Parties – mamasbrush

Glam Fall Bridal Shower

I had the pure joy to mentor a young lady in our church a couple years ago. It was one of those opportunities where I could share all the things I wish I could tell 20 year old me if I could have. She is so much like my younger self that I smile inside! Earlier this year she got married and I loved watching her relationship begin and grow… and planning her glam fall bridal shower last November! Yes, this is another post from my photo archives! I hope you’ll like it!

The room

Glam Fall Bridal Shower with lots of glitter | mamasbrush

Centerpiece

Cam is everything glitter so I knew I had to bring glitter to the table… literally. Her maid of honor made these glitter leaves from my stash of plain old dollar store fall leaves. For her, a labor of love; for the tables, just the right amount of sparkle. And I love candy scattered on a table… perfect use for candy corn if you ask me!

Some of those glittery pumpkins I found at Hobby Lobby and gifted to the bride at the end of the party, and others I found in the church decoration closet (I love having one of those! And since I throw these showers at the church on behalf of the church… it’s perfect!) The balls and plate were in there too… not to mention the table cloths!.

Glam Fall Bridal Shower with lots of glitter | mamasbrush

centerpiece and decor

I pulled the trees and twinkle lights from other parts of the church, and I love the ambiance they added to this night party! This room doubles as a Bible study room, so I always have to work around the TV. I added the fall leaves (glittery ones I got from my sister’s home) to the mantle beneath it.

The food

Glam Fall Bridal Shower with lots of glitter | mamasbrush

dessert table decor and treats

The dessert table is always one of my room centerpieces. I love to make sure they are on theme. In the center for height is a piece from my home, a tall vase with fall plaid fabric in it, fake flowers and a cute little scare crow. If I weren’t bringing it back to my house after, I probably would have added some glitter to his clothes.

The pumpkin frame (on the left) and the “W” pumpkin in the middle were Dollar Tree finds . I added glitter to the “W” pumpkin, but the other already had it. I gifted those to the bride for her new home after the party.

Glam Fall Bridal Shower with lots of glitter | mamasbrush

dessert table and treats

Our parties are often from 7-9 pm on a week night evening, so I primarily do snacks and desserts. The table scatter is more of the glitter leaves, candy corn, and some of those leaf candy sprinkles you can find these days. Fairy lights took things over the top! (You should get some of those, they add a special touch to everywhere they are!)

The treats for this party are caramel corn, cookies and brownies. I dry brushed edible gold glitter on the cookies after they were dry. For the brownies, I sprayed gold food shimmer on those after they were done.

Glam Fall Bridal Shower with lots of glitter | mamasbrush

Glimmer brownies

Aren’t they fun?!? It comes in an aerosol spray can and are found in the cake decorating aisles. Those are regular brownies cut thin and stacked on top of each other. I piped frosting in between and on top for color, then added the shimmer.

Wrap up

It was a lot of glitter, but she loved it! When planning a party, I challenge you to get to know your guest of honor so that the party will be something special for her!

Tell me, are you for or against glitter yourself? I’m usually against it myself, but I just had to to it!

Pin me!

Pumpkins and Trucks Baby Shower

This may be one of my favorite parties so far. Now I do love pumpkins, but pumpkins and trucks takes it over the top!

You all know that I’m a bit behind. Well, this fun Pumpkins and Trucks baby shower is from last September! That’s right. I don’t quite know what to say, but here it is in all it’s adorable glory!

I’ve been loving me some old trucks these last few years. I fought the fad long enough and now I’m all in. This little boy baby shower was just begging to be pumpkins… and trucks!

Of course, every party has to start with an invitation and I like to show my guests to be what can be expected if they are able to join us. Equal parts orange buffalo check and old truck cuteness, this invitation is in my shop and customizable by you for quick turn around (any other procrastinators out there like me?)

Old Truck with pumpkin welcome sign_Fall Baby Shower Theme

Just inside the party entrance was this little sign, announcing each one welcome until I could do so myself!

