The Bean's Tea Party

I am so excited to finally be sharing this post! The Bean turned 14 earlier in March but we celebrated her birthday with her friends this past Saturday. I will share all the little details from the party, but first a little introduction to the Bean! I talk about her pretty often but I don't think I've ever formally introduced her!

The Bean is my younger sister. And when I say younger, I mean younger +++! There is about a 7 1/2 year age gap between her and I. So while we are sisters, we are not your usual set of sisters - we don't share clothing, we hardly ever argue and she would probably tell you that I'm more like a third parent than a sister. The Bean does have a real name, but I've decided to keep that on the down low until she decides she's ready to introduce herself.  We filmed a couple Boomerangs after the Bean's party and I think these two wrap her up perfectly...

This what the Bean does best - dance! She was a gymnast before she started dancing but dance is definitely her thing! She dances hip hop, jazz and contemporary. Last year, at her recital she told me that jazz and contemporary feel very out of character for her but that hip hop is just in her heart! Ha! So apparently this video is a rare moment of grace from her. I think she owns it all!

And this is the true Bean! The wild and crazy Bean! I was laughing so hard at this boomerang because I've never seen a video that better encapsulates all that she is! She loves to dress up and look fancy but chances are she's wishing she could just run wild! She loves to be on the move! My favorite part of this video is that she was mocking me! She thinks I move too fast in boomerangs so this is her providing me with an example of how not to make a boomerang. I mean, thank you Bean! Ok! On to the party!

I shared this picture last week in my favorites, but this is how it all starts - a basket and a color scheme! The Bean is all about rose gold right now, but I needed a little more to work with so I broke tha color down into rose and gold! This party was all pink and gold (we had a few other spring pastels mixed in for good measure).

I typically put everything together the day before the party so I inflated all of those pink balloons on Friday and sewed them into a little arc. Then I strung her gold 14 to hang under the pink balloons. This was surprisingly the toughest part! I won't be making another balloon banner anytime soon! I set the table with tea sets that my grandmother gave me and lots of tiered trays!

I tried to snap as many pictures as I could before the party because I'm never good at remembering once the party starts! Each little cup and saucer set is different and they are all so beautiful! The Bean had such a hard time choosing hers! Once she chose her set, she went through each of them and chose where to sit her friends. I printed little place settings on brown card stock and she used them to seat her friends. 

The table runner is one that picked up super last minute from Winners (similar to TJ Maxx or Marshall's) and I love it! I was deciding between this one and one that had a really loud floral print on it. I am so glad I went with this one! I love how it compliments the tea sets without stealing the show!

The napkins and gold cutlery are from Hobby Lobby. We set each spot with a napkin, a gold spoon and a pink heart shaped doily.

The party was mid afternoon so we didn't have to worry about serving a main meal. We did, however, have some little finger foods. We served mini Jamaican patties and empanadas, mini quiches, finger sandwiches and little pinwheel sandwiches. I animated a couple games while my parents set the table for the first course of food.

If I could offer any party animating advice, that would be it - tag team, tag team, tag team! This is becoming less of a concern as the girls are getting older but when the Bean was younger we really benefited from having many people present to help the party run smoothly! We often have one person animating a game while others clean up/set up a new game or food. I have also been really lucky to have friends offer to help at the Bean's parties! The more adults lending a hand the better!

Before serving dessert, we pulled the girls from the table again - I animated a game while my parents and my friend, Erica cleaned up the first course and put out dessert. For dessert, we served mini cupcakes, blueberry scones, pretzel butterflies and pink macarons! The girls devoured dessert! The scones were the biggest hit!

Oh and I forgot to mention - tea all the time!! We had tea on the table right from the beginning of the party! At first, I think the Bean's friends thought I was a little crazy trying to serve them so much tea but they got into it! We had three pots of tea on the go - black cherry tea, mint tea and orange pekoe tea. Initially, the girls turned their noses up at the black tea but once they started putting milk and sugar in it they were all about the orange pekoe!

I made these pink macarons to serve with dessert and let it be known that I will not be making them again anytime soon! I made some at Christmas time and I thought why does everyone think these are so difficult to make!? That was easy! Well, apparently I had a major case of beginner's luck because this time was not so easy! The end result worked out but the process had me wanting to pull my hair out!

I voted this my favorite party ever! I loved it so much that I want to have one with my own friends! Hopefully, soon! It's much harder to gather a bunch of university students in one room! I will share a post about the games we used at this party, next week. I think I've posted about them all so I will link to them and talk about how I used them during the party! Let me know if you have any questions about this party or my planning process!