Tea Parties for Girls

Isn't she a little young for politics? LOL

Seriously, I would think some places have more reasonable rates for little girls' tea parties...
I had my BFF's wedding shower at a tea place and the decor was just SO froo-froo and she-she--everyone loved it!

Have you checked out Miss "M's? Tea Parlor in Castle Rock. I took a group of Brownies there several years ago, and they loved it. I'm not sure of the cost...the girls used some of their "cookie" money to pay for it. Miss "M" also taught the the girls ettiquette, and they earned a try-it in the process. Manners are always more easily introduced and accepted by someone other than "MOM". Also check out some books at the library. The Tea Pary Book by Lucille Recht Penner has some fun ideas with menus, recipes, decorations and favors to make. Finger sandwiches are always a hit. My oldest had a tea party/dress up party for her 3rd birthday. We had so much fun.

I have thrown several at home tea parties for my girls and thier friends (not for a birthday, jsut for fun) and here are a few ideas:

Use a nice table cloth, cloth napkins, china and real tea cups, you can buy some cheap tea cups at a dollar store if you don’t have any on hand, then maybe you could send each girl’s tea cup home with her as a party favor.

Serve hot cocoa as well as herbal tea, some kids will not like the tea. Good tea flavors for kids include Sleepy Time (Celestial Seasonings) or Chamomile or Mint, or a Chamomile-Mint blend. Nothing too weird tasting or strong. Either sweeten the tea beforehand or be prepared to portion out two sugar cubes each (sugar cubes are more fun than plain sugar and you can use some fancy sugar cube tongs).

For the food I have served finger foods like chicken nuggets, ham and cheese roll ups (roll slices of ham around a cheese stick), fruit kabobs (have the fruit cut up in bowls and let the children skewer the pieces they like onto bamboo skewers before you sit down to tea), finger sandwiches cut into pretty shapes with cookie cutters, popular spreads for the sandwiches include Nuttella, peanut butter, and strawberry cream cheese. I make them open faced and add some berries or raisins or chocolate chips to make pictures or patterns on them. For dessert we have “tea cakes” which are really just cupcakes. You can have them decorate their own if you like as a party activity. I have had a tea party where all the children wore aprons and helped to make all the food in the kitchen with me beforehand, and then while I set the table they ran off to put on dress-up dresses and make-up. They descended the stairs as princesses and came to the tea party. I was the lady in waiting to all the princesses!

You can also have a short lesson on table manners before the tea party and then have small rewards for the girls who show good table manners. Be prepared to reward each girl, but make her earn it! If you do this in a fun way they will like it and really try to show good manners. After the tea party, have a dance in the living room, they will enjoy dancing in their princess dresses! Or you could have them do a craft that involves tea cups, my kids and I made some cute cards once in the shape of tea cups, it was not for a tea party but as a thank you card for their “tea”chers. Here is the link http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/a-spot-of-tea-card-1007634/ You could do it for an easy craft. Just have the cards cut out and then the girls could color them, write in them, and put in the tea bag.

Those are just a few of my ideas, I’m sure there are lots more great things you could do! Good luck!

Hi Candice!

I did a tea party in my home for my daughter's 7th birthday party. We had 10 girls, and I took the opportunity to use and teach them about proper "dinner" etiquette by using my fine china and tea sets. Before they ate, we had a little lesson on which fork to use, how to use their napkins and where to put them, etc...They had to wear "fancy" dresses which worked as they all were the girlie girl types. I was really nervous, but they all did really well and nothing got broken. They had a blast! We decorated sugar cookies after the "tea", so I guess that was my craft. :) For the tea, I served mini sandwiches with PB&J on some and turkey and cheese on the other. They had fresh fruit - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, etc... on a fancy tray. They also had mini cupcakes and ice cream. Their drink was sweet tea or water. After that we did a little photo shoot with the girls in their dresses. I work as a dance instructor and have access to a lot of props, so I brought home feather boas and southern belle hats for them to wear. It was so cute and funny. They got pictures of themselves and the birthday girl as thank you notes. Gave them their decorated cookies as their "goodie bag". I don't think I paid more than $40 bucks for all the food and photos and I had everything else. I would do it again as my daughter says it was one of her favorite parties. Made the sandwiches the morning of the party, made the dough for the sugar cookies the night before. Set up decorating stations the morning of with sprinkles and icing. Good luck!

When I was in 4th or 5th grade one of my friends had a "Teddy bear tea party" for her birthday. We all had a fantastic time. There were probably 5 to ten girls there.

It was at the girls house.

Everyone came dressed up in party dresses.

Her mom put out all the fancy ribbon and lace etc. from her sewing room and we made our bears all fancy, then we basically just had a tea party. Tiny sandwiches, fancy dishes, little cookies and cakes etc.

If you want to do a fun craft, you could get some of the little unfinished wood frames, put out beads and jewels and bows etc., and have the girls decorate a frame for a keepsake picture. Then have each girl pose with her doll or the birthday girl and print the pictures during the party so they go home with a framed memento.

I did a tea party for my daughter's 3rd bday, she loves tea parties!

They did cookie decorating as their craft, so we had tea and cookies. I also served lunch (just mac and cheese, fruit).

If my daughter was 8, I would so do a fancy finger food lunch. I'd keep the party small, 5-8, and do fine china, etc.

I remember seeing a tea shop in downtown Littleton that did little girl tea parties. Thats the best I've got!

Is there some reason you are leaving out the boys?

We've done a ton of tea parties at our house. We've done formal to more casual. For one birthday, we had a dinner: cornish game hens on a bed of wild rice with carrots. We had a cake made that was shaped like a teapot, with several tea cups also (cake). We sipped tea. Everyone dressed up in formal attire. Our sons all wore suits and ties, my daughter wore a formal dress (she had been a flower girl, so we used that dress), I wore a formal. Very fun. We've done more casual: cute dresses/hats/gloves, a wide variety of little food things: cucumber sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, sweet breads (banana, poppy seed, etc), grapes, cheese/crackers, truffles, scones with clotted cream and raspberry preserves, etc., along with a variety of teas. It really isn't hard at all to pull this together. You can also do crafts easily enough. At the last one I went to at a friend's house, she had a page of various verses and quotes about beauty. The girls chose one, wrote it in pretty font on a piece of colored paper, and decorated the page with scrolly things, pictures, whatever they wanted. They loved it! Of course, you can pay someone to do all of this for you, but it would be fun to involve your daughter and maybe one of her special friends to help you put it all together and invite some friends to come to the party. Your daughter and her friend can decorate the table (with your guidance and suggestions), help you make the sandwiches, etc. My daughters would love that!

I've heard of that place in Castle Rock, sounds fun- but I think pricey. I did a tea party for my daughter as well. We ended up doing a craft party at Michael's and made it into a tea party. I found cute decorations online, and decorated the room that way. They made a little craft. We served fancy tea food (kid friendly of course). I'll tell you what was the biggest hit, though. My father in law and husband wore aprons and silly hats and were the waiters, they spoke with British accents and were sort of silly with the girls. That was their favorite part and what they kept talking about. It really helped with the froo-froo and cheesiness of it all!