My girls are forever asking me if they can have a tea party. When they were younger, this meant using play dishes and water that they called tea. Now that they are a bit older, this just means that they will set out some mugs and napkins on the little table and drink tea. Sometimes they make it more elegant by dressing up or by serving cookies. There are always giggles and sometimes I join in. Other times, their dolls or stuffed animals join them!
I wanted to do something special to surprise the girls and create a memory for them so I planned a real tea party. I invited some friends and their daughters to join us for a girls only dress up event.
I threw the party together somewhat last minute (quite typical of my parties) while the boys were at camp and we had girls-only time to fill. We draped things in pink, brought out some old Princess napkins, plates and cups and set about making some tea party food… because we all know that any party really is about the food, I mean about the guests of course!
I set out a few bowls of soft coloured jelly beans and mini marshmallows. I made whipped lavender butter and set out a few bowls of jelly to go with the delicious mini homemade scones. I used a tiered tray and served iced cookies, squares, scones, mini pumpkin muffins (my grandma’s famous recipe), mini quiches made by my friend Christie, and tea sandwiches.
A friend brought a set that she had of small tea cups and saucers for the girls to use. Us moms used my regular tea cups.
The trick to making tea sandwiches is to make them look elegant or cute. You can achieve this by something as simple as cutting off the crust or cutting them into different shapes. I made egg salad sandwiches on white and brown (with crusts cut off), cucumber and dill cream cheese on white (crusts removed), ham and cheese spirals on whole wheat tortillas, swiss and sauerkraut with grain mustard on rye, and peanut butter on ciabatta buns cut into triangles. Of course at a ladies tea party, I wouldn’t serve peanut butter sandwiches, but since this was a mother-daughter party, I wanted to be sure to cater to the younger crowd!
If you are planning your own tea party, there is a list of tea party printables, activities and crafts on Homeschool Giveaways that is very useful for planning extra activities or having colouring sheets and the like for kids to do at the party. You may also be interested in following my Party Planning or Tea Time board on Pinterest.
Super cute!!
My boys would love this, too…minus the pink, of course.
My boys love tea parties too but not with everything draped in pink and Princess plates!
Awww, such great memories!! Well done, mom!
Such a sweet idea! My daughter is always asking for a tea party too! How did you make the whipped lavender butter? Sounds amazing!