Rememberance Day Tea Party

We've been go go go in the Lavinia's Tea Party country, with china hires for chistenings, birthdays, hen do's and weddings, not to mention 200 people coming along to the Wiltshire Tea Party, we've been very busy! Here some photos of guests at the last tea party featured in Cirencester Life magazine.

So 13th November 2011 is the Sunday following Remembrance day, we're holding a tea party at Somewhere Else in Cirencester. This will be the last one for this year, and to make it extra special we'll be having two sittings, to avoid over crowding! 2-5pm and 5-8:30pm.

Each sitting will include vintage caberet, yes there will be some burlesque in each session, a fantastic array of vintage stalls, tea and cake served on vintage china, a Dj spinning original 1950's- 1960's records plus:


The wonderful Merry Milliner's will be running their 'Tipper hat' workshop, with proceeds going to the British Legion Poppy Appeal. There will be lots of Vinyl records with the money also going to the charity.

We have the fantastic 'Lucky' Uncle George, who will be compering a fashion show, so ladies be ready to look the part - there will be a pamper parlour there so don't panic!

Save some extra change for a raffle of exciting vintage goodies, with all the money going to the Poppy Appeal.


Tickets available online www.laviniasteaparty.com or at Somewhere Else, Castle Street, Cirencester.

Looking forward to seeing everyone dressed in vintage goodness, for some Guy tips or Ladies tips and how to make a gas mask box to match your outfit see Gracie's Tips, and some gorgeous 1940's and 1950's dresses see Vivien of Holloway, we'll be in beautiful satin circle dresses.

Tea Party Time!

A fantastic day was had by all at the Cotswold Vintage Fair, with 1300 people through the doors, we were manic in the LTP kitchen serving up teas and cakes right up until 4pm!

Here are a few more events coming up, grab your friends and get ready for some more vintage goodness- (we just want more excuses to wear Vivien of Holloway dresses)! 

Lavinia's Tea Party Team at the ready with tea and cake at the Cotswold Vintage Fair!

Textile Tea Party Fri 9th - Sat 10th September 2011 10am-6pm

Open house, vintage linen and fabric sale at Beyond France, Stratton, Cirencester, GL7 2JL

• Hungarian and Swedish Rag Rugs
• Patchwork fabrics
• Linens for upholstery and soft furnishing
• Latest collection from Stephanie Cole Designs

For more info and RSVP Beyond France in aid of Women for Women. Free entry. Tel: 01285 641867

Vintage Tea Party @ Somewhere Else Sun 18th September 2011 5pm-8:30pm

In a slight change to the programme,  we will have a sneak preview of the 1960's musical Beehives and Winklepickers Reunited (full show at the Bingham Hall 29th Sept -1st October More info); as well as a mini stroll swing dance class from Swingbytes and a DJ spinning original 1950's LP's.

Plus:

• 2 for 1 cocktails between 5-7pm. 
•  A vintage pamper parlour with £5 beauty treatments to have you looking like Dita Von Teese!
• A select number of vintage stalls selling vintage clothing, jewellery, hats, accessories, bunting, glassware, retro furniture, original advertising and packaging items and more!

For tickets and more info goto Lavinia's Tea Party

Wiltshire Vintage Tea Party, Malmesbury Town Hall, Sun 9th October 1pm-6pm

We are excited to announce North Wiltshire's first Vintage Tea Party the afternoon will include:

• Vintage stalls selling vintage clothing, accessories, stunning hats, homeware, and handmade goodies.
• Vintage pamper parlour - hair, nails and makeovers (£5 per treatment)
• 'Tipper Hat' Fascinator workshops with the Merry Milliners (£5)
• A fun photo booth with vintage props
• 1940's and 50's music and cabaret throughout the day. 
• Delicious homemade cake and unlimited tea on Lavinia's delightful vintage china (included in ticket price)

Tickets £6 buy from Malmesbury Information Centre or Wiltshire Tea Party

 

 

Having a Vintage wedding or party?

Are you planning a vintage inspired wedding or garden party? Have you started collecting old china and then realised how expensive it's going to be buying it all?

Lavinia's Tea Party offer china hire for any event in and around the Cotswolds, you can loan as much or as little as you need. If you only need 10 tea cups and a sugar bowl for a baby shower, that no problem at all. I even will wash the crockery, so you don't have to and at no extra cost.

I can provide tea pots, milk jugs, sugar bowl, tiered cake stands, jelly moulds, tea plates, dinner plates, type writers, tea trolleys, all vintage, all gorgeous and all old! If I don't already have it I can usually find it!

So with the wedding season nearly over, I am taking bookings for 2012, I can deliver around Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, so it gives you more time to decorate for your vintage party. 

