Drum roll please…I am very glad to announce that I will be hosting my first ever The Sweetest Tea Party on March 18, 2017!!
The Sweetest Tea Party will essentially be an opportunity for bakers, bloggers, avid social media influencers, photographers and foodies to meet offline over tea (or coffee) and food!
My Purpose
I had the idea for The Sweetest Tea Party after reading an article about TaraMilkTea. In that article, Tara talks about “The Sweetest Picnic,” where her friend would host a picnic and invite established and/or upcoming bakers. Their picnic spread always look amazing (see below)! I love food and sharing food, so this idea clicked with me!
When I had the idea, I didn’t see a purpose why I would do it (besides the food). Then, I noticed that I follow a lot of people on Instagram whom I really want to meet in real life. I follow an Instagrammer (Alexa Fernando) who does “Instameets,” in which people would connect offline. I’m now taking this concept one step further, wherein I’m involving free, fantastically delicious food!
I really believe in connecting with people over food. Food is the great bridge between people of various backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, genders, religions, preferences and physical abilities.
Some people may ask why I waste my time and effort to plan this. Well, I ask: why not? On top of social media marketing for the bakers and venue, it’s a great way to meet fellow bakers, bloggers, foodies, photographers and Instagrammers (who may share the same interests as I do)!
I also really like to feed people. I believe that communities revolve around food, and I want to build a community of like-minded people in Calgary. Plus, it’s so cool to have this in Calgary, because it has never been done before!
My Plan
The execution requires three things: venue, food and guests.
Venue
After I had the idea of The Sweetest Tea Party, I quickly contacted cafes in Calgary that were interested and willing to offer their space. The first cafe I had in mind for the tea party was Café Blanca in Eau Claire. I love their space and the artsy & chill vibe, which matched well with what I had in mind!
Of course, I also contacted other cafes like Rosso, Euphoria, Vintage and Monogram. I was really quite surprised with their response, because I thought more cafes would turn me down since I am essentially using their space for free.
Fortunately, Café Blanca was more than willing to host The Sweetest Tea Party! And they are also fans of my Instagram! Yay!!
Food
While I do bake myself, I think making food for ~30 people would be overkill. In that article about TaraMilkTea, her baker friend would ask other bakers to bring something for the picnic as well. This, I will do as well (although, I hope they’re willing to bake)!
Currently, I am thinking of bringing:
- Baked doughnuts
- Cute cake pops
- Fruit platter (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, oranges, grapes)
- Taro or pandan cupcakes (if I can’t find someone else to bring some)
I’m also going to ask other Calgarian bakers if they could bring some pastries. I do hope they’re willing and able to bake some for The Sweetest Tea Party!
- Filigree Pastries → macarons
- One More Piece → a small 8″ cake
- KMomentsBakes → croissants or pain au chocolat
FirstDateConfections → chocolate date bitesSugarStoneYYC → mini galaxy donuts or a small cake- Cakes By Lai → unicorn cake
- My Cheesecake Addiction → bites cheesecake
- Antheia Floral → a bouquet of flowers in a white teapot
- Diesel Clay → some of her pottery work
Guests
The guest list is currently tentative, since I want to make sure that the number of people I invite will align with the fire code at Café Blanca. Though, I hope all these guys will be able to go!!
Right now, I want to invite fellow bakers, bloggers and foodies that I follow on Instagram (and Zomato), including:
Filigree Pastries (Kent)- DimSumDiet (Carly)
- TruffleandSweet (Sharon)
- SugarandSam (Sam)
- JayFBabby (Jenna)
- HerModernCanvas (Jenny)
LoveLeOne_Blog (Teagan)- MelanieLaurene (Melanie)
_amohamed (Aliyah)ThisIsJoieM (Joie)TheHungryGnome_ (Chanry)- YYCFoodJunkie
YYCFoodFeed- YYCFoodiesDiary
HittingTheSauce (Christine)- FoodKarmaBlog (Carmen)
SugarStoneYYC- CandyEatsYYC (Candy)
- AtArmine (Armine)
- MrGDon (Gordon)
FirstDateConfections- One More Piece (Nikash)
- ForTwoPlz (Cat) + 1
StephyKeung (Stephy)- Juszeat + 1
- AlwaysDianne (Dianne)
- KMomentsBakes (Karen) + 1
- DonCommando (Don)
- ryzykowny_ (Jenn) + 1
- QueensPlayground (Chinenya)
- LateandLovely (Maria)
- AJFernando (Alexa)
- MyCheesecakeAddiction (Toni)
DinnerWithJulie (Julie)CookingInMyGenes (Jessica)- CakesByLai (Lai)
DieselClay (Callie)- rchiuu (Robin)
- lov3stia (Esther)
- Antheia Floral YYC
- SoyMilkandVinegar (Kim)
My Goals
I’ve been looking around, and there really is no platform or event like this in Calgary, wherein people online would meet offline. It’s also a great marketing strategy for local businesses, bakers, photographers and bloggers.
My end goals are:
- Starting a community of social media-savvy and Internet-loving people and influencers, which could lead to collaboration between each other online. We could build each other up, rather than compete with each other.
- Making new friends and connections that I otherwise wouldn’t make if social media wasn’t available. The Internet and social media is a world of wonders!
- Having meaningful conversations over our commonalities & interests rather than differences. Food (hopefully) will bring us together!
- Marketing local & independent businesses in Calgary.
I’m super excited for this venture! I’m excited to build this community in Calgary! #FromOnlineToOffline 🙂
Super excited for you Jomar!!
Can’t wait!
Gord
This is wonderful! Thank you for including me. I will be coming for sure. Let me know if there’s anything I could do to help
Eeeeek! This just made me so much more excited! Thank you for stepping up and bringing this beautiful idea to life in calgary!
[…] in the end, I would say that The Sweetest Tea Party was a success! In my previous post about The Sweetest Tea Party, I set certain goals, and I think I met all my […]