About a week ago we celebrated Miss Matilda’s 2nd birthday with a “Tea for 2” party. I got the idea for this party about six months ago. Matilda loves playing with her tea set and I thought this would make for a lovely party theme outdoors. We really lucked out with the most gorgeous day! It was sunny, low 80’s, very little humidity – perfect for an outdoor tea!
Matilda had a great time at her party! She ate lots, played with her balloons and bouncy balls, and had a lot of fun opening presents and eating cake. She kept saying “Happy Day”, “Happy Day”!! She really understood this year that the party was all about her and she enjoyed every minute of it.
The party was inspired by the gorgeous Anna Griffin fabric that I recently purchased. I just loved the yellows and pinks which made me instantly think of little Matilda. I created her birthday dress from one of my own patterns that will be coming out later this year – the “I’m a little teapot dress”. You can read more about her birthday dress here.
We had about 35 close family and friends attend the party. At age 2, the party is as much for the adults as it is the children so I made sure to have a mix of food and beverages for all ages.
I set up a little area for the kids. I brought out the girls small table and covered the chairs with vintage pillowcases. Then I draped some vintage linens over the top of the table (which I taped underneath so they wouldn’t move around). I also put out two large quilts and the girls upholstered sitting chair for an area to open presents and for the little babies to hang out. We brought out lots of the girls stuffed animals and baby dolls to play with as well.
For the adults we brought out the furniture that is in our sunroom, but for some reason I didn’t snap a picture of that area. It was a settee and three sitting chairs. We brought out some side tables to have areas to set down drinks as well as a few white Adirondack chairs.
The main tent is where we kept all the food and most of the beverages. Luckily our yard is pretty shady with all the trees, but this just kept any extra sun from making the food too warm. Thank goodness there were no bugs out this day either!
I served lots of tasty treats at Matilda’s “Tea for 2” party. I just love menu planning and cooking food for parties – so much fun!
Beverages are a big part of our events, so we made sure to have plenty on hand. We had iced tea (can’t have a tea party without tea, right?), a variety of wine, sparkling lemonades, sodas, water, and my husband’s home-brewed beer.
The tea and beverages were served in canning jars. Mason jars are my favorite drinking glass of choice – we had two different sizes and the small ones were just right for little hands. I also tied the little ones with some pink tulle for added color.
Like I said above, when your kiddos are little, the parties are just as much for the parents as the little ones. For each of the girls birthday bashes my husband has made a variety of beers for the adult guests. This year was no exception. The main theme beer was the “Peach Mango Tea” beer, but we also had several other varieties on tap. He always makes these cute little labels for each beer……my favorite label was the “Pigtail Pale”. I didn’t get to taste any of the beer this year, but maybe next year!
The long folding table was decorated with a basic tablecloth and then I layered some vintage linens on the top which included a small tablecloth and napkins.
I wrapped the silverware in napkins with some twine. I used light pink, bright pink and yellow napkins. The plates coordinated with the napkins and I put out additional forks in a canning jar.
I made a banner from doilies that I cut in half and stitched onto a pale pink ribbon (tutorial to come). I also took some basic paper streamers and ruffled them with a gathering stitch on my sewing machine and I turned several of them into flowers as well.
In the picture above you can see the paper flowers. I placed these in several different places as well as in two white bird cages that we used for decoration.
I made some fun, pretty headbands for the little girls to play with at the party. Here are a couple of the cuties wearing them………
And for the boys, I made these funny little man mustaches……….
Big sister, Savannah, got in on the present action too, but did a very good job just “helping” rather than taking over.
Lindsay Wilkes is the owner and designer behind The Cottage Mama. She creates timeless, vintage inspired sewing patterns for children’s clothes. She is also a fabric designer for Riley Black Designers / Penny Rose Fabrics, author of the book ‘Sew Classic Clothes for Girls’ and can be seen teaching nationwide and online in her video series ‘Lessons with Lindsay’ sponsored by Baby Lock Sewing and Embroidery machines.
What a sweet party! I’m curious – does the green chile beer have real green chile in it? Sounds good to me!
What a fantastic “Tea for 2”! Beautiful way to celebrate!
Incredible party – love the Summer Berry Salad! Will you come plan and execute my daughter’s birthday party in September 🙂 thanks for the inspiration!
I read your blog all the time and couldn’t wait to read your post about matilda’s 2nd birthday. Wow! Everything you did was so nice and all the fine touches and details. I am so inspired and really love everything you did. I look forward to the tutorials/recipes. Matilida’s little ponytail was just too cute, reminds me of my daughter, Haley, at that age because it took Haley forever for her hair to grow. Thanks Lindsay, for sharing pics and details of Matilda’s party!
What a LOVELY party, you totally had me with the asparagus wraps!! Found you through Pinterest, your tile coaster tutorial. Fell in love when I got here, you have a beautiful blog!
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~Michele
Everything looks just beautiful, Lindsay, and YUMMY!!!! Love the mason jars for drinks – maybe I’ll start using a mason jar just for everyday… The girls’ outfits are darling, the cake story is perfect!!!, and the hats are adorable. Your attention to detail always pays off, and this party was incredible!
Good job,
Stef
WOW!!! next time invite me okay? 🙂 everything looks delicious!!! and the beer looks pretty fun too.
Oh Lindsay! Everything looks so beautiful and I’m sure it’ll be a day for her to remember always. Matildas dress is the cutest thing ever and the cupcake/cake is the best idea. I’ve done the cupcakes for kids and cake for adults and it is well worth it just not to have all the waste and mess the little ones make with a big piece of cake.
Good grief, no wonder you were wiped after that, that was amazing! I might have to forward this to my mother to give her birthday party guilt… (I only had one my entire childhood!)
Absolutely breath takingly beautiful tea party! You have a lot more talent and patience than I do! I may have to try cultivating myself in those areas if this or something similar would be the results!
Blessings~
Oh my goodness what an fun and adorable birthday party. I think I may need to do this for my daughters 2nd birthday. I would love to see more of your recipes as well as the birthday invitation. In case my blog doesn’t link my email address is [email protected] or my blog is http://our3monkees.blogspot.com
Such a cute idea! I would have loved if this was my birthday party! 🙂
-HappyHands @ http://www.mimickinggodscreation.blogspot.com
Wonderful party. My fave part is the drinks in Mason jars! Thanks for sharing
Lowri 🙂
It looks like that was quite a party!
This tea party is really Fabulous. In this tea party, all the arrangements that you had to done was superb, all the recipe was looking very creamy and delicious.
Everything is just gorgeous! And your daughters dresses are absolutely delightful! When I have a little girl I’ll definitely be paying your etsy shop a visit 🙂
Belated happy birthday little Miss Matilda! I know that you are the happiest girl in the world, knowing your momma did a great job in making your party perfect! May you have many more birthdays to come, princess! =)
Your party looked fantastic. I wanted to have my daughter’s Alice in Wonderland party outdoors like yours, but you can never rely on the British weather!
There are lots of new recipe you had to made on the 2nd birthday party. All the recipes are great to look on the images of birthday party.
Came across this site whilst researching for my daughters 2nd birthday and I absolutely love the tea for 2 party idea (and the website in general). Just a shame her birthday is in December and we live in Wales – may have to recreate the idea inside instead! Thank You!
Rhian
Superb post. Photos in your post is awesome. You daughter is like an angel. The party you organized was superb. I like the way to party. Items in party yummy….