Vintage teaparty

Despite turning 40 in June, it took some time to actually get around to organising a little gathering with some close friends. I didn't really fancy sitting around a table in a restaurant and with all this glorious weather we've been blessed with lately a vintage afternoon tea party with the girls seemed the perfect way to celebrate.

 

 

 

All my lovely and special friends were amazing, they all baked (gluten and dairy free especially for me, which was such a lovely touch!) and brought food and drink for us all to indulge in. I made my favourite chocolate brownies, which I have mentioned here. I also made the best lemon drizzle that I have ever eaten which I wrote about here and for anyone interested in the recipe I will do a post with the recipe soon.

 

I had to be very disciplined and spend the morning in bed as usual. A couple of my besties came early to help with setting the table and doing the final touches. I hung the bunting the night before and got everything ready so it was just a case of setting the table and waiting for all the cakes to arrive.

 

 

I used my lovely vintage cake stand (the one with the brownies on), but one of my friends, owner of Fizzy Vintage kindly brought another couple for us to use. Do pop over to her website, she has the most amazing vintage china and whenever I see her I am generally overcome with the urge to add a little more to my collection, I find the whole vintage china thing rather addictive, I must confess.

 

 

 

I filled my new decoupage mayo jars with some flowers from the garden and they looked so lovely. It was a shame that we constantly had to keep rescuing them from being blown over by the wind. It made me giggle really, all week we have had the loveliest and hottest weather with not a breeze in sight, but of course as soon as there are flowers on a table things changed, most definitely Murphy's law, as we would say in South Africa.

We enjoyed some Pimm's, courtesy of the lovely Emma and served in her Grandmother's jug, wearing her Grandmother's dress, got to love that frock!! I normally don't drink, purely for health reasons, but one has to make a little exception for a big occasion and I felt it would be rather rude not to enjoy a small glass of the lovely Pimm's in the company of such lovely woman. On this note I want to say just how much I love woman, I am definitely a feminist of sorts and often feel so lucky to be a woman. I love the inner strength I so often see in woman, the passion they have for life and the skill and talent they so often exhibit during a normal day. This does not mean that I don't think men are strong and talented and amazing, I do, but there is something rather special about woman and I feel incredibly lucky to be one and to be surrounded by such wonderful woman in my life.

 

 

 

It was such a wonderful afternoon with my lovely friends, which soon flew by and before we could say bliss, the men and children arrived for the braai (bbq) (I think we could've happily carried on without them for at least another couple of hours to be honest and felt a little shocked that time had flown by so quickly).  The calm girlie chatter and laughter quickly turned into noisy screams and fortunately more laughter as the kids stripped off, jumped in the paddling pool, ran around, bounced on the trampoline, ate cake and played games.

 

 The oldies carried on chatting and the garden suddenly felt really full and very busy, but in a very lovely way.

Prosecco and Champagne was opened and copious bottles enjoyed by all and the next course was served with more puddings and cake to follow. It truly was a feast fit for a King. Much later on marshmallows were toasted on the fire by the kids who eagerly awaited their next turn.

 

The conversation continued into the late hours, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to rope in the boys to show off some muscle and move our chiminea that's been in our front garden ever since we moved in. A couple of beers helped their level of enthusiam and within no time all the girls were huddled around a lovely warm glow from the chiminea.

The party ended with the kids doing several versions of Gangham style and a little wrestling (what is it with this song and kids?!).

 

Hours later once everyone had left and the kids were tucked up in bed, I enjoyed a quiet moment in front of the warm chiminea with the man I love more than words will ever say, reflecting on a wonderful day shared with the very special people in my life.

 

 

 

 

It truly was a wonderful day, thanks to my lovely friends and amazing hubby. Thanks to everyone for making it so special and for making such a lovely effort to make it a day to remember.

 

The holidays have officially started and my tears shed about little E leaving preschool. Now its time to make the most of these last few weeks together.

 

Wishing you all a happy and creative week wherever you are. A big welcome to my new followers and thank you to everyone for always leaving such lovely comments, I really appreciate each and every one of them.

 

Warm wishes

Hannapat

xoxo