Sunday, August 10, 2014

A Tea for Two (or Three, or Four...)

As much as I love singing and reading, if there’s anything I love more, it would be tea parties and costume parties. Well, and Jesus, but we’re talking earthly things here. I love the idea of putting on a costume and getting to be someone else for a few hours. And I’m pretty sure I was born holding a teacup with my pinky extended. Shoot, we have an old home video of me, at age 6, putting my 2 year old brother through the rigmarole of a proper English tea. 

So perhaps you can imagine my excitement when my church girls’ group leader planned a tea party with one rule: everyone must wear a hat and gloves from the 1930s, 40s or 50s. I, with my penchant for overdoing things, decided I needed more than a hat and gloves. I needed a whole costume. I pulled out all my finery: hats, gloves, pumps, dresses, pearls, and a red wax crayon. Yes, you read that right. You’ll see why later.

(Warning; picture-heavy post!) :-)

Our day started with tea and a brunch.



I haven't a clue what the pattern of these dishes is, because they belonged to our girls' leader's mother, who graciously hosted our party. But they were beautiful.
Aleta, our girls' leader, who gets props for corralling 4-6 teenage girls weekly, for about 5 years altogether.
The blogger and the photographer

My goal was a look from the 1940s. The dress was probably literally made in the 70s, and, yes, I can tell you a thing or two about wearing double-knit on a sunny summer day. Oh, sweet Moses. But I figured some pumps and wearing my hair up with the hat would push me towards the quintessential Peggy Carter. 

My good friend, and amazing photographer, Janine, borrowed the hat from me, but assembled her own outfit. She was working towards the 1950s.

This goofy gal and I are what we've dubbed "best homies." We impress ourselves, you know. I helped Alex find a few pieces, and she did the rest of the work building a 1960s outfit. I think it worked for the most part, but, Alex, if you're reading this, YOU STILL SHOULD'VE CURLED YOUR HAIR. That is all.

 Sweet Michaela and bubbly Rona
They didn't have specific decade-themed outfits because of late miscommunication (that'd be MY fault), but I thought they looked adorable.

My dear, dear friend Alecia. She is a living, breathing Jane Bennet Bingley, and I am not kidding you. We decided that, without even trying, she looked about 1930s-ish. 

Ziona, who has the brightest smile. I can't find a picture of her with her long black gloves. They were the perfect touch to her 1950s outfit.

We were starving, but you have to pose for pictures before you eat. Right? Of course right.


Brunch consisted of scones with jam and butter, and an assortment of teas. 




This crew had no trouble finding topics for conversation. 

After brunch, the hostesses cleared the table to make way for a late lunch. We girls cleared outside to take pictures.

After fixing our faces in the bathroom, of course. ;-)

 See that? There's the red wax crayon. I don't exactly own lipstick, and, well, it was convenient. Made for a good joke the entire day.
 The sun was SO bright, it was hard to look nice. But, hey, at least it let us wear our sunglasses.


Oh, yeah. It was pretty windy, too.

While our hostess finished dinner, our girls' group leader shared a devotion about becoming the women God would have us to be.
Our part was to make something original out of dough.

Then she ever-so-graciously washed each of us girls' feet.
After a short prayer, DINNER.
This consisted of fruit salad, sweet tea, egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches and Doritos.


 
 I don't know if it is possible, but I think we had more fun at dinner than we did at brunch.
 Dessert held the wonders of cream puffs, tiny eclairs, and assorted Dutch chocolate cookies.

And then, just like that, our lavish party was over. It was loads of fun. I have been blessed with so many friends with whom I can laugh and be silly just as easily as talk and be serious.

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."

~Proverbs 31:30 



Linking up to these bloggers:
Your HomeBased Mom
Create With Joy
BoogieBoard Cottage 
Mom's The Word
Flamingo Toes
My Life as Mumma Walker
The Modest Mom 
A Proverbs 31 Wife 
Creating My Way to Success
What Joy is Mine 
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia 
Kathe With an E 
Mod Vintage Life 
The Wondering Brain
Memories by the Mile 
Pioneer Momma
Rose Chintz Cottage 
Antiques and Teacups 
Martha's Favorites 
A Stroll Through Life 
A Delightsome Life 
Stone Gable
Cornerstone Confessions  
Inside BruCrew Life 
Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood 
Table for Seven
Time-Warp Wife 
Ladybug Blessings 
From Inmates to Playdates
Adorned From Above 
Lady Behind the Curtain 
The NY Melrose Family 
My Girlish Whims 
Ducks 'N a Row 
Transatlantic Blonde 
We Are THAT Family
Lavender Garden Cottage 
My Daily Walk in His Grace 
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home 
The Life of Jennifer Dawn 
  Katherine's Corner
Serving Joyfully
Bernideen's Tea Time Blog
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
A Handful of Everything 
Sweet Bella Roos

44 comments:

  1. Hello Joanna,
    Looks like you gals had a fabulous time! What fun to dress up and have a tea party. The china is lovely and the food looks delish. So happy you have joined me for tea this week. Hope you come again soon. Have a delightful week.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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    1. Thank you for stopping by, Sandi! It was so very much fun, and it was a wonderful way to get together with my gals. :-) Thanks for hosting the linkup!

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  2. Hi Joanna: That looks like the most fun you can have at a Bible Study. Love the dresses and the make up and those shoes. So very cute! A perfect tea! Thanks so much for sharing the fun with us. Blessings, Martha

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    1. Yeah, it really was a perfect tea. :-) Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for hosting the linkup, Martha!

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  3. This looks like such a fun day! Dress-up is wonderful fun at any age and doing it with friends is even better. The tea(s) look delicious and the china lovely. Happy Tea Day!

