A Graduation Tea Party

Lauren has always loved simple things, beautiful things, and when she mentioned wanting a tea party for her graduation open house, I jumped at the idea. We set out to design a comfortable, low-key open house that would allow us time to mingle with our guests and not feel like we had to constantly rush around refilling bowls and platters. We wanted simple food and simple decorations. These are some pictures from the day. The weather was perfect--sunny and not too warm--and we had a lovely time.

We set up the food in stations. So, there was a savory table with finger sandwiches, a selection of cheeses, and pickles and olives.

Lauren and her grandma, and of course, Jared had to jump in...

We hung balloons from the tree in front of the house and set out blankets on the lawn for seating. I thought about renting tables and chairs, but I decided to do this instead. Jared placed card games and photo albums on each blanket.

We wanted to use fresh, whole fruit instead of cutting it all up into a fruit salad. There wasn't much left! This table was a big hit.

We had three drinks: iced black tea with berries, water with slices of lemons and limes, and Clint's homemade sweetened mint tea from mint grown on our property. His tea is so refreshing and yummy! We ran out of that!

This is the sweets table before anyone arrived. The long, thin wafer cookies were a huge hit. Everything else was homemade: pizelles, molasses cookies, shortbread cookies flavored with lime, miniature chocolate chip cookies, and pecan balls.

On the invitations, we invited guests to dress up, and several of them did! It was fun to see who took the extra effort...and it made for lovely pictures.

About two hours after the last guests left, we had cleaned up and the guys found a comfy spot for a nap. It was a lovely day for a very lovely girl.