Breakfast at Tiffany's Food, Fun & Favors

"What I found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it." ~ Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's

Mary Ashley has looked forward to this birthday for years, knowing she could get her ears pierced at age 10. We celebrated the milestone with a Tiffany-themed brunch at our new home in Birmingham.

A vase of hydrangeas highlighted our breakfast buffet. (Silver Reflection Centerpiece from Shindigz).

Breakfast at the Lesters' Menu

Yogurt-Berry Parfaits

Smoked Salmon Breakfast Casserole (Recipe here)

Garlic Cheese Grits

Canadian Bacon, Cheese Cubes and Crackers

Glazed Doughnut Holes

Tiffany Blue Raspberry Candy Spheres (From GeorgieLous)

Tiffany Blue Sixlets (Available here)

Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes

Lemon-Slush Punch (Recipe here)

I prepared pink parfaits for the girls with strawberry-banana yogurt, strawberries and blueberries, and let the adults assemble their own with Greek yogurt, fresh berries and granola. (Mini Clear Pedestal Cups from Shindigz.)

With a busy week leading up to the party, I kept the menu as simple and crowd-friendly as possible.

I had intended to bake a cake for the party, but in the end purchased cupcakes from Publix and let Mary Ashley decorate them with Wilton Pearlized Sprinkles (available here).

Blue Rhinestone Button Brooches from Your Perfect Gifts were the perfect accessory for our afternoon craft project: painting wooden frames from Michaels. Guests shopped for their favorite bejeweled baubles before sitting down to paint.

I kept the palette simple for our little artists with blue and white acrylic craft paints. The girls painted the frames after they ate, and we let them dry while they played.

When the frames dried, I hot glued bows and brooches to the frames according to the girls' direction. The girls were quite creative in painting designs and determining how to accessorize their frames.

This sweet gift set was a thank you for our friend Haley Scott, who drove up from Montgomery the night before to help us with party preparations. (Single Strand Tiffany Blue Pearl Beaded Necklace and Earrings Set from Delicate Creations by M.)

Tiffany blue boxes from Favorites by Glenda were perfect for holding parting treats for the girls. 

I found mementos for the day, pretty beaded bracelets, at Michaels. About half of the bracelets were Tiffany blue, and the others were pink or clear. When we filled the boxes the night before, we put a little initial on the bottom of each box so we could offer the guests their choice of color. After the party, one of the moms thanked me for the generous gift and said I must have spent a fortune on the jewelry. I assured her they were reasonable; everything just looks better in a Tiffany-blue box!

Note cards from Michaels in our signature blue helped Mary Ashley express thanks for the lovely collection of earrings received from an even lovelier gathering of friends.

"If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name." ~ Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's Party Decor

We celebrated Mary Ashley's 10th birthday with a Tiffany-themed party in celebration of two big milestones: reaching double digits and getting her ears pierced! We invited guests to join us for brunch and asked them to bring a gift of earrings.

Simple but iconic invitations set the tone for our special celebration. I used 8.5x11 Tiffany-blue scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby to make two trifold cards per sheet. I printed Lester & Co. on the opalescent paper before cutting the pages in half lengthwise and folding into thirds. Next I printed party details on shimmering ivory paper (6 text boxes per 8.5x11 sheet), cut the text boxes with decorative scissors, and glued the party details inside the card. A pair of sparkly rhinestone stickers completed the inside, and silky ribbon finished the invitations with a fluffy bow. See more details of the invitations here.

White hydrangeas added softness to our tablescapes. Friend and floral designer Haley Scott brought flowers and spent the Friday evening before the party helping us with party preparations. Having friends help pull all the details together can be such a lifesaver!

You get a glimpse of our dining room in this photo. I added picture-frame moulding over New Year's, and Joe painted the room a few days before the party. I will share more details on this makeover in an upcoming post. Party site Shindigz offered me a generous $100 gift certificate to use toward Mary Ashley's celebration. I found a wealth of products that fit our theme, including the Martha Stewart Pom Pom Garland shown above (find it in pink here).

This table greeted guests in our foyer. Our friend Haley made the puffy wrap skirt by tying lengths of tulle to a long strand of ribbon and pinning the resulting tutu to the round table's existing tablecloth. I found the 40-yard bolt at a discount here.

Martha Stewart Blue Accordion Lanterns (product photo shown above) added a festive touch suspended above the island in our kitchen.

To celebrate Mary Ashley becoming a "tenager," we invited a large guest list of friends and family. Using china seemed impractical for the size of our party, but I still wanted a somewhat formal look. Silver Banded Dinner and Dessert Plates, Metallic Silver Plastic Forks, and Silver Glitter Border Placemats  from Shindigz delivered value, convenience and style. The napkins were from Target.

Tiffany Inspired Favor Boxes from Favorites by Glenda did double duty as decoration and parting gifts.

Stop in Friday for Tiffany-inspired food, fun and favors!

A Welcome Opportunity

 

 

Mary Ashley's recent birthday party gave us a wonderful opportunity to invite friends to visit our new home. We enjoyed a gathering of loved ones that included Mary Ashley's lifelong girlfriends from Wetumpka and Montgomery, as well as sweet new friends she has made in Birmingham.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When our friend Haley drove up to visit and help with party preparations, she said she picked out our house by the hydrangeas on the front door. Silk flower stems from Hobby Lobby made a cheery bouquet. Dry brushing the originally black wooden container, also from Hobby Lobby, with blue and white acrylic paints lightened the arrangement to offer a sunny welcome to friends from near and far.

