How to Throw a Tea Party for Children
Traditional tea parties are especially enjoyable for girls who love dressing up in pretty clothes. With a little planning and preparation, they are easy to host at home where you can enjoy creating a magical setting. Limit the amount of children you invite, so you can keep the atmosphere calm and more formal. Source items such as vintage china well in advance of the party date -- older relatives may have suitable items that you could use. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Invitations
- Card stock
- Floral stickers or decals
- Pressed flowers
- Large table
- Pretty tablecloth
- Paper doilies
- Teapot as centerpiece
- Flowers
- Balloons
- Bunting
- Streamers
- Tissue paper flowers
- Fairy lights
- Dried rose petals
- Vintage china -- teacups, plates, cakestands
- Silver teaspoons and cake slices
- China bowls and jugs
- Sandwiches
- Cupcakes and rice crispie treats
- Fruit scones, cream, jam
- Fruit -- grapes and strawberries
- Candies
- Savory snacks
- Formal white shirt, black suit and bowtie
- Tea, ice tea, lemonade
Instructions
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Buy pretty invitations or make your own by cutting out teacup shapes from card stock. Choose pastel shades of card stock and decorate the invitations with floral stickers, pressed flowers or decals. Include a note asking guests to wear party dresses with hats and gloves.
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Put a large table outside under a shady tree in the yard to set the scene. If hosting the party inside, set up a formal dining table. Use a floral or polka dot tablecloth. Use paper doilies as placemats. Make place cards from pastel-colored card stock with the name or each guest written on neatly. Decorated the place cards with small pressed flowers. Have a teapot filled with fresh flowers as a centerpiece.
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Hang up balloons, bunting and streamers. Make large tissue paper flowers to place in vases or to place around the tea party area. If you are hosting the party indoors, hang fairy lights around the table area, or arrange a small set on the tabletop. Sprinkle the table with dried rose petals.
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Use vintage china to serve the food and drink. Scour thrift shops for teacups, plates, cake stands and cake plates. You don't need complete sets. Mix and match items for an eclectic feel. Look for old silver teaspoons and cake slices. Have china bowls of sugar cubes and small china jugs of milk.
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Play some traditional party games before serving the afternoon tea, such as a variation of "Pass the Parcel" using a teapot instead of a parcel. Fill the teapot with small gifts wrapped in tissue paper. Have the guests sit in a circle and pass the teapot around the circle while music is playing. When the music stops, the person holding the teapot may take out a gift and unwrap it. Continue playing until the teapot is empty.
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Serve sandwiches cut into flower and heart shapes with cookie cutters. Jam or thin slices of cucumber work well as fillings. Pile cake stands with cupcakes and rice crispie treats. Fruit scones served with small bowls of cream and jam are very traditional. Serve fruit such as grapes and strawberries in cupcake liners. Have china bowls of candies or savory snacks. Keep everything in small, dainty portions.
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Have an older man such as a dad, brother, uncle or even grandfather dress up as a butler in a formal white shirt, black suit and bowtie and serve the tea. Let him pour hot tea from a teapot. Offer cold lemonade or ice tea as an alternative drink.
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Tips & Warnings
Adapt your tea party to include a theme, such as a teddy bear tea party, or an Alice in Wonderland tea party.
Have an adult pour hot tea, as a spill could scald.
Do not use real china for very young children to avoid breakages.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
