Our studio and storefront is officially one year old! This past weekend was full of love, laughs, and treats as we connected with our friends to celebrate. If you couldn’t make it or would like to reminisce, I’ll tell you all about it now!
The past few weeks were full of preparation and anticipation for our anniversary weekend and private tea party. All things were considered to provide the best experience for myself and everyone else. What kind of decorations should I get? How should I arrange the studio? What should be on the dinner and dessert menu? What should I wear? And as we answered questions, new questions arose. Ultimately everything came together nicely and we were able to show off Modest Transitions in the best way possible.
The festivities started Friday and I was able to relax because we prepared so well. The studio was pristine with fresh flowers and balloons, fully stocked shelves, and the scent of a new eucalyptus candle flowing through the space. We were visited by friends who gave us compliments, purchased goodies, and left with complimentary pound cake slices by Lizzie’s Love Cakes. And those friends who purchased over $50 worth of products received a free MT tote bag!
Next to our cake slices, we had a display of our MT tote bag full of dyeing goodies to remind friends to enter our raffle in collaboration with Unorthodox Therapy Inc., which is a women-owned nonprofit organization that provides accessible and affordable alternative forms of therapy. Holistic therapy is important to me as it started my healing journey and the concept of Modest Transitions. I aimed to raise money to assist other women who are going through mental health challenges to get them back on track. Over the weekend we received donations that were added to the bag, which reached a value of over $450! We randomly picked our winner live on Instagram with much excitement knowing that the winner received an amazing prize and the proceeds were going to an upstanding cause.
Later on Friday, our besties came through to celebrate at our private tea party! Each of our guests was greeted and given a flower for a game called “giving flowers”. Once you had a flower, you were not allowed to say the word “natural” all night. If you did, another guest could take your flower.
The person with the most flowers by the end of the party wins the bouquet! I was so touched when I realized that no one said “natural” because everyone was eager to keep their flower.
Later, we were served a fresh and healthy dinner; there was a choice of chicken salad sandwiches on multigrain bread, tossed salad with vinaigrette, and pesto pasta salad. After the demonstration and cleanup, we opened the guilty pleasure dessert bar. Can you imagine a table full of cookies, cakes, pies, brownies, tea biscuits, and more? I was glad to hear that everyone enjoyed dinner and dessert because who doesn’t look forward to the food at a party? This was all paired with our signature tea for the night, hibiscus tea.
Our guests were able to experiment with our signature tea of the evening and create illustrations using hibiscus flowers. The tea itself was quite bitter, so I added allspice, cinnamon sticks, and sugar to balance out the flavor. When pouring the tea into the pitcher, it spilled and splattered everywhere! The hibiscus was trying to dye the floor, and my shoes, and would’ve dyed my clothes if I didn’t have an apron on. But we are a dye studio right ;-)
Our party demonstration with the brewed hibiscus flowers was magical. Our guests were given natural dye kits with a paintbrush, palette, and paper to experiment with the color of the hibiscus. Everyone was able to create deep magenta-colored paintings depending on how diluted their hibiscus color was.
Moments later, everyone spent time mixing their own teas to drink or to naturally dye. There were a variety of flowers and herbs like lavender, calendula, spearmint, lemongrass, and more! Throughout the party, I was glad to see everyone’s reactions to the games and activities, food selections, gift bags, and goodies. It was important that I was able to give back to those who gave their love to Modest Transitions.
We partied hard on Friday, but the celebration continued through Sunday. More friends visited us to give gifts, shop, and take pictures. And they left with a slice of poundcake of course! By the end of the weekend, my heart was full of gratitude and joy. Thank you again for supporting Modest Transitions. This year will be full of growth and we are excited for you to experience it with us!