Thinking of holding a drinks party? Recently I lent 150 tea cups for a Breakthrough Breast Cancer garden party with a twist, held at Laurence and Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen's house in the Cotswolds. Guests were served Gin and Tonics in the traditional tea cups and it went down a storm, such a simple idea, created many memories and fabulous photos.

Stephanie Cole (Stephanie Cole Design), Laurence LLewelyn-Bowen and Lavinia (Lavinia's Tea Party)

A fantastic evening was had by all exploring the beautiful gardens, which Jackie has been working on, and the party raised over £3,000!

To see more photos from the evening, 'like' Lavinia's Tea Party on Facebook. See my affordable vintage crockery hire prices here.

Vintage goodness coming up in the Cotswolds...

We've finally calmed down after the excitement of July's Pamper Tea Party at Somewhere Else, we can confirm 18th September 2011 will be the special afternoon you can look forward to. For more information see Tickets.

Some of the fantastic helpers, the bombshells on either end wear Vivien of Holloway dresses, our wonderful sponsors at July's Tea Party, for more photos see the Facebook page Lavinia's Tea Party

If you can't wait till then, on Saturday 13th August 2011 there will be a Vintage Jumble Sale at the Rangeworthy Village Hall, Wotton Rd, Rangeworthy, BS37 7LZ 10.30am - 2.00pm

Lavinia's Tea Party will be there, and the rule of the sale is all items under £10- so come and  grab a bargain.

The next event to watch out for its The Cotswold Vintage Fair, Saturday 27th August 2011 there will be 30 stalls selling all things vintage, plus Lavinia's Tea Party will be serving tea and delicious cakes all day. There will be seating outside with gorgeous views of the Cotswold countryside, for when guests need a rest from shopping! This fantastic fair has been mentioned in several magazines already and is set to be a great day out, not to mention the village is home to a working steam train station, which I have been dying to go on for over a year now! 

 Toddington Village Hall, Stow Road, Toddington, Glos GL54 5DU

   10.00am ~ 4.00pm

Tomorrow I'm off to the big smoke for the one and only Vintage at Southbank, can't wait for Shake, Rattle and Bowl.....The Chap Olympiad and much much more....

Vintage Pamper Tea Party....Roaring Success!!

Thank you to everyone who attended Cirencester's first Vintage Tea Party, it was a huge success with over 100 people coming along! We donated £280 to the Air Raid Shelter

There was a great atmosphere, with guests being transformed into 1940's starlets, swinging hits from the blitz and an array of vintage goodies on the stalls, plus the original World War Two artifacts decorating the bar... Union Jacks galore!

Kitty Ribbons' two 1940's themed burlesque performances were fantastic, got everyone giggling, aided by the 2-4-1 cocktails!!

If you couldn't make it, have a look at the video from the event. We are currently perfecting the finer details to Septembers event, which will be Sunday 18th September, which will include a swing dance lesson, it will be a solo dance, so no need to worry about not having a partner!

More details coming soon, in the mean time feast your eyes and ears on this:

What a week in Cirencester..

So I'm having a very busy week in the land of pretty vintage china! With sorting and washing a wedding china hire of 80, and dropping another off tomorrow... theres no rest for the wicked with this weekend coming up!

This weekend 2nd and 3rd July, I'll be at the Cotswold Show in the beautiful Cirencester Park, a fantastic traditional British day out for the whole family. Come and see me in the Rural Crafts tent, there will be some gorgeous newly created vintage china cake stands and tomorrow I'll be sanding and creating more china brooches, so come and say hello!

And then Monday the 4th July, I am supplying 150 vintage china tea cups to the Glamorous Garden Party with a Twist for Cotswold Breakthrough Breast Cancer. The garden party will be set in the beautiful gardens of the charities Patrons, Laurence and Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen's house, where guests will enjoys G&T's from my pretty cups! Tickets have now sold out so watch this space for photographs from the event!

We've been in the papers and magazines this week, check out the article in Gloucestershire Echo  ' Charity 1940's tea party aims to tease' also an article in Cotswold Life magazine. Excellent publicity for The Vintage Pamper and Tea Party happening on the 10th July at Somewhere Else for more info and tickets: Lavinia's Tea Party with proceeds from the event going to the wonderful Air Raid Shelter and 1940's museum in Cirencester which is open free to the public every Saturday 10am - 4pm.

Vintage Pamper and Tea Party

Lavinia's Tea Party is proud to host a Vintage Pamper and Tea Party, 10th July 2011, at the bar Somewhere Else, 65 Castle Street, Cirencester, GL7 1QD

I am very excited to finally share the details of the event, it'll start at 5pm and finish around 8:30pm on the 10th July 2011. On arrival guests will be greeted by me and collect a hot cupa tea and yummy cake, all served on gorgeous vintage china (of course)!

