The timing of this party couldn’t have been better or worse. In many ways, life has been so nutty lately that it was a good distraction. I appreciated the creative outlet, planning these parties are always a lot of fun for me. However, given that life has been crazy, I had little time to really devote to actual party planning. And while I didn’t falter in my vision for the party (I am not able to “scale back”) – I struggled when it came to execution, namely because of time, or lack there of. In the weeks leading up to the party I don’t think I went to bed before 2 or 3 each morning because of critical work deadlines (and wearing multiple hats for many different people – gotta love it) and so my party planning was limited to online shopping and basically a major cramfest the day before. The good news is that Cailee was thrilled, and while I would have loved for just one more hour for finishing touches (and to take some pictures) – that was really all that mattered – so I consider our garden tea party to be a success.

Here’s how it all went down. The weather cooperated (in fact, it couldn’t have been better, it was beautiful and sunny and mild outside), so we had our tea party on the deck with the bouncy house just below. Admittedly, it was a little tight on the deck with three tables, so I’ll know better next time, but at least we had a seat for everyone (you just had to crawl under a table if you wanted to get to the food). The colors were pink and pink with a little green and blue. There were lots of doilies, flowers, vintage flowery fabrics (used for chair decorations, pillows, flags, favor wrappings), pearls, feather boas, and tea cups with saucers to maximaize our garden tea party theme. I hung some faux frames and a candle chandalier for fancy effect from the pergola (and seeing JJ roll his eyes, I knew I had pulled that off). Somehow, I even cauxed him to move our little buffet outside for the cake and drinks. The rest of the food got shoved onto tray tables that were placed whereever there was an open spot.

For lunch, my brother once again came through with some awesome wraps – a warm cuban wrap and a cold turkey with havarti cheese wrap – delicious. Jen made some awesome cheese cake pastries. And of course we had tons of candy (this was all the kids ate).

Here are some of the pics I was able to sneak in at party time.