Ohmigosh, I’m finally posting something new! You probably thought I was never going to blog again. Sorry. I took most of the week off and relaxed. Because … birthday. 
That being said, now I’m totally going to brag about the amazing, pink, fluffy, frilly, all out girly tea party that I threw myself on my birthday.
It was the best ever.
I learned something about myself on this, my 5th annual 29th birthday…
I’m actually a five year old.
I had a pink, fluffy, sugary tea party, filled with lacy doilies, stripey straws, and flowers and polka dots, for which I dressed up as a Gryffindor student, while wearing Mickey Mouse ears all day, and I got dolls and toys for gifts.
That’s right, I got three, yes THREE, Lalaloopsy dolls (two of which are full sized), an amazing Sonic Screwdriver, and a 16-inch tall Snow White doll. AND I got to go to the ballet. Which I guess is kind of grown up, even though I sat through the whole thing with eyes shining, like the little girl who always wanted to be a ballerina. 
All these gifts from the Hubster, the kiddo, and my friend Tina. The only grown up gifts I got came from my sister.
Plus! Plus, Tina made me the most incredible Hogwarts Acceptance Letter Cookie in the history of ever. And my friend Heather made me the most perfect birthday cake a Firefly loving girly girl could ever ask for. The only thing that would have made it better is if it were here for my tea party! Do I have the best friends ever, or what?!
Like I said, I’m a five year old.
But I’m cool with that, because this birthday takes the cake (no pun intended) for birthdays. It was, without a doubt, the best birthday I’ve ever had. My boys were so sweet and generous to sit down to not one, but two girly tea parties with me (one int he early afternoon and a second after dinner, for cake and presents), where they enthusiastically participated in the enjoyment of tea (in the English style, of course), tart raspberry lemonade, and all of the sweeties and treaties I worked so hard on. I’m one super blessed lady.
Before getting started on any recipes for my party, I had to first get the decorations up. My theme was pink and fluffy, but I added elements of light blue to the mix, as well. I hung sweet, lacy paper lanterns from the ceiling, a pretty paper pennant banner zigged and zagged across our dining room window, and the table itself was covered with white and lacy tablecloths and pink and white dishes and cake stands.
I bought some surprisingly beautiful faux flowers at Michaels to display front and center on the table. I had hoped to find real flowers for the occasion, but they all tended towards darker, wintry or fall-ish flowers, so I was thrilled when I found these. And for the price, they were a much better value (only $12).
While I was at Michaels, I also snagged some inexpensive glass candle holders ($.99, each), and some pretty washi tape. I got a two pack (one roll was pink and white polka dots, above, the other was white with little pink roses, below) for $4.99. Admittedly a smidgen pricey, but totally worth it for my party. I wrapped each of the candle holders in one or both of the washi tapes to tie them into the pink, flowery theme.
I also wrapped some of the washi tape around each of our straws. I used stripey straws from The TomKat Studio with my pretty glass milk bottles from Bake It Pretty (all resources are listed and linked below). We had homemade raspberry lemonade in the milk bottles, and it was wonderful.
To keep things a littlemore boy-ish for my guys, I gave them each blue stripey straws………but they still got pink washi tape flags.
I kept my place settings nice and simple by sticking with clean, white or clear dishes and doilies.
Once all the settings were placed, I added a small doily to each plate and topped them with some pink and white chocolate cameo boxes that I made.
Inside each of the chocolate boxes I put fresh raspberries. In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, the food theme of the day was raspberry.
So that’s the decor…how about we get into the sweeties?
First up, I had to have some Chocolate Filled Raspberry Meringues. They’re one of my favorite recipes I’ve ever made, and they worked perfectly, both for the raspberry theme, and the tea party theme.
I made half of the meringues white, using this rose technique, then sprinkled them with soft blue disco dust.
The remaining meringues, I made soft pink, sprinkled with silver disco dust and stars.
Aside from the rose shaped meringues, I also made some standard meringue kisses. They looked beautiful and shabby chic all piled together in a ruffled bowl.
Next up, I made sweet and simple tea tag shaped shortbread cookies, iced with raspberry glaze.
I tinted some of the glaze light blue and personalized the cookies with “D” for Darla and little hearts.
Once they were set up, my tea tag cookies joined some delicious macarons that the Hubster picked up from Ken’s Artisan Bakery up in Portland.
Of course, there had to be cake. I kept things simple and shabby chic with a sweet pink cake, decorated with a few ribbon roses, some silvery dragees, and a pretty pink candelabra candle.
Then came some mini raspberry cupcakes, topped with whipped raspberry buttercream and fresh raspberries (recipe coming soon).
Last, but definitely not least, the Hubster picked up these beautiful petit fours for me while he was up in Portland. They came from the sweet Helen Bernhard Bakery and they were divine!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Supplies:
Cake stands – TJ Maxx, Homegoods, Amazon, and Michaels
Birdy cupcake stands – Whitney Smith Pottery on Etsy
Ruffled plate – TJ Maxx
Lacy plates, plain white plates – Pier 1 Imports
Milk Bottles, pennant banner, cupcake papers, birthday candle, cameo box chocolate mold – Bake It Pretty
Stripey straws – The TomKat Studio
Round and square doilies, white porcelain tea spoons – Sur la Table
Washi tape, candle holders, paper lanterns, flowers – Michaels
Silver bowl (holding the flowers) – Pottery Barn
Glass tea cups – Amazon
Recipes:
Homemade Raspberry Lemonade
Chocolate Filled Raspberry Meringues
Tea Tag Shortbread Cookies with Raspberry Glaze (substitute raspberry extract for lemon in the glaze)
Raspberry Cream Brownie Cake (substitute raspberry puree for the strawberry in the frosting)
Raspberry Cupcakes with Whipped Raspberry Buttercream – coming soon
Macarons – Ken’s Artisan Bakery, Portland, Oregon
Petit Fours – Helen Bernhard Bakery, Portland, Oregon
oh my gosh, this is just amazing
That is the most amazingly beautiful and wonderful birthday tea I have ever seen! Thanks for sharing! Horribly jealous!
