The shape of her business might be changing a bit, but Jennifer Horton of The Pink Parasol Tea Room will still be offering plenty of warm, fun sit-down events over the holiday and into the New Year.
Horton is the longtime owner of the Scott Street-based business that began life as the Curvy Chick Boutique before making the change over to focus on serving tea and operating as an event space last year. Ending off 2025 and looking ahead to 2026, Horton said the way she runs the business will be changing, but will still be offering plenty of events for families and those looking for a fun, fulfilling night out.
“I think it started in COVID, but we’ll be taking some time over Christmas to have some chill time,” Horton said.
“We have an open mic night, there’s hot chocolate with Santa. In the New Year, we’ll have our third annual Vision Board workshop, and our monthly game nights. We have a mini Renaissance Festival event planned for the end of January, which is super exciting with lots going on like trivia and games.”
The Renaissance event is planned to be a joint effort between Horton and Betty’s store, with the event calling to mind larger Renaissance Faires in other city centres that bring in fans of history as well as more fantastical medieval elements like those found in Magic the Gathering or Dungeons and Dragons.
“We’ll have games, family-friendly stuff, food, just something to get people out during the winter and have something to do,” Horton said.
Tea. – Submitted photo
Over the past while, Horton said her focus has shifted more and more to the event side of her business, offering up the space for rental to bridal showers, birthday parties, and other special events like Princess Teas, play readings and various workshops.
“The events, workshops, that’s kindo f been the more popular focus,” she said.
“I’ll be making some changes in the new year to be focusing on the events, workshops, bridal showers, having this beautiful space for people to utilize.”
Horton has also held a few events aimed squarely at local children, including two very popular Kpop Demon Hunter nights, where young fans could turn out and have fun together in a safe, controlled environment. It’s an evolution for the young children who were once Princess fans, and have now grown into K-pop fans, she said.
“It’s just fun to give kids something to do, something different for them to be creative or silly and fun and dance,” she said.
“It was super fun. That one was more gender neutral, we had a mix of boys and girls, it wasn’t just ‘princess’ or ‘dinosaur.’ It was fun and the kids get to be creative.”
In a Facebook post made after Horton’s interview with the Times, she announced the end of her Thursday cafe openings beginning in January 2025, announcing a full pivot to offering The Pink Parasol Tea Room as an event space, while also continuing to build her Smashing Tea brand through wholesale and markets.
“Starting in January, I will no longer be open on Thursdays for regular cafe hours,” she wrote.
“Instead, the Tea Room will be dedicated to evenings and weekend events, private bookings, workshops and our in-house tea brand, Smashing Tea.”
The shift is both practical, and the right move for what Horton said she most enjoys about running her space.
“It’s about this being an event space,” Horton said.
“People can still have my tea during those times. I’m just being more creative with that kind of stuff. That’s more fun anyway. I’m still doing the charity work, like Shine the Light campaign and all the other feminine products for the food banks. I’ll continue to do different events, like kids events and crafts, probably do another dinosaur party, because that’s super fun. At Easter we had rabbits here. And I’ve booked birthday parties for 13 year olds. It kind of varies.”
To keep apprised of the events and workshops being planned at The Pink Parasol Tea Room over the holidays and into 2026, be sure to follow their Facebook page.
