We hope you had an enchanted weekend! We thought we’d make your week a little more enchanted by sharing with you this Midsummer Tea Party that Faerie Magazine senior editor Grace Nuth threw yesterday for a few of her closest fairy friends… Below, she tells us all about it!
I was born on Midsummer, some years ago. And I’ve always been enchanted by fairies (a fact that makes my work at Faerie Magazine a pleasure). So it’s unsurprising that for years, I’ve dreamed of hosting a Midsummer Fairy Tea for like minded friends at around this time of year. But every year I end up too busy to actually make it happen. This year, however, one of my close-knit kindred spirit local friends got a job in Atlanta and is moving away (today, actually), so the vague dreamy urge to host a whimsical tea for fairy friends turned into an urgent reality with only a week to plan the event.
Thankfully I had a Pinterest board at the ready, full of ideas, along with years worth of collected enchanted woodland kitchen and dining items.
The invitations went out a week ago as soon as the date and time were finalized. Arthur Rackham art from A Midsummer Night’s Dream framed the text I meticulously hand wrote in a font called “Stonehenge.” The invitations were mailed with pressed flowers and leaves tucked inside.
The setting would have ideally been in my back garden, but forecasted temperatures around 94 degrees distinctly nixed that idea, so we gathered in my Twelve Dancing Princesses themed dining room. The table was set with white plates and Moroccan style glasses, with greenery-adorned napkins clutched by rabbit-shaped napkin holders. I filled the center of the table with as much moss as possible, along with pine cones and mossy rocks. Two antique books were a pedestal for the centerpiece, my favorite fairy statue. And glass vases filled with stones, water, and collected ferns from my garden had floating candles suspended in the tops. The chandelier wasn’t neglected either: I twined faux ivy around the arms, and I also tied soft moss-colored yarn to the light fixture to appear like dripping greenery.
Each place at the table also had a small lantern I decorated with flowers and pine cones, a party favor, and a place card written in the same Stonehenge font, with drawings of each attendee’s favorite animals.
The food was a delight to prepare. The centerpiece was a chocolate bundt cake covered in crushed graham crackers mixed in green food coloring to resemble moss. Atop this verdant bed was a circle of mushrooms made from marshmallows attached to strawberries with a little melting chocolate. Many thanks to my friend Lindsey Woodhaven for creating the original inspiration cake for mine.
There were chocolate and peanut butter acorns in a wooden sculpted acorn bowl, more mushrooms made from mozerella and tomato, sour cherry muffins made with cherries I picked from a neighbor’s tree, and finger sandwiches cut into leaf shapes. The sandwich options were: Nutella and homemade raspberry jam, apple and raw local honey, and the classic cucumber and butter.
For beverages, I made lavender lemonade, using a lavender simple syrup with blooms picked from the plant beside my front door. And I also had strawberry infused water, a cute pink color.
When all the guests were done eating, we gathered again at the table (after much cat-snuggling…the ladies hadn’t yet met my two adorable new raven-furred kitties) to make flower crowns from two vases full of fresh flowers. After everyone had their creations crowning their heads, (I had to take off my greenery crown I had been wearing, adorned with wing pins from Fancy Fairy..a new product of hers) we ventured into the garden to take some photos around the Faerie Hawthorn. I had made little mushrooms from dowel rods and styrofoam half-orbs painted in a mush-like shade, and they surrounded the tree in a fairy ring as an appropriate backdrop.
None of us wanted to leave the enchantment, but alas, all good things must come to an end. But the day is one I will not soon forget, and would be so enchanting to replicate in your own gardens and your own dining rooms! If anyone takes on the challenge, we would love to see the results.
Isn’t that amazing? And of course, if you throw your own tea party, tell us all about it at [email protected]! =)