The dessert table is always my labor of love! I have so much fun creating “theme-y” sweets and snacks. Those cookies are something my mom used to make. They aren’t pumpkins but I couldn’t resist that sunflower sparkle. They totally fit. 🙂

Orange pumpkins for those who wanted a more natural sweetness (celery stems bring a little veggie into our evening!)

And those are pumpkin rice krispie treat in the back… with tootsie roll stems. Find all my pinspirations here!

If I was already designing invitations and welcome signs, I just had to make food tents too.

I think they help fill in the table nicely where it would have otherwise have been a little sparce.

Not to mention it gives an easy way to note which treats are gluten or dairy free for your guests! Since I throw these showers on behalf of our church, I generally know most of the attendees and their food allergies and try to be sure there are treats for them as well. If the guest list is larger, I’ll also make cupcakes that are not gluten free or vice versa.

Another gluten free treat!

A few decorations on the drink table. I don’t usually get back to taking pictures once guests arrive, so the drinks were staying cool in the fridge when I took this pic. The print in the frame is something I painted. The words around it are “Give thanks, gather together, glorify God!”

I made some last year special order for a local market and have added it to my Etsy store if anyone is interested.

Several years ago, I determined to learn to make macarons for a tea party women’s retreat I was helping plan. It took months of trial and error and many nights after “bedtime” were spent making yet another batch of these with my husband as we tried to figure it out together. It was worth it though. I just love being able to include these special cookies at the parties and events I plan. It is a special touch and I’ve become known for them around the church.

This is the gift table… I hung that wooden pumpkin garland the next day (I try to decorate the church the night before when I can) and didn’t have the safety pins I needed to hang it. I keep gift tables simple. I want to do something since they start and end empty, but I don’t want to take up too much room either.

Pumpkins and Trucks Favor Bags and Label

Not every party I throw has favors. Often favors and games are the two things that get left out when I start running out of time. I was grateful that one of this mama’s friends wanted to help with her shower so she assembled these for me. All I had to do is send her the file for the label. She found fall wrapped Hershey’s kisses and some orange check ribbon. I love how they turned out.

There are so many more details I could have included in this shower but didn’t have time or resources for. Happily, I went ahead and created them after and have assembled a bundle in my shop. Click over to see the rest of the bundle. Some of the items are available independently, like these cupcake toppers. I have created some greeting and thank you cards with the pumpkins and trucks artwork too.

Are you planning a baby shower or have you done one recently? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

You can find me gathering here.

Winter Wonderland Baby Shower

This week I hosted a Winter Wonderland baby shower for a lady at our church. I specifically picked a January date because I really wanted to do this theme.

I placed my chalkboard sign at the entrance to the room with one of my family’s favorite winter decorations. At home we call him, “Mr. Man… Mr. Snow Man.” At any rate, I’m not sure what happened to his jacket. It seems he was messed with after I set him up (kid helpers!) and I didn’t notice for the picture. Oh well. (See, parties don’t have to be perfect to be a blessing!)

Those little snowmen on the right were Hallmark singing snowmen from 20 years ago. When I started having kids I took the batteries out (sanity preservation!) and changed them from red to blue for our January decor at home.

The jar is full of cotton balls and has a sign that says “Snowballs 5 cents”. I had it in my kitchen with black and white ribbon but switched it to blue for the baby shower.

The framed print is something I designed.

Snowman baby shower gift art | mamasbrush designs
James 1:17, snow mama, snow baby, snowflakes, winter art, winter verse art, winter wonderland baby shower

I have this in my Etsy store now.

I originally created it with pen and paper 5 years ago (5??? Crazy!) for a baby girl Sprinkling I did that January. I like to call this “Where snow babies come from.”

