Girl's Camp 2018 - The Bead Table

During free time, the girls can pay me a visit and collect the beads they have earned so far.  I like to make the bead table a fun place to visit.  With this year's Alice in Wonderland theme, and since we as adults were the Mad Hatters, I chose a tea party themed table.

A Mad Hatter Tea Party

Recently, our Relief Society (our church's women's organization) celebrated it's 174th birthday.  We decided to celebrate the occasion with a Mad Hatter tea party theme, although no actual tea was served!  As with most activities that I decorate for, it requires scouring the thrift shops.  I can now say that I have a pretty good collection of tea pots, tea cups, and saucers!  I also added to my collection of clocks, linens, doilies, and dishes!  Everyone was encouraged to wear a fun or fanciful hat.  After enjoying a light dinner, we watched a video on the history of the Relief Society, then enjoyed the "Parade of Hats,"  where we enjoyed listening to several women share personal stories of some of the many hats they wear in their daily life.  It was a wonderful event!

The food table was filled with chicken salad sliders, salad and toppings, fruit, and desserts.

The center of the food table was decorated with a variety of items.

We covered the rolling chalkboards with quilts to make a backdrop for the speakers.  The table to the left displayed the hats that were discussed by each of the women.

I reused a chalkboard from my daughter's country wedding and added a quote from Alice in Wonderland.  I firmly believe that, as women, and with the help of the Lord, we can do impossible things!

We covered each table with several layers of mismatched linens, fabrics, doilies, and/or quilts. 

Each table centerpiece was an eclectic grouping of found items.  I really love the teapot clock that I found at a thrift store!

Several months ago I came across quite a stack of Reader's Digest books with decorative covers.  The books came in handy for the centerpieces, providing not only color and design, but height for some of the items.  

We purposely mismatched the dishes since it was a Mad Hatter tea party!

I also found seven pots of mounded roses at a thrift shop for $2 a piece.  They were a great addition!

I made some mushrooms from cups, bowls, paper napkins, and mod podge...which I will address in a future post.

I printed some Queen of Hearts cards and we tucked them into the flower pots.

A table of hats was placed at the entrance for those who forgot to wear one.

We strung some white lights and paper buntings (left over from this wedding) to help make the cultural hall more festive.

It was a fun event!  The highlight was listening to the different women speak about the various hats they wear...so much service being performed by these lovely ladies!

I like to link to these great parties!

Black and White

Over the past several months, maybe the past year, I have been enamored with black and white dishes. Every time I go to a thrift store I look for something to add to my collection.  I collect dinner plates, dessert plates, bowls, serving dishes, etc.  I think I have enough for about 14 place settings now.  I love the eclectic look of mixing and matching the different combinations. A couple of weeks ago, I found some double knit fabric for only $2, and some plain black fabric for another $2.  It was enough to make placemats to go with all my place settings...not bad for only $4!  I used some of my dishes to decorate a table at our church's garden party the other night.  I just happened to have a black and white checkered teapot (purchased secondhand, of course!) that I was able to use for a centerpiece.  Just in case you were wondering why silverware is missing from the place settings, they only served finger foods and, therefore, wasn't needed.