Tea Party Sunday

My first Halloween-themed tea party....... extremely successful..... lots of fun for the 8 of us. We started at 2:00 this afternoon, and no one made a move to break up the party till nearly 6:30.

At the last minute, I remembered to put the bubble-machine out by the front walkway, so everyone came in the door laughing and smiling over all the bubbles floating around the lawn and the house.

We were in the dining room for most of the afternoon----- everyone met in the living room and talked for a bit, then they looked over the game table and wrote down their guesses. They had fun picking out their "tea lady" pictures and their books. Then into the dining room we all went, and that's where we stayed.

Everyone seemed to be comfortable right where we were, and I've learned never to move a small party into another room because it breaks up the conversation and the momentum. We talked and laughed, and I gave out the prizes for the games.... we did one game per course during the tea. I don't think there was any stretch of silence that lasted for more than 15 seconds.

The colorful scarecrows in the vases were a big hit, especially when they realized that they could take them home. And the books...... the three ladies who hadn't been here before were just thrilled to be picking out a book as one of their party-favors. On page 31 (in honor of Halloween) there was either a bookmark or a certificate for free ice cream at Goodie's Creamery... just one ice cream certificate among the ladies, but I made sure to put a free ice cream card into the tea books that I had bought for my young friends C and L.

We had plenty of food on the table, even though I tried not to make enough for an army. I swear, any mixture that I can think of to roll up in Pillsbury Crescent Dough is always popular. I've been cutting the dough-triangles in half for the tea parties, to make them as small as the other food items on the platters. This time, I rolled them up with sliced turkey and swiss, and chopped-up artichoke hearts. (Delicious!) And I think I've had enough of the pimento-cheese sandwiches. I've made those for each party now.... time to look through my tea books and find something new, even if they do say that a southern tea party must have pimento-cheese sandwiches.

Two kinds of mini-cookies (oatmeal raisin and chocolate chunk)..... those were a hit with the two girls especially. Mini-cheesecakes topped with slivered almonds and orange & yellow & brown sprinkles (Halloween colors).... I think there was just one of those left over. I made mini muffins with bananas, cranberries, pecans & pineapple....... those were popular, but I made too many of them.

L made a cream cheese ring covered in strawberry sauce which was very good, and looked happy and festive on the table. C's mom L brought pastries from our local French bakery, La Madeleine... everything from that bakery is always over-the-top delicious. I also had chocolate-filled cream puffs...... they were good, and even better when I dusted them with powdered sugar, but I wouldn't buy them again. I have a cream puff recipe from my Aunt Dolly and those are better.

I also made tiny Italian-style open-faced sandwiches, using a dense whole wheat roll (sliced into thin pieces) and topped with sun-dried tomato-pesto, diced red & yellow peppers in oil, and sprinkled with Romano cheese. That was a new recipe I tried, and there were just a few left-- I heated them up just long enough for the cheese to melt.

That's another thing I did differently this time...... first I served the hot and cold sandwiches and filled Crescent rolls... and after a little while I brought out the desserts. Much easier to serve, easier to not over-eat and fill up all at once.

During the tea party, all the cats were out on the screen-porch, and Gracie stayed in the laundry room, with a gate up inbetween there and the kitchen so she could see out. We didn't hear a peep out of Gracie or any of the cats for all those hours. When the party started to break up, everyone went out to say hello to the cats and to Gracie. During the summer, I had found a Halloween bandana for Gracie, so she was wearing that today--- all dressed up for the Halloween tea.

What a great afternoon..... these tea parties are fun to prepare for, fun to host, and it's a wonderful way to spend an afternoon once a month. One of the "new" ladies said she felt like she had run away from home and came to an exclusive spa. What a nice thing to say!