My Birthday Tea Party

Hello my lovelies!! Today I have a very special post for you all! It will be all about my birthday party from this weekend! I was originally supposed to have it on May 3, I had to postpone it until this past Saturday. I had spent about 2 months planning this one so it was a long time coming! I pretty much planned every detail that I could without going too crazy.

For my 22nd birthday, I wanted to do something fun and special. Something out of the ordinary. My more recent birthdays included going to the mall and shopping and I wasn't feeling anything of the sort this year. I wanted to do something very memorable. I have always wanted to have a classy tea party. So I threw myself a birthday tea party. My actual birthday this year was pretty bad, but my party totally made up for that! I invited all of my closest friends (though some couldn't make it) and had a fantastic day.

I made this sign! I meant to make something simple, but I hadn't painted in a long time and got carried away.

I had the party in my backyard, it was a beautiful day. It stayed cloudy for much of the day with (blindingly bright) sun peeking through. As I was setting up, I noticed that a tree in my driveway (I think it's called dogwood) looked like a white cherry blossom tree. There was a light breeze and the flower petals were falling like cherry blossoms. It was so beautiful! It was literally perfect for the day and I took it as much needed sign that it was going to be a lovely day (I was nervous because I still wasn't feeling well), which it totally was!

Tree on day of the party

Tree with intense sun

I set up a table for us to sit at as well as a food table. Oh yes, you have to have plenty of snacks for a tea party!

Excuse the mess in the background. No one bothered to clean it for me and I was unable to myself.

 I was aiming for a feminine and beautiful look, I tried to make it look like a British tea party with a twist. I also tried to stick with pastel colors. I went with pastel pink tablecloths, utensils and napkins. I wrapped the utensils and napkins in doilies and tied string around them. I sprinkled some fake red rose petals all over the tablecloth.

I got some beautiful black plates with a white design on them. I also used tons of doilies underneath everything. I took the remaining living flowers that I was given for my birthday (see my previous post) and put them in a blue vase as a centerpiece.

I also wrapped some pearls around the vase. I used actual tea cups and saucers as well as my tea pot. I didn't actually own enough tea cups beforehand, so I ordered a lot of 2 tea cups and saucers from eBay surprisingly cheap. I put all of the fixings needed for tea onto the table.

This was my place setting, with my special sugar skull tea cup.

 Eventually some snacks went on there too. I also tied ribbon around the chairs...which is seems I forgot to take pictures of :(. 

I brought my big ipod speakers outside with us (It's a huge tower dock) and played music the entire time. I spent two weeks curating the playlists for the party. I made four, including a classical music one, modern classical music (like more modern music mixed with classical. For example, some of the Sword Art Online soundtrack), music with words/more modern music that fit the theme (some Beatles, Adam Lambert, Avril Lavigne, Emilie Autumn and various other artists. I played this while everyone was arriving) and a "tea blend" which was a mix of all of the above. All of the music fit perfectly. Believe it or not, a lot of the instrumental stuff was from anime OSTs! The Black Butler, Madoka Magica and Rozen Maiden soundtracks were absolutely perfect and fit to a T. There were quite a few times where I had to pause in what we were doing to spazz a little over the perfection of a song playing. The music really added to the atmosphere and helped to set the tone. If anyone would like me to post the complete track listings to these playlists, let me know!

Outside selfie of me during the party. I have very long hippy-like hair and at this point, it was annoying me so I put it up. My makeup was running at this point because it was pretty warm and my hair adds a lot of extra heat.  I also made this strange-ass face HAHAHA! This picture makes me think of Chaquita Banana xD.

Beckman, Vicky and Destinee 

My three closest friends, Beckman, Destinee and Vicky (who reads this blog, hiii Vicky!!) attended my tea party. Destinee was running late due to a family illness so Beckman, Vicky and I had to start the party without her. We spent hours drinking, eating and chatting. It was pretty much everything a tea party should be. It was exactly what I wanted and hoped for!

The lovely Vicky <3, seriously my new favorite picture of her.

