Old Country Roses Tea

I received an e-mail from an out -of- state friend of one of my tea ladies saying she was coming for a surprise visit and asked if we could do a Birthday Tea while she was here.   I never miss an opportunity to host a tea so jumped at the chance.   My dilemma was that it would come just a couple weeks before an already planned Garden Tea where each of my ladies was bringing a friend.   I love to host teas but am not a gluten for punishment so decided to borrow a few ideas from the garden tea.

I decided to use my Old Country Roses teacups and tea pots.    On one of my shopping excursions I had come across a very high quality set of paper plates and napkins in the Old Country Roses pattern.  Although I don't like to use paper products at my teas the outdoor setting and the need  not to duplicate everything from my upcoming tea convinced me paper would be acceptable in this case.  As it was my friends could not believe the plates were paper.    The paper napkins were folded inside linen napkins along with silverware to make the transport to the patio easier.   Just my luck -  it rained that day and I had to move inside at the last minute.

Birthday Tea Menu

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Mini Party Quiches

Cranberry Orange Scones

Lemon Curd

Ultimate Birthday Cake

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Rose Petal Tea

As in all my teas,  I use food as my centerpiece.

Desserts decorate the buffet.  Roses from the garden add some color to the Birthday cake.  The footed cake plate belonged to my grandmother. The ruffled doily was one of my more ambitious crochet projects. 

We pulled the party off as a surprise but our guest of honor has still not forgiven me for coming to my house under false pretenses in a sweatshirt! 

One last picture laughing over birthday cards.