Hello! Welcome to my children's tea room- I've been hoping you'd stop by. Come on in and have a seat while I finish putting the fresh flowers on our tea table. While you're here, let me share some fun teatime ideas with you. We'll start with "taking tea"...

...Taking Tea...

Teatime is definately not just for adults. Most children would love to have a teaparty of their own. There's something very special about putting on the kettle, arranging the cakes and biscuits, and bringing out the pretty sugarbowl, creamer, and teacups. It's a time for really stopping to listen to each other, to share what's important in their lives; taking time to stop and smell the roses!

...Tea-time Ideas...

Most little girls that I know, love doing two things; playing "dress up" and having birthday parties! So why not combine the two with a delightful
Birthday Teaparty!

• Choose from 3-5 children for a nice "manageable" group, or more - if you have an adult volunteer, or two.
• It's alot of fun for the honored child to make special invitations for the invited guests. You can use pretty lacy doilies, or plain paper with teatime stickers (there's a huge assortment out for the Scrapbookers!), and the use of a really delicate paper punch. These items can even be picked up at places like Wal-Mart (check out the Victorian paper punch there!).

...Tea-time Activities...

Here are a few fun tea-time activities to keep
your guests entertained. How about...

• A dress-up party, of course. Kids love to play dress up!
• Having all the girls make their own decorated straw hats at the party.
• Letting the children watch a short (30 min.) movie while the party table is cleared and the next entertainment gets organized. Maybe a "Madeline" type for the younger ages or "Anne of Green Gables" for the older girls - especially if there's a sleep over and plenty of time available.
• Now, it's picture taking time. Use a pretty backdrop; the staircase, fireplace, a flower bed outside, etc. Have the spot chosen in advance and use a parent volunteer to snap the memories.
• Reading a nice story that you've purchased just for the occasion. Try to find a book that's appealing to the whole group. The "American Doll" series has a collection of craft books devoted to different periods in history that would be great for this! Check out the "Samantha" one as it's in the Victorian era.
• Making assorted crafts. You'll be more successful if you've done most of the cutting & prep work ahead of time. Keep all these items in a decorative basket until needed.
• Having a "Treasure Hunt" or "Scavenger Hunt" either indoors or outdoors. Give away prizes to the winners.
• For an outdoor "Garden Tea Party" have the kids decorate already baked sugar cookies. They can make ladybugs, etc. using red and black frosting and black licorice string for the legs. Butterflies are fun to make, too!
• How about flower cupcakes? Provide the already frosted cupcakes and let the children decorate them to look like miniature gardens. Use jelly beans and other assorted candies for the flowers.

Gather up your favorite "little people" and have a special dress up party. Have all the little girls wear flowery dresses. You can make the straw hats yourselves as a birthday fun time activity using straw hats (inexpensive), silk flowers, ribbons & a handy adult with a glue gun! You could take pictures of the whole group when finished, wearing their new hats. Don't forget to send everyone a copy when you send out the thank you notes! Again, this could be a fun time activity instead of a "chore". Try to make them really special with stamps, stickers, paper punches, etc. Cut four angled cuts on the inside page where the 4 points of the picture can fit snugly inside. *This is something that mommies or daddies can help out with!

...Tea-time Menus...

Below, you'll find some menu ideas that's sure
to please your guests...

• Small finger sandwiches. These could include the typical cucumber sandwiches with cream cheese, egg salad sandwiches, or even peanut butter and jelly! Without the crusts, of course!
• Tea, pink lemonade with a small lemon slice, hot chocolate with whipped cream, or fruit drink; or just use your imagination! Serve in pretty glasses or teacups.
• Tiny fruit muffins, cooled, then sprinkled with powdered sugar.
• Assorted cookies...you can "dress-up" store bought cookies by dipping half of the cookie into melted chocolate then setting on waxed paper to dry.
• Small fruits like strawberries, grapes, raspberries or blueberries. A pretty fruit salad served with Cool-Whip is also a good choice for kids.
• Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries add a festive flair and are very easy to make. Use waxed paper to dry your little treasures on.
• Softly colored cream cheese mints are also sweet at tea parties and easy to make, too.
• There's also easy and fun to make creamy mint chocolates (like at weddings)! The plastic molds are usually under $2-$3 and can be purchased at most craft or cake stores. The pre-colored chocolate discs (to be melted) can easily be purchased, too.
• Flower cupcakes are sweet. Bake and frost cupcakes as usual, cut 2" drinking straw lengths, add to center of cupcake leaving about 1/2" of the straws sticking out. Now, add edible garden flowers to the cupcake around the straw, hiding it, and also insert a stem into the straw using it as a vase. This gives a tiered effect and is really beautiful! You can even crumble chocolate cookies on top of the chocolate frosting to resemble the soil. *Edible flowers such as roses, pansies, etc. but only from a pesticide-free garden, or use artificial flowers.

  

  If your daughter doesn't enjoy tea, then skip the tea in favor of iced lemonade, hot chocolate or a tangy fruit punch. You can still use the pretty teacups for the beverage. If you decide to use glasses instead, choose some pretty ones, rub the rim with lemon juice then press into white sugar. You could also try frosting the glasses by putting them in the freezer prior to serving time. Even if your child doesn't appreciate tea, most children opt to keep the sandwiches, sweet treats and drinks!

  

  Thank you for being my visitor

  ... conceived March 29, 1999.

  Don't forget to bookmark us and come back later...we'll be adding more tea-time party ideas! If you need a tea time idea please take one - If you have a tea time idea please email it...

  Graphics graciously provided by: Helena's Graphics and some were made by me...please don't take these graphics without permission.