Awesome party and set up. I want a birthday like that, I might just have to steal your ideas.
This entire post makes me happy! Squeeeeeeee! I love all of the little details; I do that kind of thing for my daughters, but never on my own birthday – I’ve always thought that I might feel silly going all out just for me – but now I see that I was completely wrong. My next annual 29th birthday (so glad that I’m not the only one who has several 29ths) will be superb!
Btw, my 4 year old loved the plate of treats! She said the pink meringue rose and the cupcake were her favorites.
So pretty! I love all the pink.
Holy amazingness, Darla! I feel like making a pin board called “Darla’s Birthday” and pinning every single picture – it’s all so beautiful. I kind of want to cry though, because I’m not your neighbor. I’d totally crash this!
You wouldn’t have to crash it, Heather! If you were my neighbor, you would have been invited!!
Wow, wow and WOW! Everything looks absolutely beautiful, amazing and stunning (yes, 3 words that pretty much mean the same thing!)
Even us Brit’s don’t have a English tea party as good as this!
Just so pretty, and fluffy, and sweet and pink!! Everything looks lovely! So glad you had such a wonderful celebration!
The decorations are beautiful and the sweets look absolutely amazing. Very pretty.
So beautiful! Everything looks so dreamy and pink!
As soon as I saw the first picture, I was like, this is gonna be good! Your party looks amazing! So many sweet treats, all which look absolutely amazing. Happy birthday!
I have a sonic screwdriver too! My husband got it fr me for my birthday last year.
Oh, and happy belated birthday!
Darla, everything is SO beautiful and perfect! A dream tea party for sure–so jealous I don’t have your eye for style or your talent for baking. Thanks for sharing your wonderful gifts with us.
I love, love, love it. Only thing that woulda made it better was if I was there to celebrate with you
Distance is dumb.
This is amazing and beautiful and so much fun! I love it all!
I don’t even know where to start with how pretty everything is…definitely pinning you!
Beautiful Darla!! I would’ve loved to have been at this fun birthday party!!
I love Ken’s Artisan Bakery macarons, they are the best!! 
You are so blessed to have such loving family and friends! A beautiful birthday for a beautiful girl!
Umm, can you cater my next birthday? I love all the pink and the pretty desserts and treats! And you got a Sonic screwdriver? You’ll be all set for the second half of this season of Doctor Who
Adorable and sweet and frilly and so much fun! Happy Birthday Darla!
Happy birthday dear Darla!!!
this is the most awesome party ever!
This party is super cute!!! I would love to have a party like this for myself to be perfectly honest.
Everything looks so adorable and girly and beautiful! Happy Birthday, Darla
That’s the most cute and wonderful birthday party I’ve ever seen! Everything looks so precious, elegantly pink and girly!
Can’t pick just one picture or just one sweet treat, I like EVERYTHING. Happy Birthday!!!
Ooh what a cuuute party! So fluffy and sweet. I love it! I would have loved to be there <3
Happy Happy Birthday Girl!!!! Beautiful party!
Happy Birthday Darla. What a perfectly pink party! It makes me think of the “Think Pink” song and dance number in Funny Face in a great, great way.
Glad you had a great birthday! Everything is gorgeous!
SWOON!
Happy Birthday!
Happy belated birthday, sweet friend!! Everything is just gorgeous and so creative…I love the cake!! And those washi tape candle holders…what a great idea!!
What a beautiful party Darla! You are SO talented. I hope you had a spectacular birthday!
I just have to ask, which LaLaloopsies did you get? I have two little girls that have a couple dozen of the minis and a few full size ones. They love them! They also make them houses out of Duplos and Legos. The oldest would also love the Kaylee dress cake, she loves pink and her middle name is Kaylee. And yes, because of Firefly.
Oh, also HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Happy belated birthday! Can you come and decorate for all of my parties? This is simply divine – every detail is so well thought out and absolutely lovely. It’s a dream come true for ladies of all ages. And the sweets – wow! Everything looks delicious and perfect. Thanks for linking up the suppliers of your beautiful dishware. You’re inspiring me to get some new foodie props.
For the rose shaped meringues did you have to chill the mix?
mine just turned out like lumpy little messes =_=
No, You should be able to pipe them as soon as they’re mixed up. Be sure to use a glass or metal bowl for mixing the meringue, and don’t use a reuasble piping bag. Anything that you can’t get 100% grease-proofed will cause your meringues to fall.
I’m so glad I found your party, I’m having a tea party for my own birthday in May and since I only have boys, this is one of my few chances to be girly and frilly! I love your flower centerpieces, I’ve been debating about using real vs artificial and I didn’t even realize they were until you mentioned them and then I had to look back again. They and the whole setup is gorgeous!
What raspberry cupcake recipe did you use? It looks amazing!!!!
Wow!! amazing everything!! love the details.. can i ask you from where the white paper doilies are? especially the square ones? also the white table cover? is it paper or cloth? thank you..i would appreciate it if you shared the source. Thanks!
Hi, thank you for the kind words! I got all of my doilies from Sur la Table.
The tablecloth is cloth, and it is from Homegoods.