Then you can explore the vintage stalls selling, clothes, accessories, jewellery and homeware. Whilst listening to wonderful music from the 1940's - 1960's with a touch of Electro Swing thrown in (for my sister), guests can then be pampered into a vintage vision, we'll have the lovely Lady She from Cirencester's Vintage shop She Unique, styling hair. B of Limelight Image Consultancy making over faces into starlets of times gone by. And then some lovely ladies doing vintage inspired manicures, and the favourite half moon styled 1940's look.

And if all that isn't enough the marvelous Burlesque artist Kitty Ribbons will perform twice throughout the afternoon some acts with a 1940's twist.

Its going to be such a fantastic afternoon, we plan on having this every couple of months building on the vintage theme each time. The best bit is tickets are only £6 including tea and cake, with proceeds going to Cirencester Air Raid Shelter, which is worth its own blog entry. I had the fantastic chance to photograph Kitty at the Air Raid/ Living History Museum and I could have stayed all night- such fascinating items on display there.

For more ticket info goto Lavinia's Tea Party - Tickets

Photographs: Lavinia Drake, Model: Kitty Ribbons.

One mans rubbish is another mans treasure...

Wow a busy month and lots of exciting things coming up! May i only hint at a fancy garden party, a studio/tea room, vintage pamper evening and an air raid shelter!!

So the more china I collect, means breakages happen, and theres no point crying over spilt milk, and I must admit I am a hoarder....so I have a lot of broken china pieces which I cannot bear to throw away. I've been racking my brain to figure away to give these broken pieces a new lease of life, and then it came to me... I can sand of the sharp and dangerous edges to make beautiful earrings and brooches. So even if theres no tea or cake around, one can still be wearing some gorgeous up-cycled vintage china!

Here are a few of the pretty pieces I've added on to my Etsy shop. As each pieces is individual, you will never bump into someone with the same earrings on as you, (unlike high street brands). These have been sanded with love and I have cuts on my hands from the initial process of removing sharp edges, so they are safe to wear!

To buy a unique china brooch or earrings visit my Etsy shop Lavinia's Tea Party.

The Royal Wedding...only 18 days to go, plan your celebrations now!!

So whilst Kate and Wills are making their last wedding preparations, manicures, spray tans and clothes fittings! With only 18 days to go, those of us with no plans for 'the big day' should start making some. With the last big Royal wedding being Charles and Diana's on the 29th of July 1981, whether you like the royals or not this bank holiday is a wonderful opportunity to have some community spirit, and celebrate a long weekend in true British style!

Here are a few ideas to get your imagination rolling.

Street Party

The dates have already passed to organise a street party due to the council requirements for road closures etc, but you could invite a few friends and neighbours around for a garden party. Ask everyone to bring a cake or something to put on a BBQ and lots of drinks. Key item: quick, simple, effective and patriotic.... bunting.

Red, white and blue fabric bunting, instantly gives your event that party atmosphere, you don't need to spend hours blowing up balloons. The best bit is you can hire it from my website www.laviniasteaparty.com  with 100 meters available of this it'll zigzag across you're garden or village hall. Its been hand cut and machine sewn together, recycling fabric so its good for the environment too, unlike that nasty plastic stuff!

You don't need to spend hours icing union jacks into cup cakes, just buy a pack of 50 Union Jack cake topper flags to stick into all of the goodies at your party and instantly it'll look very British! These are available in wonderful packs tied with ribbon and labelled with old WWII posters. Send one to a friend to commemorate the day! Buy them from my Etsy shop Lavinia's Tea Party, Union Jack Cup Cake Toppers.

Joust Tournament at Blenheim Palace

To celebrate the Royal Wedding, on the 29th April 2011 Blenheim Palace (birthplace of Winston Churchill) are hosting a Joust tournament. Great day out if you have kids, as they can be entertained by knights on horses jousting away in the ground of the palace. Its all included in admission to the Palace and gardens. Key item: Picnic, a traditional British past time, regardless of the weather, fill a wicker basket with pink lemonade, cucumber sandwiches, and Cadbury's chocolate fingers, and maybe a few bottles of Pimms and an umbrella. Don't for a comfy picnic blanket. 

Whilst attending the palace it'd be rude not to dress up, ladies get on your finest summer tea dresses and men shirts and chino's. Ladies add some sophistication to your outfit wear a fascinator or some flowers in your hair, and if you really want to commemorate the day, get one of these beautiful Union Jack fascinator by Crown & Glory and at bargain price just £10. It'll look fantastic in photographs and be a day to remember.

Tea Party and Royal Knitting

If the sky fills with thunderous rain clouds and you don't fancy freezing your red, white and blue painted face off. Invite a few friends round, set up a lovely afternoon tea party inside. This London themed vintage china cakestand would make a wonderful table centre piece.

