Decorating A Graduate Tea Party

Serve up an elegant graduation tea party complete with old style tea sandwiches, canapé, classical music, and amusing treats like tassel pasta and edible diplomas.

 

A Graduation Tea Party should be a short sweet and elegant affair where many guests are invited. It is one of the few tea parties where it is quite common to have as many to thirty guests to hundred guests at one time. Of course all of this depends on the number of guests that you want to invite at one time.

 

As graduation tea parties are quite large in number, it is usual to serve mostly sandwiches to save on mess and preparation time. A soup and Jell-O salads are also served to round out the meal a bit.

 

On the invitation ask you guests to dress casually but formally. Make it clear that classic music will be on the menu as well as several classic games of strategy and skill – poker, chess, checkers and croquet in the back yard. Winners of these games can expect to receive small party favors such as tiny silver picture frames, pens and bookmarks,

 

The design theme for this party should be black and white to match the formality of the occasion of graduation. A nice touch is to display photographs of all of the other graduates in the family on the walls and pictures from old yearbooks. One contest that could be held is “worst year book “ photograph for which the winner wins some kind of booby prize.

 

As this party is very grown up, you should use your very best silver tea service and crystal bowls. Square black and white plates also add an interesting touch to a staid looking table. White Oxford China with your laciest white tablecloths would be best for giving the whole affair a formal yet humorous flair.

 

If you like you could also attempt to make an ice sculpture of your school’s mascot or have on ordered up professionally. You can also give this type of party of personal touch by offering napkins or souvenir matchbooks engraved with a favorite saying or a motto.

 

Of course you shouldn’t forget the cake. You can get cake molds in the shape of graduation albums and all sorts of objects that relate to graduation ceremonies.

Some Traditional Baby Shower Themes

There are hundreds of themes for baby showers, and perhaps the perfect theme lies somewhere in the region of your imagination. For instance, if the mother-to-be is addicted to reading tabloid magazines, you might want to throw a shower that features a collage of celebrity babies. If she is into astrology, you might want to consider having the baby’s chart done or visiting a site on the Internet that helps you name a star for the baby. Yoyu could all black baby shower, for the Goth mom, who wants her child dressed in leather.

 

However if you are wondering how to decorate for a baby shower using some traditional themes here are some ideas.

 

The Teddy Bear Shower is a classic that encourages guests to bring a stuffed toy as a gift for the mother-to-be. Sometimes, a bear with a zipper side closure will be bought and money and/or gift certificates are stuffed inside to present to the mother.
In this case it is desirable to encourage guests to bring clothing, linen, and baby dinnerware decorated with teddy bear as gifts.

 

A cake is baked in the shape of a teddy bear and sometimes, the guests will sit on the floor on a checkered tablecloth to engage in a Teddy Bear’s Picnic. Round cookies can also be attached and iced to look like Teddy Bears. Flowers such as daisies or chrysanthemums suit a Teddy Bear shower.

 

Gummy bears tied with a pink or blue net make a nice party favor for guests to take home. Gummy bears can also be used to decorate a cake. A more elaborate take home gift is a teddy bear inside a plastic snow-shaker ornament.

 

Another classic is the stork shower. This is a freestanding cardboard sign on the front lawn usually marks a baby shower that features a stork theme. This sign, which features the big bird carrying a baby in a diaper, is used to direct approaching guests to the right house. Sometimes this sign is erected on the front lawn of the mother-to-be’s home after the baby is born.

 

Roses, gladiolas and peonies suit this. A nice touch is to decorate the front door step with decorative cabbages. Stork parties are often also “diaper parties” so often guests are encouraged to bring a package of diapers as gifts.

 

Guests can also be presented with custom-made bracelets or necklaces made from the same kind of beads they use to make baby identification bracelets in hospitals.
These are two of the most traditional ideas for decorating a baby shower and sometimes being traditional is the most fashionable way to be of all.