Hummingbird Vintage Hire

Tea With Miss Austen

hummingbird — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 06:31:01 +0000

So, I think it’s quite obvious by now that I’m not a natural born blogger! My past history of posts is a bit woeful…but every now and then something comes up that I really want to share with you all – like the lovely event I co-hosted on the weekend – ‘Tea With Miss Austen’. This Jane-Austen themed high tea was part of Australia’s Biggest Morning tea, which raises money for the Cancer Council.

A few months ago I approached Steph, the lovely owner of Blackcats Books and Cafe at Paddington about holding the high tea in the store’s lovely outdoor area. Steph thankfully shared my view that it made perfect sense to hold a Jane-Austen themed high tea at a book store! And if you’ve never been to Blackcats before I highly recommend it – it’s a literary oasis on Latrobe Terrace and they always have such wonderful events for book-lovers of all ages.

‘Tea With Miss Austen’ was a delightful afternoon of pretty vintage teacups, beautiful food, Jane Austen trivia and lots of laughs – thank you to everyone who supported the event and to those who attended – we raised just over $600.00 for the Cancer Council so well done everyone!

Morning tea party: just because

hummingbird — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 09:16:39 +0000

A couple of family friends were looking at real estate around my suburb yesterday, so of course they needed to be invited over for a little refreshment! (looking at houses is hard work!) and I jump at any chance to get out all my pretty things for a tea party. The hardest part is chosing what to use – there are just so many cake stands, teapots, sugar bowls and tea cups in the HVH collection that it can be difficult to set a table for just 5 people! I decided to use some of the new items in the collection – pastel blue and turquoise teapots and their matching teacups. It’s so hard to find truly beautiful teapots so I was really pleased to come across these ones recently, I think they would look so lovely at a high tea party that had a blue-coloured theme, like a baby shower.

I hope everyone enjoyed the festive season and are easing back into some kind of normal routine without too much difficulty!

Katy x x

Joyeux Noel : Feliz Navidad : Happy Christmas!

hummingbird — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:51:16 +0000

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas with their family and friends sharing lots of delicious food and bubbles! And, hopefully, the rain didn’t upset your plans – I was looking forward to spending a couple of days camping on the beach…stretched out on my beach towel on the sand, reading and relaxing – but of course the weather gods had other ideas! Oh well, maybe next year?!

I was a little unmotivated with Christmas decorations this December – I didn’t even put up my Christmas tree…I wanted to do something different, so I put together this little Christmas garland with crafty bits and pieces that I had in my craft box, old family photographs and cards from last year. It felt much more special and personal than a tree!

(Please excuse my woeful photography skills!)

I love making my own Christmas decorations, and there are just so many kinds to chose from! Last year I made these paper stars, which are super easy and so pretty.

They look best when made with paper that has a pattern on both sides, like Cristina Re paper. There is a great tutorial on these stars on Cristina Re’s blog. I kind of don’t want Christmas to be over now because I want to keep on making decorations…I’ll have to get started for next year!

Katy x x

Pretty vintage cake stands

hummingbird — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 11:46:52 +0000

I recently came across these cake stands made from vintage materials by High Tea for Alice and I almost died (not in the literal sense, of course, but in the way you do when you see something this beautiful and all you can think is oh…my…goodness!)

These are the kind of things you want to hire from Hummingbird Vintage Hire, right?! (I’m trying to justify me buying one…or two or three. I’m sure I won’t take much convincing!). They would look absolutely divine as a centrepiece for a high tea party.

You can find them for sale on etsy…or you may be able to find them for hire here very, very soon! (I’ll keep you updated!)

Katy x x

A history of high tea

hummingbird — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 11:30:30 +0000

High teas have become so popular these days, they are a perfect way to elegantly celebrate a special occasion. But have you ever wondered how the tradition of taking high tea began? It all started in the Victorian era, when lunch was a rather scarce affair and dinner was served quite late in the evening. The result was many a grumbling tummy for the upper-class Britons of the 19th century. To remedy this terrible situation, the Duchess of Bedford, who was for a time a lady-in-waiting for Queen Victoria, created ‘afternoon tea’ or high tea as we know it today. This light meal filled the gap between lunch and dinner and usually consisted of darjeeling tea and cake or sandwiches. The Duchess soon began inviting her friends to join her for afternoon tea and it was, of course, an instant hit.

Et voila – high tea was born!

Today, a high tea is a chic way to celebrate a bridal shower, birthday party, baby shower or just about any occasion which needs a touch of elegance and style. Using delicate vintage china and accessories makes it all the more special, and Hummingbird Vintage Hire has available a huge range of items to make your next celebration truly beautiful.

Katy x x

(images via tea in the afternoon and eclectic bliss)

Welcome!

hummingbird — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 03:00:06 +0000

Hello and welcome to the blog of Hummingbird Vintage Hire! This first post is a wee bit scary but exciting as well…I hope you all stay and have a little looksie around my website – I have lots of lovely vintage and vintage-inspired pieces for hire for your next celebration and can deliver to anywhere in the Brisbane, Sunshine Coast & Gold Coast area.

I’ve always loved antiques and have been collecting for many years (thanks to Mum & Dad, whose idea of a fun weekend was to spend hours in antique shops and at antique auctions!) – my collection was almost getting out of control until a little though popped into my head one day (well, it was aided by an article in County Life magazine about A Most Curious Party) that I could share my collection with other vintage-lovers and help bring something elegant and pretty to their celebrations. So here we are! I have many exciting things in store for 2011, so stay tuned!

Katy x x