 

 

 

Step inside for more details of our Tiffany-style brunch with more posts to come this week!

 

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Breakfast at Tiffany's Invitation

A few weeks ago we celebrated Mary Ashley's 10th birthday with a brunch commemorating a special milestone: getting her ears pierced. Tiffany blue invitations set the tone for a festive Breakfast at the Lesters'.



A ribbon-wrapped tri-fold card invited guests to bring a gift of earrings and join us for brunch. Although Mary Ashley's friends didn't necessarily recognize the inspiration for the design, their mothers definitely did! I will share more details of our lovely celebration in upcoming posts.

"You could always tell what kind of a person a man thinks you are by the earrings he gives you. I must say, the mind reels." ~ Holly Golightly

 

Happy Valentine's Day!



"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-7).

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday, Mary Ashley!

"A daughter is a gift of love." ~ Anonymous

Today is Mary Ashley's 10th birthday! I cannot believe my little girl is a "tenager." The above image -- one of my all-time favorites -- rests on my night stand. It is difficult to believe that I took this photograph five years ago. Is it possible that at 10, Mary Ashley is twice as sweet as she was at 5? What a blessing she is to our family!

You might remember that we celebrated the boys' 10th birthdays with surprise parties. We gave Carson a Rockin' Surprise Party (here), then bowled Christian over with birthday wishes (here). For the girls, we are skipping the surprises in favor of a much-anticipated milestone. Tonight Mary Ashley is getting her ears pierced! We will commemorate this special event Saturday with a party, so look for all the details in upcoming posts.

Congratulations to Paula Romer, who won a signed copy of Afternoon Tea from the editors of Teatime Magazine magazine. And best wishes to Kathy Pollard, who won the Whittard Tea giveaway. Ladies, please contact me at alittleloveliness@gmail.com.

Christmas Candy Tea

Happy New Year! We have enjoyed a great holiday break with lots of family time, extra rest and a few creative projects I can't wait to share. But first, here are a few photos from the tea party the girls and I hosted for our friends the Browns.

Most of our sitting room furniture is still in Wetumpka, but I took advantage of the empty space in our new house to set up a card table in view of my sitting room tree.

A simple menu of mostly storebought treats helped us manage planning a party in the midst of the holiday rush.


 

I tied extra wreaths to the chair backs with pink ribbon and set the table with pastel linens and dinnerware.


 

Candy ornaments from Wal-Mart made sweet favors for the four girls.


 

Our menu included tea sandwiches with chicken salad and pimento cheese from Zoe's, chocolate cupcakes from Publix and strawberry petit fours from Edgar's Bakery. Fresh strawberries and pineapple rounded out the simple fare, served with Ascot Floral Afternoon tea from Whittard.


 

And a candy cane at each place reiterated our candy theme.


 

I filled a cake plate with extra teatime treats so Stacey and I could visit over a cup of tea in the kitchen while the little girls enjoyed their tiered server in the sitting room.


 

Stacey brought blueberry and cranberry-orange scones for the party, and I served them with homemade lemon curd. Find the recipe here.


 

We have gone through many transitions this year, but we are grateful that our friendships with Stacey, Emma and Lizzy remain constant. We are already planning our next visit with these sweet girls!



 

Speaking of sharing tea with friends, in my next post I will announce the winner of my giveaway from Whittard. Find the original post to enter here. Also, the book Afternoon Tea from the editors of TeaTime was not claimed, so leave a comment below and I will select a new winner from this post.


Happy New Year!

Candied Christmas Crafts

A highlight of the holiday season for the girls and me was having our sweet friends Stacey, Emma and Lizzy Brown come up for a candy-themed Christmas tea party. I will share our tablescape and easy menu in my next post, but before we sit down for afternoon tea, we have some crafting to do.


 

My daughters and Stacy's share a love of creative projects, so making glittered ornaments and bracelets was a great way to make some sweet memories together.


 

I decorated the sitting room for tea, but our kitchen table was set for play.


 

I provided two clear ornaments for each girl to paint with acrylic craft paints -- one to keep and one to give to her friend. The girls painted ornaments when the Browns arrived so the paint could dry during our visit.


 

Then at the close of the afternoon, the girls painted over their ornaments with ModPodge and covered them in fine glitter. They turned out so pretty! The younger girls coated their whole ornaments with sparkles, but Emma Brown and Mary Ashley were quite creative in glittering their baubles. The four ornaments we kept will look so sweet on our pastel playroom Christmas tree!


 

After we sat down to tea, the girls peeked into this candy dish to choose pretty beads for making bracelets.


 

These shimmering beads from Michaels looked like candies to me. We strung beads on ribbon for a simple token of friendship. Most of the girls made bracelets, but my Emma chose to make a necklace.


 

We bonded with the Browns when the girls were in preschool, and we are so thankful that our friendship has grown stronger through the years.


 

It's no secret; best girlfriends are among our most precious gifts!



"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time." ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder