Did you know that internationally renowned singer-songwriter Adele was born in Tottenham? Or that South Tottenham is reported to be the most ethnically-diverse area in Europe, with 300 languages being spoken by its residents? These are two of the facts that featured in our Tottenham Quiz that was one of the bespoke games guests played at our ‘Tottenham Tea Party’.

On Saturday 30^th November we took over a former Caribbean food takeaway on Broad Lane, Tottenham.  As part of the Living Archive project by arts organisation Make-Room, we were asked to host a special Tottenham inspired tea party in their temporary pop-up space.

Adorning the space in bunting and floral brightness, we met some really interesting folk who shared their stories, experiences and memories of Tottenham whilst playing our games and supping on tea and eating Tottenham cake. Here are some snaps from the day:

Photo credits: Jenni Grove

Earlier this year we worked on a really interesting community engagement project at Kew Gardens using our tea parties as way to engage new audiences at Kew.  The project ‘Community Dialogues’ aimed to engage and bring together groups of different, diverse cultural backgrounds to creatively explore and exchange dialogues on edible plants at Kew. The origins of a series of edible plants were explored, how they are used in cooking and in particular specific stories shared and captured all of course over a good cuppa tea!

We worked with five community organisations in a series of workshops in the format of a ‘pop up tea salon’ to explore edible plants in both the Temperate House and Palm House. The structure of the project enabled us to meet the group first, running an initial workshop on ‘Edible plants’ and getting participants to think about how they use edible plants in their day to day lives. The next time we met the groups was for a tour of both the Temperate and Palm houses, exploring edible plants that lived at Kew and then onto tea at our bespoke tea parties themed to a series of edible plants including tea, chilli peppers, sugar cane, date palm to name a few.

The project was a lovely opportunity to meet and work with some really interesting groups, enabling them to explore their own relationships to a number of diverse edible plants. We learnt about exotic recipes, heard childhood memories and stories of growing up eating these edible plants, and we saw how relationships had grown with these edible plants, for example Harjit Kaur from the Hounslow Senior Trust reminisced about early childhood memories of drinking chai (tea) over breakfast with her family, how it began her day and how this has continued as a custom for her throughout her life. She also shared her recipe for Masala Chai.

The groups involved came from diverse cultures and backgrounds, and from all walks of life. Participants from the Brazilian Educational & Cultural Centre talked of edible plants native to Brazil and other countries in South America, it was fascinating to hear about these plants and how they were eaten, and one only wished we could have had a taste! The ladies from the Al Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Centre  and the Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre added a new dimension to the tea party that we hosted for them. The tea party, originally a traditional English, became something new after the ladies all from Arabic descent brought along their own traditional food using some of the edible plants we were exploring. It was a lovely addition and very, very yummy! We really enjoyed this cultural mixing of food and language. Lively discussions and lots of story sharing took place at the tea parties, they were a real opportunity to hear an assortment of experiences to the edible plants that we explored during the project.  The project culminated in a short film:

We also created shorter edits of the film for each of the edible plants we explored during the project. You can watch them here.

My love affair with all things vintage, antique and shabby chic has been the inspiration for our vintage styled tea party. An addition to our current line-up of tea parties, I have relished collecting and sourcing paraphernalia over time to make this a truly authentic experience.  Our glamorous tea ladies will even serve your guests in vintage attire. We’ll organise and design traditional bespoke parlour games to accompany tea and provide some merriment. All you need to do is offer the venue, and Sadia’s Tea Party will transform it to another moment in time.

With a touch of decadence and nostalgia, let Sadia’s Tea Party create for you and your guests a fabulous vintage tea party. Transport your guests back to a golden era, immerse yourselves in a delightfully aesthetic and mouth-watering experience befitting any occasion.  We provide an atmosphere of pure glamour and decadence…Take tea in exquisite fine bone china, dine on traditional tea party fayre and be wowed by our classic and sumptuous cakes and cupcakes.

For further information why not drop us a line.

Here are some photos from a vintage-styled tea party at Beltcraft Studios in London.

