Kitchen teas (or bridal showers) are one of those special occasions where you get the opportunity to spoil, affirm and tell that amazing friend, or in my case a sister, how special she really is. When my sister Lydia got engaged, the one thing I wanted was to organise a beautiful kitchen tea for her. A day that represented her beauty and gorgeous smile.
However, a kitchen tea can be a pricey affair, but we decided to keep the decor minimalistic and all DIY. The DIY projects mainly involved paper products and some other fun items that can be seen in the photos below.The cost of the bridal shower was no more than R500. We spray painted old chutney and jam bottle. The orgami flowers were made out of old books that I picked up for R5. The paper “bunting” was made from the origami off cuts. We also added a roll of brown paper, and a few fresh flowers. The egg shells are also a cheap alternative to vases and flower arrangements. And so the list goes on…
I really enjoyed planning my little sister’s kitchen tea and thought I would share some ideas with you. So if you are in the process of planning one of these for a friend or sister, then see all my hints and tips the end of the post.
Catherine Mac was there to capture the festivities and Makiti Hire supplied all the sleek white tables !
Tips for bridesmaids and moms organising a shower of kitchen tea:
- Roughly decide on the party details (time, date, time, place)
- Keep things simple, make sure you write out a list of everything, so that you can keep track of what needs to be done and share responsibilities with the bridesmaids and mom. Your lists should include the following:
All the decor items to be made
Items to be bought (drinks, eats, decor items)
Items to be hired/borrowed (cups, plates etc) - Choose a theme/colour scheme that suits the bride and the space you will be using whether thats a room, a garden or a coffee shop.
- Get a list of email addresses and names from the bride, of all the ladies coming to the wedding.
- Delegate, people like to help!
- Make a time table for the day.
- Make an invitation via email and send out to all the ladies (make sure you add all the details of the day, including suggestions for gifts & what they can contribute to the day)
- Set out a few evenings where the bridesmaids can come together to make the DIY decor items.
- Make sure that everyone involved knows what’s going on. Google Docs will help a great deal.
A few things to include in the invitation:
- Ask people to send their favourite recipe to one of the bridesmaids or moms before the kitchen tea. Compile a folder or recipe book for the bride. Alternatively buy a folder and have it on the gift table, where people can add a recipe. Ask them to bring one of the ingredient of their recipe for her new kitchen.
- Suggest that people bring one spice with for her new kitchen.
- Suggest that people wrap gifts in dish cloths. Wrapping paper is expensive and gets thrown away, dishcloths can be used.
- Send her underwear sizes with the invite, if people would like to buy her something.
A few fun games to include:
Interview the groom before and use his answers as Q&A for the bride. When she gives the correct answer, she can open a gift. If she give the incorrect one, she has to play a game.
Game ideas:
My mom came up with the most wonderful games inspired by minute to win it games (the tv show :)
Pop a balloon
Decorate a cake, while telling their story with the icing
Money saving tips:
- Instead of hiring cutlery and crockery, borrow some from friends. A mix match look could work very well!!
- Think of DIY projects for the decor
- Instead of real flowers, make some origami flowers with old books
- Look for things you use in your kitchen to transform into items for decor eg, glass bottles for flower jars (we spray painted them white)
- Invite everyone to contribute eats to a communal table. This way you don’t have to spend to much on eats, and people feel like they contributed something to the day, alternatively have the kitchen tea in a coffee shop. Get a set menu eg cake and coffee and each person pays for himself.
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