EPIC Tea Party in the Park
29 September 2012
Endcliffe Park Cafe, Sheffield
My event was all going to be about books, books, books, and more books!
Our EPIC tea party night. Life is a series of stories; if you never did. You should
Our guests were given their 'book plate' name badges, a goodie bag and a activity sheet
Delicious locally inspired food from PJ taste and the Broadfield Ale House
“Life is a series of stories; if you never did. You should.” – this set the tone for my notebooks launch event.
This week, Wednesday 26th September I threw a party of SHEFFIELD FOOD, CAKES AND BOOKS to celebrate the launch of the Missie Cindz Stationery Collection designed by myself. It was a fun evening, providing a great opportunity to meet new local people; to say ‘cheers’ to all the people I have worked with and met along the way – this was a great opportunity to bring people from various food and creative communities together. And as always, the aim of the evening is to just let your hair down, bring the children and mingle with ‘Sheffield’s hungriest and finest’. The party was so much fun and it was amazing to meet those of you who came! I have posted more party photos on the Missie Cindz’s facebook page here (all taken by our hungry guests).
Theme
The party’s theme all stemmed from ‘evening tea’ infused with children’s books, nursery rhymes and fairytales. I knew I wanted it to be an evening full of laughter, colour, friendship, emotion, lots of food, and for it be very Sheffield.
The whole party was centered around books – perfect theme for the launch of my new notebooks. I set out to find a creative way to incorporate some of my favourite books into a fun and unique party. I spent some time researching going through all the books I enjoyed as a child. Seeing the cover of a book I haven’t thought about in 15 years brought a big smile to my face. I checked out 10+ books and went to work. The inspiration for the activities, food and dessert table all came from details from these old school books. From the Three Little Pigs visiting the Sheffield Markets, Simple Simon meeting the Broadfield’s pie man, through to Humpty Dumpty (Sheffield Eggs) after his Sheffield great fall and Alice in Wonderland to name a few, and I infused every aspect of the party with sweet reminders of the importance of charting our own story.
Venue – Endcliffe Park Independent Cafe (EPIC)
I chose EPIC as they’re one of Sheffield’s most family friendly independent cafes I know. Situated in the beautiful Endcliffe Park, nestled in Porter Valley, they are the cafe for all seasons and away from the hustle and bustle. Reading can be best enjoyed in a quiet spot in your local park or at a nice table with good view and plenty of coffee and cake to hand. Thus, EPIC was the perfect place for my notebook launch and for an exciting story telling evening. I wanted to stick with the Cafe’s already beautiful, rustic atmosphere, but enhance it with touches of Missie-ness.
Dinner on Missie Cindz! Hearty Broadfield pies served with EPIC's own mash and mushy pies
PJ tastes local hazelnut and chestnut flour florentine lollipops. Awesome!
The Cafe in the park definitely got rocked that evening
Chapter two: the EPIC creative bunting corner
An EPIC cuppa hot chocolate from Martin. Who's a cheeky monkey!?
No tea party is complete without cake! An 'EPIC' book cake from Sheffield's Victoria Made
Immense 'EPIC' book cake, Vol.1 made by Victoria Made
The EPIC staff and Peter were amazing, tending to every request of my hungry guests
The Sheffield Tea Party Food Menu
A wonderful selection of canapés, Sheffield Eggs and nibbles were provided by Peter Moulam and his team at PJ taste; we had hearty Broadfield’s own hand raised renowned pies served with EPIC’s buttery mash and mushy peas. It was important to me that the food was wholesome and ‘comfort’ food – that’s the kinda food I enjoy and reminds me of home. It was a tea party amongst friendly locals and what’s more better on a cold autumnal evening than warm pie? (I can’t think of anything better). The concept of sharing worked really well and EPIC’s staff were amazing, tending to every request of my hungry guests! – thank you.
I wanted PJ taste involved in my event’s food, because they are is in my eyes Sheffield’s foodie version of Willy Wonka. And again, with the food menu being all book-themed, I told Peter the event’s theme and I left him to it – what a fantastic and magical Sheffield tea party-esque menu he cooked up for me too!
- Delicious Sheffield Eggs
- Heart-shaped Mushroom Bruschetta
- Scallop Pops
- Butterfly-shaped Savoury Scones
- Florentine Lollipops – these were made using local hazelnuts and chestnut flour
In addition we also had…
- Chicken, bacon and carrot Broadfield Pies
- Beef, Mushroom and ale Broadfield Pies
- Beetroot, feta and sweet potato Broadfield Pies
- and an EPIC book cake made by Victoria Made
We also had delicious Russian-inspired cuisine and cakes served and all own-made by Sheffield’s Cossack Cuisine (@CossackCuisine). Check them out for some Russian delicacies.
