Nutcracker Tea

While I was in Arizona, V texted me and invited me  to go to the Nutcracker Tea at the Grand America and then go to  a performance of the Nutcracker. I said I would  love to go and she told me I had to dress fancy. I had seen  the  dress she was going to  wear, which was a light  pink with gold details so I decided to  dress  to match. I wore a pink sparkly  dress  with a white fur shawl.

We had been to this tea once before when V was little and Beth was pregnant with Monty. Back then, it was  held in a ballet rehearsal room at the Capital Theater, so it  was  a much smaller event. It was crazy to see how popular this little event had  become, it now fills a huge ballroom  at the Grand America.

Every place  setting had a little nutcracker we could  take home with us.

V and  I had matching sparkly shoes!

A buffet lunch was  provided and the menu  was 100% catered to kids. There  were chicken fingers, fries, fruit and  veggies and lots of bread baskets with plain pieces of bread, peanut  butter and  jelly were also provided if anyone felt inclined to make a sandwich.

V looked like a princess in her dress.

While we dined, some of the ballerinas from Ballet West performed numbers from the Nutcracker for us.

We also saw performances from some of the local ballet schools.

The Sugar  Plum Fairy and  the Snow Queen Fairy talked to  us about what  it  was  like to be a ballerina  and taught us  about pointe shoes.

After the presentation,  we had the opportunity to get photos with some of the dancers. It was  so cool to be  able  to see their  costumes up close. The intricate details  and beadwork were astounding.

After the tea, we wandered around  the Grand  for a little  while , looking at all the decorated trees  and seeing some of the Christmas windows.

This tree was decorated  in a Nutcracker theme.

The windows celebrated different countries  this  year. I  was excited to see the Paris, France one since  I  am going there next March! Also, it was so  adorable.

We also got to see the amazing, giant gingerbread house. It was so beautiful this year!

We had the afternoon to relax and take a nap, then we  headed  to the  Capital Theater to see the Nutcracker that night. Our seats were in the balcony so we got an amazing view of the gorgeous chandelier and the "golf ball".

Such a fun day!