Making Invitations: Tea Party, Bridal Shower…

The tea party I’m hosting for a good friend is coming along. I found this sample on Joy Ang’s website, which gave me the idea for the DIY invitation below.

Tea Party Bridal Shower InvitationWild Rose Petals- Dry 'em for TeaNow, this IS for a bride named “Rose”, and I DO have a lot of essential oils on hand, so I took Joy’s idea a step further in the tea department. I had a nice bulk tea on hand, and had access to some beautiful wild rose petals that had just finished blooming. So I took a handful of the rose petals, laid them on a paper towel, and microwaved them on low power (“1”, or lowest setting) for five minutes at a time. It took several rounds in the microwave (replacing paper towel when damp), plus sitting out overnight, for the petals to completely dry. You could also use a food dehydrater for this, or low-heat oven.

Oh, note to self: I tried some larger rose petals from our yard, but they didn’t dry well at all. They seemed thicker and maybe too “fresh”. Maybe wild roses are the best for drying. I suppose heartier petals would make a fine “tisane”. (“Tisane” is, basically, tea without the “tea” in it- that tea species known as “Camellia sinensis”.)

Once dried, I added the rose petals to a glass jar along with a few drops of essential rose otto oil (from my favorite place: Nature’s Gift), plus some of my favorite bulk black tea. After several days/weeks, the tea and petals get infused with the beautiful rose oil fragrance. How perfect for the invitations! I brewed some for us too- super tasty!

I was excited about making my own rose-infused tea. I had found something at the health food store called “Romance Tea” (or the like). It had rose petals in it. It cost a small fortune. I got one box for a special, romantic treat for my husband and I, but… making my own is much more economical!

Now, back to those invitations: If you want to make something like this for an upcoming tea party, bridal shower, or other exciting occasion, I have a few tips.

Grateful-Table-Invitation Tips#1. I used standard-sized vellum paper from Michaels’ (8.5 by 11 inches)

#2. I can’t quite afford Adobe Photoshop, but was able to create the invitations using Broderbund’s PrintShop, a cheaper alternative!

#3. I turned the print upside-down so I’d be able to fold it right.

#4. My fave fonts were “Fountain Pen”, “Batang”, and “Browalia New”. (“Black Adder” is another fancy one that could work.) I don’t have a typography degree, but I appreciate that things like this use carefully-selected fonts for total effect. I tried to duplicate what Joy had on her website 🙂

5. A fine-guage embroidery ribbon at Michaels, for $2 or so for a small amount, worked well for the tea bag string.

6. I used scrapbook paper (with small, simple design on ’em) in the colors of Rose’s wedding, for the tags attached to string on the tea bags. Joy Ang printed brewing instructions on her tags (“cut corner of the invitation and dump contents into a tea ball), but I’m not sure my lady-friends will care that much about brewing the contents of their invitations. And I don’t think they would dip the whole invitation into a tea pot. At least, I hope not!

The ladies were quite excited to receive their invitations, and I had so much fun making them.

One Response to “Making Invitations: Tea Party, Bridal Shower…”

  1. Reply Veronica Oliver

    Hi there! What size font did you use to ensure the print outs came to the size of an invitation?

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