Get the tea brewing, or maybe fills some tea pots with Pimms, and then all pick a different figure from the Knit your own Royal Wedding, knitting book and GET KNITTING! Maybe if everyone picks a different limb or item of clothing, by the time the wedding will be shown on television in the afternoon you may have your own Kate and Wills ready to be wed!

I hope this gives you a few ideas to enjoy the bonus bank holiday, with only 18 days to go get buying now, don't leave it to the last minute with everyone else. Lets enjoy it as it may be another 20 odd years till the next Royal Wedding!

Birthday Goodies

I celebrated my birthday with a few close friends for a lovely afternoon into late evening tea!

I spent the morning preparing for my guests, doing some baking and answering the door to lots of surprises. First knock at the door was the postman delivering an awesome pair of trainers, which I'd only mentioned to my boyfriend the day before, then another van arrives with not one but two gorgeous bouquets of pink roses and lillies also from my boyfriend, he clearly out did himself this year, as he's serving abroad with limited phone/internet I wasn't expecting anything! 

Then the regular postman bought some parcels and lots of cards, including a hot water bottle, top and scarf!  All of this was rather overwhelming as I'd said no presents but was even better because of this, and the last man to come to the door was delivering my croquette set I'd ordered, so that was rather exciting aswell!! Can't wait for the weather to clear up and get a game in. I can now offer this to all bespoke tea party customers too.

Here are a few photos I took of the flowers and some of my presents, including a new addition to my china collection, being this gorgeous pink and grey Solano Wear designed by John Wadsworth for Minton.

 This is a stack of books with beautiful polkadot covers my mum bought for me at a fair in Hungary, she knew I'd love them for props and I've already made us of them!

Its not what you know its who you know, my very talented friend Stephanie Cole is a fabric pattern designer, and she treated me to one of her latest designs. Its a fabric bag with a lovely Cirencester (the nearest town to where we live) map design in one of my favourite colours, which matched this tea cup! You can see more of her wonderful work here: www.stephaniecole.co.uk

Lovely necklace for rainy days which also matched a tea pot of mine!

This Battenberg Britain book is amazing, its entertaining and educational, so I pulled out of the cupboard my Camp coffee and Birds Custard and read all about their origins etc.

Flowers and china, with wedding statue!

The rain held off whilst I through this little still life together in the garden.

All in all a wonderful birthday.

Something old, something new....

Something borrowed, something blue..... I've just added this pretty baby blue 3 tier vintage cake stand to my Etsy shop. It would make such a lovely wedding or christening gift.

With the spring flowers blossoming and the wedding season fast aproaching, I am now taking bookings for china hire. I can hire out up to 150 covers for those wanting a vintage inspired wedding and treating guests to a afternoon tea party. Each guest can sip tea from an pretty tea cup and saucer, use sugar tongs to sweeten their tea and eat a delicious treat off of a delicate tea plate. Pour a tea of their fancy from different vintage tea pots, this really makes the wedding day special and a great talking point. For more details of hire see my website, Lavinia's Tea Party.

Next week I'm off to the big smoke (London) to catch up with my newly engaged friend and I can't wait to hear all her wedding plans and ideas. I've already been booked for her vintage themed wedding in 2012 and I can't wait, just need a new vintage hat and I've already got my eye on one!!

Sunshine, Etsy and Spring Weddings...

So its a gorgeous sunny spring day, I was woken by the birds singing and a lovely long- distance phone call from my boyfriend.  I created an Etsy shop last week and to my suprise one of my two tier cake stands has been featured in a treasury of Vintage Wedding ideas. Its made my day, and spurred me on to get more of my lovely vintage china cake stands on to my website www.laviniasteaparty.com and the Etsy shop LaviniasTeaParty

Here is the treasury: A Very Vintage Wedding

And the pretty cream and pink flowery two tier cake stand, currently Maid of Honor! I have created it using old hand sourced china, I wash and give the china a new lease of life as a gorgeous cake stand.

Spring and Ice-Cream

So the first entry is always an odd one, will anyone really read it? How far will I get with updating this blog? To prove to myself I will keep this up, I have set a weekly reminder on my phone to do it!

As I'm not the best with words, there will probably be more photos, but I will attempt to tell the story behind it.

So after a mile and half walk home from Cirencester town centre today, as I was approaching my house at the top of the hill, the Ice-cream van, which I haven't seen for a very long time, stops right outside my house. Although the weather is still brisk, the sun was shining, so I treated myself to a classic 99 cone with a choc flake and raspberry sauce (which no longer costs 99p but £1.20). Spring is on its way. So heres my delicious ice-cream, full of promise for the coming summer to be a very successful and enjoyable one for me.

The statue in the background is a Hungarian Wedding statue, which sits on the rusting french garden table, risking all elements, mainly theft and bird poo!