 Tablespoons confectioner's sugar.
Directions: Mix it all together.
That's it! So Easy! I'm not sure if it actually tasted like real Devonshire Cream, but it sure tasted good.
From the same book, I got a recipe for
"Grandma's Sweet Tea" which I modified liberally to make Word of Wisdom Friendly:
2 Cups powdered orange drink
1 small packet of powdered sweet lemonade
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves.
Mix all ingredients. Spoon one tablespoon into a teacup and pour in hot water.
This was a good option for people, like me, who enjoy the IDEA of tea, but think real tea just tastes like watered down leaves. It was a warm orange-y cinnamon-y drink that many people enjoyed.
Important: I also had herbal tea bags and sugar on the table for anyone that wanted to go traditional. Many wanted this option. We served water and pink lemonade as well. No one walked away dehydrated.
Activities
We had three games at our party:
Picture Matching This one was pretty simple to set up. We asked all of the mothers and daughters to bring baby pictures of themselves. Then we hung them up around the room next to numbers and had them fill out a piece of paper with their guesses. The winners won "Smarties" for being so smart.
What's in your Purse Another easy one. I went to this website to find the game sheet:
http://www.bridal-shower-games.com/printable-whats-in-your-purse-game-extended.html
Since most of the girls didn't bring purses they were on a "team" with their mothers to find out who had the most items in their purse. At the end of the game, the winners got a Mr. Big bar for having such big purses.
Mother-Daughter Newlywed Game I didn't leave nearly enough time for this game. It was greatly enjoyed. Split up the daughters and mothers and have them questions about each other. Then bring them back together and have a host ask the questions to "their other half" to see if they match. Here are some of the questions we almost had time to use. (Note: I stole these from many sources. Feel free to steal from me.)
Questions
for Daughters to answer about their Mothers
What will
your mother say was the last excuse you gave to get out of a chore?
·
What will
your mother say is the last game she beat you at?
·
Which of
the following will your mother say you spend the most time doing:
watching television, talking on the phone, or reading?
·
What will
your mother say is the thing she’d most like to change about your bedroom?
·
Will your
mother say you were born in the morning, afternoon, or in the evening?
·
What will your mother say is her favourite restaurant
·
What would your mother say is her dream vacation?
·
What kinds of grades will your mother say that she got when she was in
school?
What will your mother say is her favourite TV show?
·
When and where did your parents first meet?
·
Will your Mom say that she is a morning person or a night person?
·
What will your mother say is her best feature?
·
How old was your Mother when she had her first kiss?
Questions
for Mothers to answer about their Daughters
What will your daughter say is the silliest thing she is scared to death
of?
When your daughter eats an ice cream cone, will she say she does most of
her licking: from the top down, from the bottom up, or from side to side?
·
What will your daughter say is the one thing that’s guaranteed to put
her in a really good mood?
·
What will your daughter say is her favorite thing to procrastinate
about? Be specific.
·
What will your daughter say is the best meal that you cook for dinner?
·
How many children will your daughter say that she wants to have when she
grows up?
·
What will your daughter say is the best gift that you ever gave her?
·
What will your daughter say is the last thing she does before she heads
out the door to go to school?
·
What will your daughter say is her least favourite food?
·
Who will your daughter say is her favourite singer?
·
What will your daughter say is her best feature?
·
Will your daughter say that she and her friends
talk about boys 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the time?
All in all, the event seemed to be enjoyed by everyone who attended. It was a successful "creation."