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    1. I agree; you're never too old to put on a costume. :-) Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. What a truly fun day. You are so right - there is nothing quite like special friends sharing teatime together. You all look lovely, too. : - )

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    1. Aw, thank you so much, Michele! We felt lovely, so I guess it shows. ;-) Thanks for visiting!

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  5. Very fun! It looks like everyone had a wonderful time! Dress up teas are really a great idea. So glad you shared your tea with Tuesday Cuppa Tea!
    Ruth

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  6. Looks like a fun time was had by all. :) We definitely live in the good ol' days with cooler materials to wear. And we even have AC. Hmmm, spoiled I am. ha.

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    1. Yes, I would say praise the Lord for A/C...that double knit was a terrible joke. :-) Thanks for visiting, Lisa!

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  7. It's so fun to just do something together that causes everyone to get in this light and airy mood. LOVE it!

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    1. Yes...light and airy mood. That would be an accurate description of our day. :-) Thanks for visiting, Jen!

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    2. We did, Melaina. :-) Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. Your tea party looks like so much fun! The place settings are beautiful.

    I like them so much, that I simply had to pin your photo to my Tea Cup Tuesday Pinterest Board, linking directly to your blog post. It was is so nice sharing Tea Cup Tuesday with you. My blog is marywaldsvintageplace.blogspot.com stop by for tea cup fun, and say "hi".

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    1. Aw, thank you, Mary! I will tell my friend that you enjoyed her picture. She is a good photographer. I also followed your Pinterest board; lots of beautiful stuff there! Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. What a fun time you had! I enjoyed your tea time post so much! Thanks for sharing!
    Nancy

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    1. Thanks for visiting, Nancy; glad you enjoyed reading!

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  10. This looks like a LOT of fun. For our eight year old's birthday party, we had a 'tea party'. We had scones and juice and Mary Poppins came to teach etiquette lessons. The girls had a good time, and they learned a lot.

    Mommy Crusader
    mommycrusader.com

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    1. Oh, Mary Poppins would be darling! That reminds me; I haven't seen that movie in probably 10 years. I'll have to dig it out again. :-) Thanks for visiting!

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  11. Oh my, you girls are such dolls! Looked like you stepped right out of the past. Loved all of the outfits and the cute poses. Both brunch and dinner, wow how fabulous! Thanks so much for sharing this fun tea with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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    1. Well, now I'm blushing. :-) What a very nice thing to say. And thank you so much for hosting SYC!

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  12. Oh how I do love your china and you all had fun enjoying companionship together with a purpose.
    Some time ago various friends of mine got together for a morning tea. We were of all ages but celebrating for a sweet lady's eightieth. The china used was so exquisite with delectable finger foods. Afterwards I was so sad that I had forgotten to take photos, but the friend at whose house it was held said not to worry as this was an excuse to hold another one ....bring it on :)
    Alexa from Sydney, Australia
    http://www.Alexa-asimplelife.com

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    1. Alexa, you know, we almost didn't have a camera, which would have been a tragedy now! It is so much fun to look through them now. Thanks for stopping by!

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  13. What a lovely party and loved all the vintage dresses and table setting!

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    1. Thank you, Bernideen! And thanks for visiting!

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  14. What a great idea! Maybe in about ten years, when my girls are teens and our church has a youth group and and and... maybe I would host something like that. Meanwhile... mmm, scones. Totally craving a scone now :-9

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    1. Yes, scones = nummy. :-) And, no youth group? That is unfortunate. I hope it doesn't deter their interest in church. Speaking from experience, it is hard when all of your church family is over 30.

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    2. No youth group because we have 5 or 6 teens, total. Two of them teach Sunday School, and one of the others helped with VBS, so they're fairly active and involved. We also have probably 12 to 15 kids between the ages of 7 and 12, and last time I counted, more than 20 that are 6 and under. It's a smallish congregation with a lot of very young families, so I'm sure it won't be long before we start a youth group. Until this year, we only had 4 Sunday School classes (teen, 4th-6th grade, kindergarten thru 3rd grade, 2-4yr olds). This year, we're adding a fifth, splitting up all those teeny ones into a 2-3 yr old group and a 4-5 yr old group. And yours truly is going to co-teach the youngest class :-)

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    3. Ah, I see. I assumed too much. ;-) That's really great that you have so many little kids, and the few older ones are involved. All the girls in this party are from about 3 different churches. My original church only has about 10 teenagers and about 6 little kids...which is disheartening considering we used to have around 20 teenagers 3 years ago.

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    4. Did the teenagers grow up and go to college or move away?

      We live in a very transitory area -- lots of military families and other government workers, so we have people here for 3 or 4 years and then they leave again. A few, like us, expect to stay here for the forseeable future, but my brother and his wife have been here for 2 years and may leave next summer. This makes for a kind of odd mix of age groups that is constantly in flux.

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    5. *sigh* No, the families left. It's another long story. Unfortunately, it isn't as simple as a transient community. I guess that does give you guys a good opportunity to reach a lot of different people, though. That's great!

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  15. Looks like a fabulously fun day! Loved all the outfits, too. I'm partial to a good tea myself. Thank you for sharing at Monday's Musings.

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    1. Thank you for hosting, Naomi, and thanks for visiting!

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  16. This is such an awesomely fun activity! Thank you for sharing your post with The Natural Homeschool and The Life of Jennifer Dawn Linky Party. :) See you next Wednesday! :)

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    1. Hey, thanks for hosting, and thanks for visiting, Tanya! :-)

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  17. Thanks so much for sharing with Wednesday's Adorned From Above Link Party.
    Debi @ Adorned From Above

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    1. Thank you so much for hosting the linkup, Debi!

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  18. Hi Joanna, just popping back in to let you know that I will be featuring you at SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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    1. Holy cow! :-) Thank you so much, Jann! And thank you for making the linkup available.

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