Holiday Victorian Tea Party at Winchester Mansion • Cheers! with Chelsea

The Holidays at Winchester Mansion continue with the return of The Menagerie Oddities Market yuletide themed oddities and curiosities market, holiday tour with snowfall, and a Victorian tea party hosted by The Vogel Victorian.

I’m going to warn you ahead of time. You can tell when I have a really good time because I don’t have enough photos. That was certainly the case for this weekend. There aren’t many photos, but the holiday fun was in full spirit!

Dressing for a Victorian Holiday Outing

Naturally, I cannot resist theming my outfits for these holiday festivities. This weekend’s outfit was 100% hand-made and had been a vision since the tea party was announced in early November. I knew I wanted to make a Victorian-styled gingerbread look, and I think I pulled it off. In fact, I even paired up with my hubby and I’m so proud of how his suit turned out too. Expect a post dedicated to this look soon! In the meantime, you’ll just have to enjoy what few photos you see here.

Victorian Yuletide Oddities & Curiosities Market

The market was yet again a lovely place to peruse and snag business cards from. We had hopped to pickup some things after the tea party, but we found a lot of the booths we had planned to shop with had sold out of things we had our eye on once we returned. Great for the vendors, not so great for us.

Yuletide Market Purchases

Before I jump into the goodies I came home with, I wanted to give a yuletide shoutout to these other vendors that I fell in love with, but had to save shopping with for another time.

Wicked Clay Babe

I find her clay pieces so fun and full of whimsy. Last year, I purchased a skeleton rib cage and gingerbread bat ornament, but this year, this little garlic vampire slayer had to come home with me.

Penny Dreadful Popcorn

We got to sample these very delicious flavored popcorns and my husband knew he was coming home with some. Not only is the shop name a delight, but these two popcorns pair together as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The cheddar bacon says spicy, but as a ghoul with no tastebuds for heat, this popcorn did not have any in my opinion. Just lots of flavor. Which I love!

The Crimson Parlour

I kept eying those Christmas glasses and they did end up coming home with me! This set of four Spode Christmas Tree glasses even came in their original box, which has sparked my interested in finding the rest of the set! Perfect for the season. You’ll be spying these glasses on Sips & Spirits soon.

Victorian Tea Party hosted by The Vogel Victorian

If you remember me attending the tea party in March, this party followed a very similar flow. The Vogels returned for the third time this year to host a sold out party, this time with tea service in the Venetian dining room. My husband and I were the only repeat attendees in the crowd, which was very fun and I even got to meet a long time Instagram friend in person! For this party, I invited along my sister since she still hasn’t had a chance to experience a Vogel Victorian tea party. I was very happy to bring her along.

To kick things off, guests entered with a brief happy hour with choice of wine or non alcoholic cider. Here, guests could interact amongst themselves or become acquainted with new friends. This is where I got to meet my Instagram friend and her husband. Meanwhile, my husband and sister ended up chatting with another pair of sisters.

Then, we continued on to the stained glass showroom where we watched the usual tour video to overview the house’s history and then went up to one of the rooms for a blessing jar manifestation. I loved how Diana talked about how it wasn’t necessarily important to know what exactly you’re putting in your vial, but what you’re manifesting. You may recall this was something I was concerned over at a previous party, so it was great to get the clarification.

Next, we made it down to a small basement I don’t think I had been in for a brief séance. We used the dousing rods and the Estes method with very fun results. Then, we made our way upstairs to the Venetian dining room for tea. The service was just as delightful as always. Extra bonus is that we got additional servings of their soup, which I adore. It was a tight squeeze for such a large party, but enjoyable all the same.

The party was concluded with a round of sharing where you would haunt should you die tomorrow and we were then sent on our way to check out the open house tour or do additional shopping.

Compared to the other two tea parties I have attended at Winchester with the Vogel Victorian, this one in particular felt a little rushed, but with all the other festivities happening on the property, I can understand why the time had to be limited.

Continuing the Holidays at Winchester Mansion

There are only two more Saturdays to enjoy at the Winchester Mansion in December. In addition, the oddities market will also continue over these next two weekends with different themes! Next Saturday, guests with tickets to any tour, event, or the Oddities Market can enjoy complimentary photos with Santa at the mansion. Not gonna lie, I am super excited about this!

Lastly, on December 27th, the Holiday Paint & Sip hosted by Bottle & Bottega will happen. This is the last special ticket event of the season. If you’ve been on the fence with joining me for the holidays at Winchester, this is your sign!