The Imaginative Mom

Still under construction - check back soon

A friend of mine said to me years ago "if you ever have girls you need to have a tea party".  Well, it has become an annual event at the Harvey House.  Each December we put together what has grown into a slight extravaganza.  It started out very small when the kids were 3.  We invited 7 - 8 guests (with the girls it maxed out to 10).  With the exception of a few Christmas themed hard candies, I made every dessert, sandwich, and snack myself.   This past December we hosted our 5th party with a attendee list of 36 girls and 36 moms.  Yes, 72 guests in the house - my husband thinks I'm nuts.  Each October, I start thinking of what I can make different or better than the previous year (okay, honesty check, I'm thinking about it sooner that October, but October is when I really start putting pen to paper).  In November I start baking and freezing everything I can.  I still make everything I can by hand.  Every year I hope to be 100% ready by the time the first guest arrives, but that accomplishment still eludes me.  Let me say, I LOVE putting this party together.  I don't sleep for weeks, but I love, LOVE doing it.  I hope to create memories for my girls that they would want to do this for their girls.  

First and foremost.  The party is formal and there are NO boys.  Even Andy gets kicked out.  Its a good time for him to go Christmas shopping for us!  This is definitely a girly event.  All the tea cups and plates for the girls are porcelain and the water glasses are glass.  The moms use our Waterford China.  Knock on wood, in 5 years, nothing has been broken.  

Now, I won't lie.  This party can get expensive.  Over the years, I've collected a nice inventory for the party as well.  I have a full set to serve up to 48 girls with cutlery, plates, water glasses, 1 ounce ramekins, tea cups, tables (plus borrowing a few from my good friends), serving pieces, cake plates, and proper linens.  I rent the child size and matching adult size chairs from a local party rental shop.

The first year, since the girls were so young and small, I made all the food small.  I have found out that works the best and looks best, but it is much more time consuming.  One item that is asked for every year is deviled quail eggs.  On a whim I thought what would be bite size and interesting for the girls and it just clicked - who knew!  Every year, they are one of the first things to go!  I have found a vendor on localharvest.org that has supplied me every year since.

Even though I spend weeks getting the party together, I can't put it all together without a small group of great friends.  They come over very early on the day of the party and really help get everything on the plates and keep me on track.  This past year, one came over the night before and helped set up the "dining" rooms while I was icing some of the cakes.  

In previous years, I was able to keep all the girls in one room but as it has expanded we've had to move to adjoining rooms.  We left the sofa in the room this year as well (we used to move everything out of the room).  It was too heavy to move out but it is white.  Luckily the red tablecloth helped keep it clean.  A great space for some moms to sit.

The list of savory items includes (but not limited to):

• Deviled quail eggs
• Christmas meatballs on a skewer (new this year - BIG hit)
• Crepes with ham and asparagus 
• Crepes with chicken, brie, and cranberry
• assorted cheeses and crackers
• olives and tapenades
• salad garnished with fresh flowers

The list of sweet items includes (but not limited to):

• Peppermint cake - standout favorite
• Orange spice cake 
• Hot chocolate cake
• Bauble fairy cakes
• Candied crab apples
• Gingerbread cakes
• Eggnog creme brulee with a cinnamon cookie garnish
• Buche de Noel
• Pinecone cake (no, not real pine cones, but a chocolate with dark chocolate ganache filling)
• Christmas puddings
• Gingerbread house
• Cookies

The first year didn't really have a theme to it, but subsequent years have.  The theme is typically driven by the ornament party favor I find but not always.  One year we had a Nutcracker theme, one year Gingerbread.  This past year I tried to incorporate all the flavors of the season, hence the introduction of the Eggnog creme brulee.  Big hit by the way.

I usually host it the second Sunday afternoon in December.  It gives us a great window as everyone is in the holiday spirit but we are far enough away from Christmas that most people can still attend.  

I think the first year I send out an evite, but I realized I really wanted it more formal.  Since then, I've had proper invitations printed.  I have kept all of them since I started and hope to give them to the girls as a gift when they are older.  

Besides eating, there are a few other activities.  Once the kids could write (it was tough when they were 3 and 4), they wrote letters to Santa.  This year, the girls decorated a gingerbread house then encouraged to destroy it and eat it!