Beckman sipping some tea

Crumpled instructions, from after the party.

While we were waiting we played a game, tea leaf reading. It used to be common for people to tell your fortune with tea leaves rather than tarot cards. To do a tea leaf reading you need to have some tea leaves and tea in your cup. When you dump the cup over, getting rid of the remaining tea you are supposed to look for shapes in the tea leaves. Whatever the shape you get, you look it up and there you have your fortune! If you have never heard of this practice, watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It is a lot of fun to try to read the fortunes. Vicky kept getting bird shapes a lot and I got the letter "H'" a few times. Go figure since my name is Heather.

When Destinee arrived we did some more tea leaf readings and a tea tasting game. My mom (who was helping out with serving) brewed 4 different teas, then poured a little bit into smaller cups for each of us to taste and try to guess the flavor. I guessed 3 out of 4 of them!

The lovely Destinee <3 

Poor Beckman kept getting assaulted by gnats and various other flying insects while we were sitting there. It was actually quite funny xD. It got to the point where if he saw a bug, he smacked it, which resulted in me getting randomly smacked a few times xD.

Luckily Vicky had bug spray (what would I do without you?? ;__; <3) so we didn't die from insect invasion. Sadly, I still ended up covered in bug bites and itchy as hell the next day.

Out of nowhere a bee flew at us. After everyone else had run across the yard to get away from it, it decided that my dress or hat had actual flowers on them. After getting too freaked out trying to sit still so that it wouldn't sting me, I ran across the yard away from it. The stupid bee chased me across the yard...and when I ran towards everyone else the bee chased all of us!  After a little more running from the vicious bee around the yard like crazy people, some of us ran inside to escape it and it was gone.

Despite that insanity, it was a true and fun tea party! I felt so classy sipping my tea at my fancy table with all of my little snacks. And of course the music totally made it! We had so much fun laughing and having different discussions that I nearly forgot about the games that I had planned! Of course there were discussions of Kakashi. I felt sort of bad about all of mine and Beckman's anime discussions because we were the only otakus of the group.

Awkwardly throughout the party my douchey yuppie neighbors were cleaning their yard, dumping their leaves into my yard. They've done it for years, they do the same thing with snow. If they have one leaf in their yard, they pull out their leaf blower for 20 minutes. Some of my friends weren't too happy about their rudeness (and possible illegal action of dumping shit into my yard). So when the party was over, we threw some leftover fruit and sandwiches into their yard. If anyone asks, we had a food fight!

I made a good variety of foods for the party. Everything I made was small, finger food.

 I made home made petit fours (omg they were amazing!):

Chocolate, vanilla and strawberry wafer cookies dipped in chocolate with some sprinkles

Cheesecake cream filled strawberries

Fruit kabobs

Beckman brought us a bunch of donuts

I also made crescent rolls filled with ham and cheddar cheese and mini peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. By the time I took this picture, they were half gone:

I went through quite the ordeal preparing all of the food but I'm so happy that it all was pulled off! When I postponed the party, I had to freeze almost everything. Most of the fruit didn't thaw right and last minute we had to throw some of it away. My health wasn't so great the day before the party, it was extremely nerve wracking for me trying to prepare things while feeling that way. I still didn't feel all that well the morning of my party, but by the time it started I was feeling alright!!

We kept the pots of black tea coming. I also made home made lemonade with frozen strawberries to drink.

A woman that my mom knows who makes cupcakes for birthday parties made me cupcakes! We brought these out towards the end of the party. The tea cups and saucers are made of fondant and each one has a hand painted design. The cake was vanilla, the frosting was strawberry and they had a Lindor truffle in the middle. The best birthday cupcakes ever!

Now onto the part that some of you have been waiting for, my outfit. When I first mentioned that I was planning a tea party for my birthday many people were curious of what I would wear. My friends described my outfit as "Victorian funeral director" or morgue owner. Destinee thought that I wouldn't look out of place at a funeral in my outfit. I was going for a gothic Victorian sort of look.