I’ve been waiting for a chance to set up a hot cocoa bar for something and this was it. Can you see that sign on the wall? Wait…

Here it is closer. This is a chalkboard placemat that the kids got for Christmas. The link will take you to the product on Amazon (not an affiliate link, I get nothing for this). When the kids opened it Christmas day, I told my aunt (who sent them) that I was stealing the extras for me! 🙂 I wasn’t kidding. I love these! She sent them with these great chalk crayons too, which I cannot find on amazon yet. I’ll have to look for them some more because we’ll want to be able to get them again. (I may have to review these in a separate post… super cool!)

Anyway, back to the party. I used my chalk marker for this and was super happy with the way it turned out. Rolled up some scotch tape and taped it to the wall.

The shower was for a baby boy, so it was super easy to use blues in our decor. I love the way sprinkles, candies and Hershey kisses in blue really make the table pop!

I didn’t go out of control crazy on the food since cocoa is filling and sweet in itself. Instead I focused on cookies. This mama was dairy free, so I switched up some ingredients in my go to sugar cookies and added some meringue cookies to the mix. I also whipped up some dairy free dark chocolate for dipping the pretzels in. To add some gluten free options (in addition to the meringues, which are naturally gluten free) I also dipped some gluten free pretzels in the dark chocolate (I’m so glad I did as another mama and her little girl in attendance needed gluten free and dairy free treats!)

Mix up some dairy free cocoa with almond milk and you are all set!

I love these cups I picked up second hand (leftovers from a friend’s wedding). They were originally from Amazon (again, I get nothing from this link, just passing it on). The circle sticker was something I designed with my fun little snowflakes. Adding these little details to your parties makes them even more special! I’m planning to have those stickers in my Etsy shop for next winter!

I didn’t remember to get a picture of these big hanging snowflakes until after guests had begun arriving, so this is only half the room, but aren’t they fun?!? I found them here on Pinterest. I can’t tell you exactly how the process went because I asked a co-host to make them for me, but she said they were fun and easy. We also used the cheap white lunch bags from Walmart, so the whole things was just a couple dollars for big impact! We had 5 of them in the room.

Finally…

I made this cute little snowman diaper cake for the gift table. You can see a super short video clip of it here if you want more angles. I used 72 size 2 diapers, white dot fabric to cover the rubber bands, 2 black buttons for eyes, felt to shape the nose and a cheap pacifier (cut off the mouth part) and hot glue it all on the fabric. The receiving blanket adds to the gift and makes it look more like a snow baby. I used 6, 8, and 10 inch cake pans to hold the diapers until I get them banded together.

And that’s it! I hope you found some little thing you can use in your own celebration or decorating and enjoy these last days of January!

Check out my Winter Wonderland Baby Shower Pin Board on Pinterest if you are looking for more ideas!

Gluten Free Bridal Shower in Purple

A lavender party needs a purple dessert table, am I right?

Purple stacked cake with piped rosettes on top and smooth buttercream frosting were perfect at this purple bridal shower! Beautiful for any party or wedding.

Now… this bridal shower wasn’t actually mine. I usually do all the bridal showers in our church (frankly, everyone is thrilled that they don’t have to), but every once and a while I have to do the gracious thing and relinquish my beloved duty to a loving family member or friend of the bride.

This shower was one of those. The matron of honor so wanted to throw this shower, but she was traveling in from out of state (and has 7 little ones of her own), so, while she had a lot of things taken care of, she was thrilled when I offered help with the local stuff… and with the catering.

Purple macarons and meringue cookies were perfect at this purple bridal shower! Beautiful for any party or wedding.

This was super exciting because the food is the part of parties I enjoy the most and this allowed me the time to play and do some fun things. The macarons, for instance, while not hard to do in themselves, are hard to get right. I had to make several batches before one worked out. The meringues, on the other hand are super simple and beautiful! A must for any party!

And no one would have known that this cake was gluten free if I hadn’t told them (Wegman’s has an amazing gluten free cake mix, by the way… just don’t overcook it!) In fact, all these treats were gluten free so the bride and her guests could all enjoy!

You can find me gathering here.

