Vintage Style Tea Party

It's no secret that I absolutely love all things girly and pretty. But with a house full of boys I rarely get the chance to embrace all things pink. So when my niece turned 8 earlier in the month I jumped at the chance to throw her a little afternoon tea.

I decided to go with a simple, pretty, vintage style afternoon tea and absolutely love how it turned out!

The other thing that I loved about this little party is that it was completely stress free. Normally when I throw a party (no matter how prepared I am) I end up yelling orders at my poor family members as we rush around getting last minute jobs done on the day of the party, before turning on my party face as the guests arrive. This time I did it all with an absolute minimum of fuss and it was a nice change!

To kick things off I made this sweet little invite for Ava. I just threw it together in picmonkey and then wrapped it in a doily and some bakers twine. Ava was so excited when she saw it for the first time!!

The main feature for the table was these tissue paper poms. I used pale pink, peach, cream and white and made them in various sizes, then used bluetac to stick them to the wall.

To complete the table I added an old birdcage that I spray painted white a few years back, a cloche with a sweet white ceramic bunny sitting on a pedestal (which was actually just an upside down egg cup and pretty pink and gold saucer), and some silver teaspoons with pretty bows tied on them.

The food elements I used were a two tier cake (gluten free and iced with fresh whipped cream), milk in vintage style milk bottles with pretty pink paper straws and fresh strawberries on a pink and gold cake plate.

To finish it all off I included chocolate bars wrapped in pink and silver paper and take home bags (brown paper bags topped with white doilies).

{How much do you love their tutus!! My very clever sister made them.}

Ava's face when she saw it all set up was priceless!! She was so excited to be the guest of honor :).

We had one little activity at the afternoon tea party - cupcake decorating, which the three kids absolutely loved. Ava showed elegant restraint when decorating her cupcake, while Max and Emmy went nuts with the sprinkles! I cheated on the cupcakes and made the worlds easiest cakes, I'll share the details on them later in the week. You will be amazed at how simple they were!

After they decorated (and ate) their cupcakes we sat down down with the grandparents for milk (and tea and coffee) and cake.

A sweet afternoon for a very sweet little lady :).

 
xx Tamsyn

Bunting Gift Tags

Today you can find me over at Hubby Made Me, sharing a quick and easy DIY for these adorable bunting gift tags.

Happy Thursday :)

xx Tamsyn

The Sleeping Saga

Lincoln is now 7 months old and still waking to feed 3 times a night. Nine times out of ten the reaction I get when I tell people this is shock and horror.

But is it really that uncommon for babies to still wake in the night at 7 months?

I've been given lots of advice, everyone from my real life and online friends (who's advice is always appreciated), to my hairdresser, beautician, shop assistants, the ladies at the post office, childless men (always my fave!) and complete strangers.

Most of the advice we've happily ignored - like starting solids early (this has been suggested to me by at least a dozen people starting when he was only 4 weeks old), supplementing his night feeds with formula (I have no problems with formula, Max drank it from 5 months but a lack of milk is not the problem) adding a few drops of rum to a bottle for him, and ignoring him outright when he cries during the night.

Some of it we've tried - waking him up to feed at 10pm before I go to bed, giving him solids at 6 months, moving him into his own room (which we did a couple of days ago) and picking him up when he cries, hugging him and then putting him back down.

It doesn't matter what we do he still wakes up in the night and wants to be fed.

The thing is, I'm totally ok with it. Sure I complain sometimes, especially after a night where he's decided to feed five times, but generally I don't mind.

I love breastfeeding Lincoln and those night feeds are so special to me. It's just me and him. During those feeds I am the only thing in the entire world that matters to him. And there is something so amazingly wonderful about that.

So next time someone asks me if he's sleeping through yet, I'm not going to let them offer me any more advice. I'll let them know that he doesn't sleep through the night, but that I don't mind at all. I'm sure he'll do it when he's ready.

xx Tamsyn