Photo credits: Connie Taylor Photography

Make Up Artist: Flawless by Faz

Hats by: GG’s Pin-Up Couture

On Monday 21^st October, we hosted an ‘international’ tea party at the Broadway Theatre, stirring up teas and snacks from England, South Asia and the Caribbean to launch the eagerly awaited ‘Creative People & Places’ programme in Barking & Dagenham. We were commissioned to reflect the communities that resided in the London borough; so we had lots of fun coming up with our very bespoke menu, a wonderful concoction that included; an English classic, the Victoria sponge cake, treats from sunnier Caribbean climes; the Jamaican ginger cake and plaintain chips, and a mix of savoury and sweet treats from the Indian subcontinent; a glorious selection of Indian mithai and the classic Bombay mix.

Over the course of the evening over 115 people attended the launch tea party, our biggest to date so far! Folk seemed to have a good time, enjoying tea and authentic treats and finding out more about the new programme. Here is a selection of snaps from the day:

(c) Photo credits: Fiona Whitty

After the event, we had some wonderful feedback from the organisation:

“Sadia devised and produced a really successful international tea party for us to launch our Creative Barking & Dagenham 3 year arts engagement programme. She was a dream to work with: creative, well organised, flexible, with brilliant attention to detail. She dressed the space beautfully and gave us exactly the event we hoped for – great tea, great cakes and great vibes!”

Miriam Nelken, Programme Director, Barking and Dagenham’s Creative People and Places Programme

If you’d like to find out more about how we could plan a bespoke, custom designed event for you then please get in touch.

On Saturday 6^th July 2013, hundreds of people basked in the glorious sunshine as they enjoyed an array of amusing and wacky entertainment at the Fairlop Fair. The annual free event at Fairlop Waters in Barkingside, included circus entertainment, a host of stalls, Georgian-era games and of course tea parties. The Fairlop Fair was originally held annually in the 18^th century, attracting hundreds of thousands of people in its heyday and only just returning in 2011 after a 100-year gap.

The day begun with setting up our special tea tent for the tea parties with traditional colorful bunting being hung and setting up the tables with lovely patterned tablecloths and beautiful vintage tea crockery. Guests were seated and presented with an array of fancy snacks including a delicious traditional Victoria sponge cake served alongside a special tea blend, an Assam-Darjeeling fusion – subtle but satiating.

There were many Fairlop-themed parlour games and activities throughout the duration of the tea parties. The party started out with the now infamous icebreaker coin game which allowed everyone to get more acquainted with one another; followed on by the Fairlop question round with everyone answering questions upon their personal experiences with Fairlop. A game that gave everyone giggles was the Story Making game in which all of the guests had to write a sentence each and at the end a story was created although some turned out to be more wacky than fairytale. Another enjoyable activity was the Fairlop Quiz that had certainly given guests more of an insight into the rich history of Fairlop.

A special feature of the tea parties was the Fairlop Memories – a way for everyone involved including those visiting the fair to write down any particular memory they have of Fairlop, which then would be added to the growing art installation ‘Fairlop Memories’ board. Fairlop Waters was an idyllic location for the tea parties, it was wonderfully calm, but bubbling with ambiance. The guests seemed to really enjoy the parlour style games as it really allowed for everyone to interact with new people. Overall the day was full of fun and joy for all.

Henna Babar

Here are a selection of photos from the day:

© Photo credits: Connie Taylor Photography

Today, were busy preparing and making our special parlour games for Monday’s Tea Party at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with Al Hasaniya Moroccan Womens’ Centre as part of our project; ‘Community Dialogues’.

The project ‘Community Dialogues’ aims to engage and bring together groups of different, diverse cultural backgrounds to creatively explore and exchange dialogues on edible plants at Kew. The origins of a series of edible plants are explored, how they are used in cooking and in particular specific stories shared and captured all of course over a good cuppa tea!

The Al-Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Centre serves the needs of Moroccan and Arabic-speaking women and their families in London. We had the pleasure of meeting the ladies, a lively bunch in March on a tour at Kew Gardens and are looking forward to hosting our bespoke tea party for them next week!

Articles and pictures to follow….