How We Do Birthdays: An Owl Theme

In our home we do parties in a big way… and simple at the same time. What do I mean by that? Basically, we have some big impact things that go a long way toward making the day special, but we don’t go overboard, or expensive, or worry about perfection.

I always start with my chalkboard. Sometimes it’s elaborate, other times it’s not. It depends on my inspiration and abilities. I wasn’t feeling super inspired this time, but don’t tell my 7 year old… he thought it was great. You can build or buy one like this (husband made mine) or get a similar effect with Dollar Tree foam board (not an affiliate link) and some chalkboard paint.

Lately the kids have been asking for donuts for birthday breakfasts. We have a donut shop right down the road, so it works out. Husband takes the birthday kid with him to pick out donuts the morning of. I never know what will come home. 🙂 When they got home I had the kids pick their donuts out and I added Oreo eyes and candy corn beaks (this birthday was the day after Thanksgiving, so there is also a turkey donut in there.) Incorporating the theme in this way made something simple into something extra special!

Even simpler and more budget friendly: You could grab donuts from Walmart or the grocery store instead of getting them from a donut shop.?

Decorations were super simple. Crepe paper and ribbon with balloons around the room and some paper cut with my Cricut. An owl and “Whoooo’s turning 7?” on the wall.

Simple tip: Hand cut these if you don’t have a cutting machine.

I found this idea on Pinterest. Kids are always asking for fruit salad, and this looked like a way to make that “fruit salad” extra special! You’ll notice that the Pinterest version looks way better than mine, but perfection isn’t my goal. The birthday boy loved it and that’s enough for me! (Sometimes I have to tell the kids what something is… but I still get credit!)

The cake was the hardest part of the day, but it wasn’t that bad either. You can pick something else from my pinterest board that might be simplier… or more difficult.

For the cake, I started with a 2 layer cake with brown frosting all over. For the feathers I made dots of brown frosting from a pastry bag (the cut off corner of a ziplock bag would work too) in a line. After the bottom line of dots is there, I used the flat of a butter knife to squish and drag the dot up into a “feather”. Then make another row and do the same. I looked for a video to show this, but I can’t find the one I learned from forever ago. (Update: this pin shows what I’m talking about… and then you can try it on a Christmas tree cookie like they do! 🙂

A dinner he loves, gifts (including some that match the theme like an owl clock and a couple owl coloring books) and time together top off the day. Simple, but special! You can pull that off in so many ways… even with store bought cake and a purchased birthday banner. What matters most is that you take some extra steps to make the day special for your kid… it will be something remembered forever!

You can find me gathering here.

How to: Chalkboard for a Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Party

I shared our Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs party the other day. Today I want to talk about how simple this chalkboard art was to make. You can totally do this!! And even if it doesn’t look exactly the same… your kid will think it’s great!

How to: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Chalkboard | mamasbrush

Add a touch of art to your party or event with these tips to make your own. Pea soup fog, meatballs falling from the sky, clouds and hand lettering!

It all starts with my chalkboard. My husband made this one for me years ago, but you could grab foam board from the Dollar Tree and paint it with chalkboard paint to get the same effect.

The cloud is pretty easy to draw. Start using the side of your white chalk until you have a lumpy shape the size you want. Then trace around it a couple times with the end of the same chalk. I added the words with a damp washcloth over my finger (to erase the chalk), then traced around the black with the end of the white chalk again.

The thick words (“Cloudy” and “Meatballs”) were made with the side of short pieces of chalk (my chalk is always short because I’m always dropping and breaking them!) Then I add details and or tracing with the tip of a white piece and fill in the other words.

The meatballs were made using the side of a small orange piece of chalk and outlined with white. It’s close enough to brown over the black and your mind will convince you that it’s brown because you tell it that they are meatballs. 🙂

I scribbled around the whole top half of the chalk board with the side of a piece of green chalk. That’s the pea soup fog… my favorite part the whole things. 🙂

You can do this!! Let me know how it goes! 🙂

You can find me gathering here.

