
I had every intention of creating a lovely and casual outdoor garden party for the fourth of July. However, Mother Nature had other plans. We had lots of rain and soggy weather here in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, so I had to move the party inside.
Once inside, with the rain coming down in torrents outside, I decided on a tea party instead of a garden party. The rainy weather was giving me afternoon tea vibes. I shopped my home for any red, white, and blue décor I could gather.

I challenged myself to use only pre-loved elements – which was not really that much of a challenge since most of what I own has been pre-loved.
I covered the table with a beautiful white tablecloth that had belonged to my wife’s grandmother. Its delicate cutwork imparts an element of elegance and refinement. Next I layered Blue Willow plates with pinkish red flowered plates.

Even though both plates had patterns, the intensity of the colors and the scale of the patterns were similar so they played off of each other beautifully. Both sets of plates were thrifted. I added Red Willow cups and saucers, also thrifted, and two teapots – one blue and white and one plain white.
The blue and white teapot was a gift from a lovely subscriber to our Youtube Channel and the white teapot was – you guessed it – thrifted!

A red, white, and blue tea table needs a red, white and blue dessert. At least, that’s what I thought it needed! I decided to try my hand at a dessert that I have long wanted to make – a pavlova.
A pavlova is basically a meringue shell filled with whipped cream and berries. Since blueberries and raspberries were in season I decided that I would use them to fill the pavlova.
The pavlova was relatively easy – the recipe I used is linked at the end of this blog post. I made the meringue shell by whipping together room temperature egg whites, sugar, cornstarch, cream of tartar and vanilla. Once the egg whites were glossy and formed stiff peaks, I formed them into a sort of shell on a parchment covered baking sheet. The shell is baked at a low temperature for a ninety minutes and then allowed to cool completely in the oven.
I filled the meringue shell with homemade whipped cream and fresh raspberries and blueberries. The presentation was beautiful and according to the four teenagers at the house, it was delicious!

Mother Nature did not dampen our patriotic spirit and we celebrated Independence Day with a red, white and blue tea party!
Red, White and Blue Tea Party Video
Comments