Because Who Doesn't Love Tea Parties?

So last week, I told you I was in South Dakota because my mom was throwing me a bridal shower. I finally have pictures, so you're all in for a photographic treat today. :P Let me just start by saying that the invitations for this party were teapots, and asked guests to wear an outrageous hat if they had one. When I got to my parents' house, one of my best friends (I have two, and this particular one lives in Minneapolis) arrived to spend the weekend with us, along with her boyfriend.

The day of the bridal shower, one of my South Dakota friends arrived early for a hat-making pre-party. None of us had hats, so she picked some up for us and we spent the morning decking them out with flowers (that I made) and feathers and ribbons. It was totally awesome, and yielded some pretty amazing hats!

 This is my hat...isn't it beautiful?! The green flower has a banana button on it. :D

 This is M's hat. She went for a blue/brown combo that was totally awesome. :)

 This is C's hat, which she purchased but is fabulous anyway.

 My buds, rocking our hats!

The hat-making part wasn't just fun because my friends were there. It was the combination of friends and a mixed bag of unusual buttons. I mentioned before that we used the fabric flowers I made to decorate them. In order to do that, we needed buttons for the middle. Mom found this bag of buttons at Hobby Lobby, and didn't really know what she was getting when she bought it. But look!

I don't know how well you can see them, but we found an exceptional mix of buttons. We even made up a story to go with all the buttons on this hat. You see, there's this baby in a pink blanket, who's going on a fishing trip. So she has a fishing pole, and a suitcase with a cupcake and a change of clothes, and her canoe. But there are these other babies standing in her way. The green baby is nice, and spends most of her time with her watering can and trees. She has a green crayon for taking notes on all her plants. But the red baby twins are trying to stop the pink baby from fishing. They have all kinds of sinister things, like red crayons and ladybugs, to prevent her from making it to her trip. But the police are after them, so don't worry! Yes, we did make all this up as we dug through the buttons. And yes, we realize we need hobbies. :P

Anyway, while we were making hats, my brother and M's boyfriend decided they needed hats too. They attended the bridal shower, since my brother is my man of honor (I don't have sisters and didn't want to choose between my friends) and M's boyfriend had nowhere else to go. They left to go find hats for themselves, and this is what they came back with.



 They had glow-in-the-dark swords, giant glasses, and princess hats. I renamed them Princess Buttercup (my brother, on the left) and Princess Petunia (M's boyfriend, on the right). :P

Once everyone had arrived, we started off with some games. We had a name game, in which each person in the circle had to say their name and how they knew me, as well as the info of each person before them. It got pretty lengthy, and hilarious! We also played a trivia game, with questions about me and my fiance. This is me in the seat of honor, watching everyone scramble for answers during the trivia game. ;)

We also played a game where everyone had to trace their hand on the floor without bending their knees. My job was to listen to what they were saying and write it down. What we didn't tell them was that everything they said was going on a list of things I should say on my wedding night. We got gems like "I'm a lot more flexible than I used to be, but not by much" and "I think I need to spread my legs wider." Naughty, but so so fun. :)

The last game we played involved naming my first child using only letters from my name and my fiance's name. It yielded some pretty hilarious and inventive names!

After all the games, we had little sandwiches, mini cupcakes, and tea for lunch before opening presents. It was such a wonderful party, and I had a lot of fun spending a few hours with friends I rarely get to see. It was the first of three bridal showers (oh, the joy of living in a different state from family and friends), so I'm excited to see how the other two turn out!

When's the last time you got together with friends and family? What was the best part?

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

J