Simple Budget Friendly Party – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Children’s parties don’t have to be expensive – or elaborate – to be special. I find that my children are delighted by any attempt I make to create a special birthday for them. I don’t even have to do a “Pinterest worthy” job to impress them.

This Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs party was no different. Here are some simple ideas to make the day special, without going over budget!

In our family, every birthday starts with my chalkboard. I position it just inside the kitchen for the kids to see on their way downstairs. Most of the time, this is how they find our their theme for the day.

I have a how to post about it coming in a few days.

Our decorations were pretty minimal for this party. We blew up a bunch of white balloons and tied them together into a big bunch and hung them from the ceiling above the kitchen table (clouds). Then I used white thread to hang all the felt food I could find in the house from the balloons and in the windows. It gave a fun effect of food falling from the sky.

Dinner was homemade giant pizza. I made pizzas just like normal, but instead of shaping the dough into rounds, I stretched them into ovals and then cut the edges off after they were cooked to make giant slices. That’s my nine year old holding the biggest pan we can fit in our oven.

The cake was super fun to make. I started with a normal 2 layer cake and frosted it green. Then I added chocolate frosting to outline doors and windows around the edge to make it look like a building.

The “spaghetti” on top of the cake was made using white frosting with a small round tip. I just squirted it all over and let it fall all over. The pancake was more cake batter cooked in a pan, but it was a little dry. I made it in a 10 inch cast iron skillet to get the size and shape right. Pancake batter might have worked better. Let me know if you try it. 🙂

The giant ice cream cones were made with large cake balls covered in thin frosting so that it would pool a bit. Before the frosting dried I stuck the cones on to finish the effect.

It took time, but you could totally do this!

Some other details to take the day over the top:
– breakfast was donuts (easy!)
– I read the book to the kids during breakfast
– some of her gifts were based on the theme (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs coloring book for one)
-after cake and presents that evening, we watched the movie as a family to finish the day.

That night as we were going to bed, Husband and I climbed in bed saying, “Well… another successful birthday!” And it was!

You can find me gathering here.

Farmhouse Bridal Shower

This is one of three bridal showers I did last spring for ladies in our church. This bride is the one I designed wedding invitations for (I shared those here.)

The bride is one of the adopted daughters of our pastor and his wife and I was delighted to have the opportunity to do something special for her. She loves farmhouse decor (as do I, so it was perfect!), so it just seemed natural to use that as her theme.

The invitation was designed to be emailed to the church. (I’ve changed all names and numbers to protect privacy.)

Would anyone be interested if I were to list invitations in my Etsy store? Let me know and I’ll see what I can do!

I used my trusty chalkboard (love this thing!) and a pennant banner my oldest daughter and I made for her 11th birthday (several years ago now). I just love using it when I get the chance!

The center pieces were fun. I ordered a bunch of mini rolling pins (I’d wanted them forever and found a great place to buy them on Etsy!) for this event and my own use. For the party, I used fabric to cover them and taped it on. This was a great way to temporarily dress them up, but leave them for me to do something else with later. I also decoupaged and added vinyl we cut on my cricut to the wood wood pieces for fast and easy signs.

The jars were painted with chalk paint. We made three of them and I gifted one to the bride. I took the idea right off her registry. She had registered for one exactly like it, so I just DIY’d it for her. (Thanks mom for your help in that project! We all know you did all the work!)

No two tables were exactly the same. Many other elements used for the center pieces were taken directly from my house. That’s my cake plate, my cute blue truck from Hobby Lobby, my “abide” wood block (part of my home spring decor), and those beads were something I wanted to make for myself anyway… just used the party to get it done. 🙂

Oh, and that’s my cute little tiered plate piece. (More beads I made for myself… these were part of my Valentine’s decor.) I keep the church party budget down by using decor and making decor that I want for myself anyway. 🙂

These pallets really make this dessert table, if you ask me. They are painted grey and fit perfectly with the pink. Of course more of our pennant garland to finish it off.

