invited to a tea? eat lunch first

Seriously.
I went to a baby shower at
at 4:30 PM on a Sunday.
We got there a little early 
to set out the special votives 
made to match 
the black/white motiff 
the 
Mother-To-Be 
 chose for the invitations 
(and the nursery), 
placecards 
(also b/w matching the invitation/votive design)
 gifts for the guests.

After taking our coats,
 the staff offered Champagne cocktails to sip as we put the placecards, 
votives and little gifts for the guests on the tables.

There were 3 tables for the adults
and
one for the children invited!

the gift to the guests was an adorable little bookmark

After the Mother-To-Be arrived
greeted
and
fussed over
the guests sat down to 'tea'.

We started with a small green salad


Followed by 
teensy weenie crustless sandwiches 
of things like 
cucumber/cream cheese, 
sun dried tomato/cream cheese,
cinnamon cream cheese on nut bread slivers, 
spiced ham, and two other extremely - to me - unappetizing, 
less than finger food size 
(unless your finger is an infant's finger).


Tea:
 Earl Grey Breakfast, Chamomile, or Jasmine.

The next 'course' was 2 tiny scones, 
one 'traditional' 
one with dried cranberries, 
clotted cream and jam 
on the side

Closely followed by petite fours and Proseco


AND
special cupcakes that had the same design as the invitation, etc.

And then
cake was served




After we'd finished all the sugar, er, food
the Hostess 
(aka Mother-In-Law) 
rang a cute little bell to 
snap us out of our sugar stupor
get our attention



A toast was made to "A healthy baby"

We played Baby Bingo

There were a lot of winners and each one got a prize
 We watched as presents were opened 
EXCELLENT 
exclaimed the Mother-To-Be
 as each gift unwrapped and held up to be seen.

We got home at 8:30 PM
I helped unload the gifts from the car
Mother-To-Be lives in Los Angeles
(wouldnt you have a baby shower in NYC if you lived in LA? I thought so)
all the gifts
from the 34 guests
 and a few extras
 all the gifts
had to be packed and shipped

 guess who was doing the shipping?
yup, the In-Laws
the same people who paid for the extra flower arrangements 
Mother-To-Be insisted were needed 
why? 

 Well, 
she had never been to this place
but had heard it was the cat's meow
so her MIL went to have lunch and check it out.

She reported back and was quizzed on the food.

Very nice, said the Mother-In-Law.

Nice?! The food is just NICE? Well, we'd better get flowers to make up for the nice food.

She also decided the invitations her MIL bought were not formal enough.
 So she got her own invites and did the wording herself, 
 ordered the votives and cupcakes to match. 
 All paid for by
 .. yup .. 
the In-Laws.

It was not as bad as it could have been.

She didnt need to make her self the center of attention 
because she was the center of attention 
so there was way less attitude than usual.