I wore a dress, I guess it would be considered a sundress though it is more of a formal dress and I have worn it to fancy events before. It had a black, white and beige flower design. Here is part of the dress, as I'm honestly not comfortable posting a picture of the entire thing on me. The dress has a matching shrug jacket (mini short sleeved jacket), which I eventually discarded because it got warm.
I wore my velvetey black wedge heels with my pastel purple lace socks (the color doesn't photograph well). It sure was fun walking/running around my yard with uneven terrain on these babies!

For my hair, I planned to do this whole style like Asuna's hair and curl it...but I was having some anxiety issues that morning and not feeling great so I said fuck it. I just threw in some volumizing powder to my hair and clipped in my mini sort of lolita hat.

The front of the hat.

The side of the hat.

It's really hard to see the details of the hat in photograph. But it is a mini black top hat, with some fishnet fabric, a sort of silk flower on top of that and a black feather in the back of it. It really brought my outfit together and everyone loved it! Even my mom, who normally thinks most of the stuff I wear is weird. 

For my jewelry I wore this beautiful purple stone cameo necklace. It was a bitch to get this in time, the first one I received arrived to me damaged.

For earrings I wore skeleton lady cameo earrings in my bottom ear piercing. In my 2nd ear piercing I wore these cute little pink stone with mini pearl and gold colored metal earrings. These stud earrings I have had forever and are a hand me down from my mom.

I wore fishnet skeleton gloves. I have had these forever but never get the chance to wear them! I also wore this beautiful rainbow topaz ring that I got myself as an early birthday present. Apparently it is worth a lot more than I paid for it! I was too lazy to paint my nails, so I stuck on (and of course cut really short because I can't handle long nails) some Impress manicure nails in a bright, neon pink shade.

For my makeup, I don't think it really looks all that Victorian. But I went with a bold red lip (Lime Crime Red Velvet Velveteen. It lasted through ALL of the tea and snacking). For the eyes, I used the Urban Decay Naked and Naked 3 palettes. I did some pink on the lid, brownish-copper on the crease blended out and dark brown on the outer corners. Then I put dark brown and pink under my waterline. I did winged black liner and black liner on my outer rim. I filled in my brows with Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow. I used Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation along with some other products to make my face look flawless. I used Nars Orgasm blush (yes, guys Orgasm is the name of a shade of blush. It is actually a very popular and famous blush shade), though I apply my blush lightly so it hardly ever shows in pictures.

Fancy dress was optional for this party. I dressed up because I was super into the spirit of it.

 Destinee dressed up as well, going for an Alice In Wonderland/ Mad Hatter look. The tutu she wore she made herself by hand. She was afraid of looking silly, but I loved the outfit and think she looks fantastic. Vicky and Beckman didn't dress up (which I didn't care, I was just happy that they came!)

But Beckman did look like a butler. In fact, Beckman insisted as acting the sort of butler by pouring the tea for all of us. He understands my love of Black Butler (and is a fan himself). Personally I think everyone looked fabulous and awesome <3.

Overall, it was such a fun and memorable day. When I look back on my 22nd birthday, I will remember this day and not my actual birthday. I partied hard and got to spend it with some of the people in my life that I love the most <3. Really, that's all I wanted for my birthday. I do have some truly amazing friends and I treasure them more than anything. My closest friends have been there for me though a lot. They are the few people that stuck with me during the times that I truly needed them while others were nowhere to be found. I really can't fully put into words what their friendship means to me. I'm so very happy that I was able to spend my day with them.

My cat shoved herself into this box after the party. I couldn't resist posting, she's so cute!!!!

I think for my 23rd I should have an alcoholic tea party hahaha! After all, everyone will be 21 by then!

Now that I'm not spending so much time planning this party I'm sort of at a loss xD. But, when my health is better I will be having an adventure for my birthday with Vicky and I'm so excited for that!

Thank you everyone for sticking with this really long post! Hope you had as much fun reading it as I had fun on saturday. I will in the near future (hopefully) be writing about how I plan parties with party planning tips! 

Xoxo
Moon prism power, makeup!