Baby Showers have always been popular in the USA but I think more and more we’re adopting the tradition in the UK, I’ve been to a fair few now as many of my friends are taking that big step into motherhood. To be fair, I can’t think of a better excuse to celebrate, as if my friends and I needed one to drink champagne and eat cake!
I met mum-to-be, Alisha, whilst working at boutique hotel specialists, Mr and Mrs Smith and of course our love for luxury hotels cemented a firm and lasting friendship between us.
So when she asked my opinion on somewhere great for afternoon tea, I suggested The Covent Garden Hotel part of the boutique hotel collection, The Firmdale Group. I’ve loved the hotel and the others in the group for a while and I’d had lovely food and service a couple of weeks ago when I went to their film club for brunch and a viewing of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Alisha had booked a lovely private room in the hotel’s basement with the usual bright and bold fabrics and furnishings that have become synonymous with the Firmdale hotels. I mentioned in my previous post that owner Kit Kemp designed all the hotels in the collection, she even designed the gorgeous china above.
Alisha is an incredibly thoughtful person, and though it was her special day, she’d put together goody bags for all of her guests which included home-made gingerbread…
I think from the colour of the bags you can tell the gender of the baby…
I was excited to start the tea with a glass of Pommery which reminded me of our recent trip to Cannes as The Majestic Hotel had it’s own Pommery bar; the champagne is definitely a favourite of mine and I love the crisp, biscuity taste. 
Big trays of sandwiches were bought in for our party of twelve, containing the traditional ham and mustard, cucumber, egg and smoked salmon. The vast amount that they bought us meant that I could have more than my normal ration of smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches!
Fluffy scones came next with big pots of cream and jam…
Alisha is actually an Aussie ex-pat who moved to the UK for love….and her mum had come all the way from Sydney to spend sometime with Alisha before and after having the baby.
The cakes were real beauties: a strawberry and chocolate tart bursting with whipped cream, lemon meringue pie, banana cake, a chocolate brownie and a pretty chocolate and pistachio opera cake decorated with a treble clef. With the chocolate brownie declared the firm favourite it was time for Alisha to open her presents…
In true tradition we’d showered her with gifts, those that already had children bought her useful presents such as nappy cream etc, and those of us that didn’t have a clue about babies bought pretty dresses for the little one.
Sorry for a slightly blurry photo, our lovely waiter risked breaking his neck by precariously balancing on chair to take this pic! All part of the service at The Covent Garden Hotel 😉 It really was a lovely day for Alisha, and the perfect venue for a baby shower…lots of luck to Alisha and her family and I look forward to meeting the new addition!
