Spring Garden Party Ideas.....

"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's Party!"

~Robin Williams~

NOTE: For those of you dropping in from Susan's Garden Party, this is a post I did earlier this spring. To visit more garden party posts at Savoring Time in the Kitchen, click here. Thank you, Susan, for hosting this lovely event.

Beautiful living this week has been all about celebration, beginning with Easter and winding up with a little garden party yesterday, the first the season. I really intended to spend the day out of doors by myself, setting up a little tea table to sit and read. Once I got started I thought, "Why not make it a little entertainment to share with my blog friends?"

With spring in full swing here I thought a garden party luncheon would be a perfect party theme. I chose a sun dappled spot on the ridge line at the edge of the woods, a backdrop of new birthed greenery to serve as a perfect setting. A vintage folding table and iron chairs were placed between two towering oaks with a mossy green carpet and warm brown earth underfoot.Here, won't you have a seat?The seat cushions are covered with vintage embroidered pillow cases, a gift from my friend, Laura. Tiny daisy embellished cocktail napkins grace the top of the pillows freshly plucked from my bed. The tea table is covered with a vintage table cloth featuring crochet lace insets and multicolored baskets embroidered on the center panel. I am so glad you could join me as special guests! Let me introduce you to some ladies who will be joining us today.This is Lady Hawthorn. She is wearing her favorite red dress and plucky plume in her hawthorn bedecked hat.

Sitting next to Lady Hawthorn is the demure Miss Green. Miss Green is a bit on the shy side but extremely photogenic. If you look really close you will see that she has a wee surprise in her gorgeous green hat, a sweet tweet that was a part of a gift from my friend Nancy.Lady Dogwood is pleased to make your acquaintance. She is wearing her favorite color of green. She is known for wearing her famous wild dogwood blossom hat complete with curling feather. These fantastic feathers were a gift from my friend Pam.Lastly is Lady Louise, as you can see she is a little camera shy and tried to cover her lovely face just as I snapped the picture. Lady Louise loves red and chose to wear her showy red hat. All the flowers for the hats were gathered from the woods around Quill Cottage. Snacks and sweets will surround the ladies. If you don't have divas like I do, small vases filled with flowers or any figurine will do. You could also place votive holders with tea lights on each plate. One single large blossom or cluster of flowers would be stunning too!

These sweet ladies are vintage head vases. I refer to them as my damaged diva collection, each one has a chip, crack, or flaw of some sort, damaged and not considered valuable by collectors standards and each one exudes an attitude. Each one still holds water, is useful, and in my book they are beautiful.

You might have noticed that all the ladies dressed in their finest, completing their costumes with dainty pearl jewelry. Their ladylike grace set the decor of the luncheon with a decidedly feminine tone. A three tiered silver server was used, strands of my paternal grandmothers costume jewelry pearl necklaces draped from each tier and pink reproduction depression glass plates complete the service.Vintage blue rimmed floral embellished plates topped with more pink glass plates wait to be filled with goodies. Pale pink lemonade can be sipped from stemware embellished with a gauzy bit of tulle and clip on earrings, also my grandmothers costume jewelry. Silverware and handkerchief napkins reside in unusual servers. You may recognize the silverware server as a...toothbrush holder! I have several of these that I previously used to display my artist brushes in, like this...

I was about to toss them as I was no longer using them and it suddenly hit me that I could use them at place settings as little mini silverware and napkin holders. The key to being able to use these is to make sure the decorative end of your silverware is fairly small or straight. You might notice that I have a salad fork instead of a regular fork, the end of the regular one is larger than the salad fork. To frill your napkin just pinch it in the middle and pull it down through one hole, fill in the other three with your cutlery.

The menu will consist of Strawberry Spinach Salad, fresh vegetables, braided rolls, and lemon strawberry tarts for dessert! Might I direct you to my recipe link page, The Cook's Book, where you will find recipes for these as well as other sweets and tea time treats. The photos below are reprints from a previous blog post and feature the food in the recipes. What's a party without a little favor? Each place setting has a vintage ladies glove placed beside it to serve as a little treat bag. The items in the glove are hand related to pamper the guests.On the finger of each glove is a fun junk jewelry button ring that I made. A fun idea would be to purchase inexpensive costume cocktail rings that guests could actually wear. Placed inside each glove is a tiny bar of sweet smelling soap and a small bottle of hand lotion with an added embellishment of tulle, buttons, and pretty posies. I also included a handmade paper and ribbon book marker in a floral motif.I hope you have found a few simple, fun, and easy entertaining ideas here today. Thank you for joining me. To see how other guests of hostess, Melissa, are finding beauty in their week, please visit The Inspired Room. You won't want to miss visiting The Inspired Room where there is a fantastic give away going on, so run over to sign up! The prize is a Kodak Easy Share Photo Frame, for details see Melissa's post.
Have a pretty weekend!

Blessings,

Miss Sandy