80th Birthday Afternoon Tea Party - Ideas Appreciated!

kittycat31uk

Hi everyone!
My family and I are planning an afternoon tea party to celebrate my Nan's 80th Birthday in April. She's a truly inspirational woman who has survived from a brain tumour and we want to make it super special for her! We have picked up lots of mismatched vintage style teacups and saucers etc. from car boots and the catering is sorted but I was hoping that some of you might have some ideas for decorations that I could make / buy? Particularly things like table decorations? We are going for a vintage kind of look.

I enjoy crafting, I'm only a novice but will definitely give things a go!

Thank you in advance for any ideas!

vikki_louise

My friend gave me these for an afternoon tea, they were very cute and asked questions about you http://www.amazon.co.uk/Talking-Tables-TS2-SAUCER-Scrumptious-Crackers/dp/B004ZU5GCI
Could you scan in and then blow up photos from her life and loved ones and put them up. I've seen lovely personalised scrabble boards framed (with words spelling out family names or words related to the person), it could be used as a decoration for the party and as a gift

jeningers

What about bunting? V easy to make and you could get some lovely vintage prints and pop it up round the room?

Will put my thinking cap on what else you can do how exciting I love afternoon teas!

kittycat31uk

Thank you both for replying!
I LOVE the scrabble boards idea - thank you so much!! :T
I'm already working on a kind of 'This Is Your Life' timeline with photos and captions, hopefully it will turn out ok, but if not at least people can look at the pictures.
Those crackers look fab, unfortunately we won't be able to afford enough for the party as there are 80 people invited :eek:... but I may just have to treat myself to some for when my friends come round!
Also, I LOVE bunting!! I've already bought some but would really love to have a go at making some myself, in fact I'll go and find some simple-to-follow instructions right now!

Thank you again for your fab ideas! I love tea parties too - am getting quite excited now!

TeresaO

Hi,

A few years ago we did something similar for my OH, he wanted a tea party.

We begged and borrowed teapots and cake stands, just before they became trendy! Table cloths and bone china, small vases of flowers on the tables. Along with life photos we did a quiz along the lines of "how well do you know xxx?". It got people talking to each other.

We also made sure that there was things for little ones to do, Lego, hand printing, DVD etc.

We had a great time! My only regret is that our camera had a dippy fit on the day, so make sure there are folk able and willing to photograph the day for you.

Hope you have a great day,

T

minimacka

I had a afternoon tea party on mothers day it went down really well with everyone, i put some lovely roses that looked vintage (£3. A!di) in jam jars with some rafian and ribbon round, they looked really pretty. I made some vintage style runners for the tables and printed out some mothers day quotes and popped them into frames that i already had. I also made cheap bunting out of doily's i folded them in half and threaded them through garden string. I also made the traditional type bunting out of the same material as the runners, and i also made square bunting out of some cheap material place mats from the £1 shop which were white and had lace all around them, they looked very vintage. I also bought some boxes of chocolates and split them up into pretty celophone bags (£1 shop) and tied them them ribbon to give to my guests.

If you join Pinterest and look for afternoon tea or vintage ideas you will be lost in a world of pictures. I love Pinterest and can easily spend all day on the site.

I hope you have a lovely day and post some pictures on here for us to look at.

My next afternoon tea party will be outside in the summer so that i can make pretty outside decorations.

mtbbuxton

I know you say the catering is sorted, but please keep in mind that elderly guests may not have the mobility required to quickly negotiate a buffet table. It's far easier to place cakes and sandwiches on platters/cake stands on each table and save everyone wandering round - acts as a form of decoration too. All you need then are a few willing volunteers to keep up an endless supply of tea :rotfl:
You could use some mismatched china cups and plates to make your own stands too.
I've been to a couple of parties organised this way and have to admit, it was far less stressful and easier on the older participants.

If you have young children attending, perhaps you could have a small craft table to help keep them entertained - nothing too messy, I'm thinking along the lines of papercraft, colouring or even some beads and thread.

Bunting would look lovely and I'm sure you could pick up some pretty tablecloths from charity shops for the tables. A few photos of Nan over the years would make for good conversation too.

M x