The tiered tray is from home also, as well as all the decor on it. My son made the “LOVE” blocks for me years ago (it actually spells “SNOW” on the other side. The little houses, the cupcake stand, the Rae Dunn mug I styled re-styled myself in this fashion, the mason jar plate and all the hydrangeas were right out of my kitchen.

All the little details were so fun to pull together, right down to the gingham ribbon on the rice krispie treats and the “R” I placed on the drink table as a nod to her new last name.

Was the event perfect? No. No event ever comes together just as it is in my head, but we enjoyed a time of fellowship, ate some goodies, watched the bride and her fiance open gifts, and bowed in a time of prayer for the couple and their coming marriage. The couple and their families felt the love of God poured through the church family… that makes the event a success.

Gathering here.

Garden Theme Women’s Retreat Decor

My part is to make the weekend special. To make it beautiful. To make each lady feel like they’ve truly stepped into a retreat space!

This past weekend was our church’s annual women’s retreat (thus less posting last week as we were getting things ready and this week because I’m catching up around here.)

Our theme was “Come to the Garden”… basically, a garden theme women’s retreat! I came up with the idea last year as we were setting up for that retreat. The weather was gloomy and I really wanted to be putting flowers everywhere. Poof, the garden theme women’s retreat was born!

Garden Theme Women's Retreat Decor | mamasbrush #Christianretreat #womensretreat #eventdecor #gardenthemedecor #gardentheme #cometothegarden #springdecor #farmhousespringdecor #flowerdecor #decoratingwithflowers #springcoffeebar

This actually turned into a budget friendly theme for us, decoration wise anyway. I expected to have to buy a lot of flowers to get the feel I was looking for, and that was going to be expensive. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. Then I visited the decorations closet at the church (if you’re church doesn’t have one of these, it really should! I use ours all the time for party planning, retreats and other events at the church.) If you don’t have one of these rooms, ask around for ladies in the church who may have flowers or other details they don’t use anymore or are willing to share.

Many of the flowers in these pictures are from the decoration storage closet, others are mine from home. I made some signs, like the “let us grow” sign here. The wood beads are also mine, but so easy to make in any color.

This is the downstairs space that we used mostly for gathering in the evenings. I asked a wonderful group of helpers to just sort through the totes and make it all pretty! They did a great job. I literally couldn’t have done it without them. I had just under 2 hours from the time we could get into the facility to when our program started.

I picked up some free pillows someone was getting rid of and my mom made cases for them out of the green check print. Then we covered my couch pillows with a yard or so of fabric each from my stash, and tied them on so they would be temporary.

In the middle picture you can kind of see two other signs I made. One says “herbs” and the other says “prune and grow”. I also snagged my daughter’s summer hat to add to the mix.

The bunting is something I helped my oldest daughter make several years ago for her Little House birthday. I’ve used them so many time. I think they are made from some Figtree and Co. fabric. I use them all the time for baby showers, bridal showers, etc. This year I am going to hang them in the kitchen for spring.

There is a kitchenette downstairs in the lodge we used for the retreat this year. I love to turn it into a pretty coffee/tea/cocoa bar with pretty cups and plates and such. I always stow the coffee organizers they have out on the counter and bring my own pretty ones. This space is simple, but effective!

Behind it is this little cafe like seating area. It was so easy to place cute cloth napkins out with a bouquet of flowers on each. Again, super simple, but super effective!

We decided this year to set up a second drink station in the upstairs room where most of our sessions were taking place. The tea collection both upstairs and down belong the head of the retreat planning committee. She loves to share and this year has all matching jars. It made me so happy! 🙂 We brought the white carafes from church to keep things pretty and light. That is a white paper table cloth with plastic backing I have on top of the pink cloth. It prevented the spilled coffee and tea from staining the pink.

That is another sign I made for the weekend too… the “but first COFFEE”. I love how it fit in with the whole look. All the signs were made using my Cricut to make vinyl stencils.

The lace looking bunting was from last year’s tea party retreat. My sweet mama made all those for me last year using this tutorial. I was thrilled to use them again. She couldn’t be with us this year but was super excited to use them used again when I sent pics.