Paper wishes on my Missie Cindz Wishing Tree
Me and my EPIC Sheffield girls, Emma Fisher and Clare Farmer; thanks for your help and support x
Local food producers who are currently rocking my Missie's EPIC Food Adventure
My EPIC book cake with Ashley – who wants a delicious page?
Missie’s Party Details
- I like attention to detail so wanted the tea party and books theme to be carried through from the beginning to end. The Cafe’s was divided into book chapters (or aka activity areas). Where chapter one was my ‘Missie Cindz Wishing Tree‘. In Chinese tradition for the New Year states that locals should hang a wish on a special wishing tree. I know it wasn’t Chinese New Year or anything but it certainly was a new chapter in my Missie’s Food Adventure story so I asked my guests to write out their own paper wishes on colourful apple shaped notelets and to stick them on our wishing tree. I wanted them to think of the things that would make them happy…and you never know, what you wished for could come true! :)
- Chapter two was the ‘Design your own bunting‘ corner. The evening was jam packed with designers, illustrators, creatives and foodies so I encouraged guests to unleash their creativity by putting felt tip pens to paper. We had some fantastic bunting designs created (just look at our photos – I’ll be posting more of this in a seperate blog post). Great stuff guys!
- And the final chapter, chapter three was my ‘Tea Party in the Park Food Table‘ – I’m sure this was the favourite chapter for many people too.
- All the event’s printed stationary, event’s materials, art direction and set up was all designed and illustrated by myself www.cindycheung.co.uk – I loved having an excuse to be creative.
- We had lots of paper pom poms. Me, Emma (@oh_gosh) and the EPIC team spent the afternoon fluffing paper pom poms!
Party Fun
There were many opportunities for a lot of fun at this party. As each guest arrived they were asked for their library card pass at the entrance by our lovely librarian for the evening Clare farmer (@PinkLittleBean – thanks for your help Clare); guest’s library passes were emailed to them when they RSVP’d me, and then were given a ‘book plate styled’ name badge (it was important I knew who was who – I didn’t want to say hello and not know your name), along with a Bookworm goodie bag (sherbet worms packed in cute bags) plus a print out of the food menu. So you can see, it was all very personal – which was something I wanted :)
My Special Moments
Hearing everyone laugh and going around the cafe to say hello to everyone. Watching EPIC’s Ashley and PJ taste’s Peter working together in the kitchen to cook up something delicious for our guests.
Finally, Missie Cindz shout outs…
A big thank you to all of my event’s participants for their help, support and lovely locally inspired food. You can follow any of them on twitter and let them know your thoughts (they would like that):
- Endcliffe Park Cafe / Event venue and EPIC food (@EndParkCafe)
- PJ taste Caterers / Imaginative & quirky. Lovely locally inspired food (@PJtaste)
- Victoria Watkin-Jones / Special Missie Cindz book cake (@Victoria_Made)
- The Broadfield Ale House / Missie Cindz met the Broadfield’s pie man (@TheBroadfield)
- Cossack Cuisine / delicious food with a Russian accent (@CossackCuisine)
- Emma Fisher / My Travelling Notebooks partner in crime (@Oh_Gosh)
It was great to see everyone who joined me in the park for a wonderful tea party evening. I hope you enjoyed yourself; we currently have an EPIC bunting hung up in the cafe and a tree full of wishes which is making me grin from ear to ear! :) I hope that by sharing the highlights from my event you might be inspired to do meaningful things in your local community – get to know your talented neighbours; and create a wholesome and memorable event for your own party too. I think using a favourite book as inspiration was a really fun way to showcase my personality and interests.
Plus, now that you’ve seen my delicious own branded notebooks; I hope you’ll bag yourself one (or three) and start writing your own creative adventures that’s delicious and worth sharing with others.
There’s an individual story in all of us; and I’m looking forward to the next EPIC read.
The Missie Cindz’s EPIC Food Adventure continues…It’s NOT the end! – Missie Cindz / Cindy Cheung x
{Thanks to all the guests who shared these photos of my event: Andy Marshall (moogaloo), Emma Fisher, Clare Farmer, Cherry Lee, Lee Simon Mangle and DEDass. If you have photographs from the night please do email these to me and I’ll share them on the facebook page}
Missie Cindz
