Tradition

Last week it was my birthday. I am now a whooping 27 years old. I had celebrated my 26th by going to see The Burlesque Hour with a group of friends, mostly people from uni. This year I wanted to do something different. This year I wanted to start a tradition.

I've been in Melbourne for a year and a half now and I am quite settled here. I know the city fairly well, but am still exploring and learning new things about it. I have a developed a good, solid group of friends, even if they are still mostly friends from uni. I am starting to meet new people and expand my social circle. So this year felt like the perfect time to start a new tradition that I look forward to developing for many years to come.

This year, I celebrated by throwing a Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

I have been collecting assorted tea saucers for some time now, and made the trip out to Daylesford in July to complete my discordent set of 13. I borrowed tea cups from Kirsty, and over the coming year I will be searching out bizarre ones to purchase for parties years to come. I picked up 2 tea pots from the Vic Market, so if you ever come over to my place you can have a proper cuppa.

I filled the house with fresh and fake flowers, including these lovely daffodils that bloomed beautifully in their Womaton vase (another great Daylseford find). And I baked and baked and baked. Banana and chocolate muffins, rasberry and pear honey cake, seaseme tofu cubes with a dipping sauce, and leek and zuchini fritters.

I purchased all sorts of fruits (strawberries, pinapple, dried apricots, pear, passion fruit, mangsteen, grapes) and cheese and crackers and wasabi peas and M&Ms and Hello Pandas and even fortune cookies (though I put those in an obscure location and no one noticed them).

We had an Andy Warhol colouring book, along with a few obscure zines I had purchased a few years back in San Francisco that turned out to be a pretty good laugh.

There was 9 of us in total, which was a good number. My house is pretty small, and any more of us would have made it difficult for anyone to move around. It was a lovely mix of people and conversation flowed easily. Lots of food was ate; wine, champaign and tea were drank. Sugar rushes ended in sugar crashes and everyone went home feeling whimsically fulfilled.

What a great way to start a new year!