I tried to keep the tables simple this year. Once 8 ladies are squeezed around a 6 foot table with all their stuff, there isn’t much room in the middle. 🙂 I bought 7 of those cute flowers and garden tins from Dollar Tree and painted them white. They scratch easy (be warned) but they were super cute with the flowers in them. I decided to put these together ahead of time and bring them pre-made so that we could just put them on the tables. We used a bunch of the flowers at the church and poked them into some of the green flower foam (also in our decor closet). I use the word “we” lightly. One of the teens at church helped me out by doing all the arranging. She did a much better job than I would have in a fraction of the time. 🙂 I was thrilled she was there to help. I then scattered left over blooms and greens along the tables and placed a couple mini garden tools we had with them. Super easy!

The event turned out beautiful and had it’s intended affect. The ladies were loving the feel of the surroundings and were blessed by both the fellowship and the teaching throughout the weekend. I always say, my part of the events are far from the most important, but I enjoy showing love to the ladies who come by making their surroundings special!

If you enjoyed this garden theme women’s retreat, please pin the following image or share it on other social media!

You can find me gathering here.

Tea Party Women’s Retreat

This time last year, I was deep in the throws of preparing for our church’s women’s retreat. As in past years, my part was to decorate and add all the little touches that make it special. It’s not the most important part, by far. The Bible teaching and encouragement is the most important. But I do love to bring a little something extra so the ladies can really enjoy the weekend and feel as much love and blessing as possible.

Because of covid regulations last year, we couldn’t take our group to the usual retreat center for the weekend, so we adjusted some things and converted our church auditorium into our retreat center and decorated it for a giant tea party.

Those garlands hung from the ceiling were made using this tutorial. I’ll be using them again this year, getting 2 years for the work of making them once! 🙂

Tables centerpieces were tea sets we gathered from various church ladies who let us borrow them (this helped cut costs and gave us a fun variety of styles from all over the world).

We found these fun paper tea cups on Amazon (not an affiliate link) for them to drink their tea/coffee/cocoa out of.

I made signs to place around the room and these little gift packs were placed at every place. Inside the packet was a small journal for each lady. There were 4 of each design and we used them to separate the ladies into different groups randomly to mix them up a bit.

This is the tea and coffee/cocoa station. One of the ladies on the retreat committee loves tea and has a lot of different ones. She always brings her collection to share (that is what you see on the left) On the right things look a little sparse because the coffee carafes are not there yet.

One of the benefits to being at our church for the retreat this year was that we could do some fun food. Many would not think of this as a good thing, but most years they ask me not to do any food for the retreat because there is so much food already at the retreat center. Well, one of the things I love to do is include food in my theme, so I was thrilled that I could make all sorts of fun “tea party” foods. This was the inspiration I needed to learn to make french macarons (of course there are no pics of those, because these picture were taken of the brunch spread, but I also made them for some of the bridal showers I’ll be sharing in the weeks to come.)

Many of the ladies stepped in to bring parts of the brunch spread, but I wanted to bring some fun things. One of which was this fun “donut” cake. The one in the pic below fell apart, so we made another one, but of course there is no pic of that. My kids were super excited that the first one fell apart because they enjoyed it immensely!

I was super excited to have a reason to make puff pastry danishes. I’d been wanting to after watching The Great British Baking Show. You can find several pins about how to do this on my Tea Party Women’s Retreat board on Pinterest. I practiced for several weeks before making the official danishes for the retreat. They aren’t as hard or as time consuming as I expected. In fact, I need to make more soon! 🙂

The whole retreat was a success with so much spiritual encouragement, so much fun and laughter, and a great time of fellowship and building up! You can find other details and ideas for your own tea party on my Pinterest board.

If you enjoyed this Tea Party Women’s Retreat, I would really appreciate it if you would pin the image below or any of the specific images… or share on other social media! 🙂

You can find me gathering here.