Help me plan a Tea Party for my nieces!
February 13, 2019 11:36 AM Subscribe
I am going to host a tea party for my twin nieces, who are turning five. Help me make it special!
My twin nieces are both pretty into pretend tea parties and dressing up fancy, so I thought I'd invite them for a real tea party for their birthday. I'm looking for suggestions to make it cute and special for them. Decor ideas, food ideas/recipes and anything else you can think of welcome. I'm average at crafts, above average at cooking/baking, and have a 2 month old, so I have short bursts of time to do prep. I'd like to make it really fun for them, but I'm not a terribly kid-oriented person (yet!) so I need some help coming up with ideas.
My twin nieces are both pretty into pretend tea parties and dressing up fancy, so I thought I'd invite them for a real tea party for their birthday. I'm looking for suggestions to make it cute and special for them. Decor ideas, food ideas/recipes and anything else you can think of welcome. I'm average at crafts, above average at cooking/baking, and have a 2 month old, so I have short bursts of time to do prep. I'd like to make it really fun for them, but I'm not a terribly kid-oriented person (yet!) so I need some help coming up with ideas.
I threw a tea party for my 6 year old niece last year. It was so fun! Her favorite part was that I had gotten real tea cups and a real tea pot and a fancy tray rather than using kid dishes. I got them from thrift stores for maybe $20 total. None of the tea cups or little dishes matched but it turned out super cute.
posted by ilovewinter at 12:06 PM on February 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by ilovewinter at 12:06 PM on February 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
Tea that they can drink (so a juice or something yummy) from a real teapot sounds like the first step in the right direction, because that's very fun. The idea about sandwiches cut into shapes is fun, and I would also do colorful or prettily decorated petit fours (you can buy these if it's too much trouble) and serve them on a tiered platter of some kind. Cloth napkins and a table setting would be nice. Perhaps you could make invitations to mail to them, since getting stuff in the mail is always exciting. You could encourage a theme (Alice in Wonderland?) or just fancy dress.
posted by LKWorking at 12:11 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by LKWorking at 12:11 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
I think you can't go wrong with this, really. You just need to be as ornate and mannered as possible, and serve stuff that is yummy.
Real actual tea might not be all that palatable to persons that young, so maybe put something else in the fancy fancy teapot. Maybe something like hot chocolate? You could make a hot chocolate that's on the dark, bittersweet side and then add cream and sugar to the individual cups to taste, as you do with tea, so that you could still ask, for instance, "one lump or two?" before selecting sugarcubes from the ornate sugar bowl with the ornate silver sugar tongs and "say when" when adding cream from the matching cream pitcher.
Provide tiny chairs or stacks of pillows so that their dolls/stuffed animals can attend? Send fancy invitations with RSVP cards with space to list one or two very special guests by name (and get the approximate dimensions of the "guests" from the parents) so that you can make appropriate seating and place cards for each plush creature or Barbie? Use a play tea set alongside the normalsize one to serve the toy guests, and make teeeeny tiny versions of whatever will be the comestibles for the toy guests? You could devil regular chicken eggs for the girls and yourself and devil some quail eggs for the non-human attendees, for instance. Reserve some of the cookie dough to make microscopic versions for the toy guests. Then make a fuss about how well-behaved the toy guests are and how nicely raised, see how politely they're eating, how they're making sure not to gobble, praise the girls on their excellent parenting skills, and invite the girls to "help" their guests clean their plates.
Personally, I like a party with a theme that I can take to wild extremes. Maybe get the girls' favorite colors and make everything that color? Take billions of pictures. Make a very fancy guest book and have them sign it. That way, if they love it and it's a success, you can do it every year and update the guest book, and when they leave for college and their parents are sobbing, you can present the guest book and be a hero aunt.
posted by Don Pepino at 12:12 PM on February 13, 2019 [7 favorites]
Real actual tea might not be all that palatable to persons that young, so maybe put something else in the fancy fancy teapot. Maybe something like hot chocolate? You could make a hot chocolate that's on the dark, bittersweet side and then add cream and sugar to the individual cups to taste, as you do with tea, so that you could still ask, for instance, "one lump or two?" before selecting sugarcubes from the ornate sugar bowl with the ornate silver sugar tongs and "say when" when adding cream from the matching cream pitcher.
Provide tiny chairs or stacks of pillows so that their dolls/stuffed animals can attend? Send fancy invitations with RSVP cards with space to list one or two very special guests by name (and get the approximate dimensions of the "guests" from the parents) so that you can make appropriate seating and place cards for each plush creature or Barbie? Use a play tea set alongside the normalsize one to serve the toy guests, and make teeeeny tiny versions of whatever will be the comestibles for the toy guests? You could devil regular chicken eggs for the girls and yourself and devil some quail eggs for the non-human attendees, for instance. Reserve some of the cookie dough to make microscopic versions for the toy guests. Then make a fuss about how well-behaved the toy guests are and how nicely raised, see how politely they're eating, how they're making sure not to gobble, praise the girls on their excellent parenting skills, and invite the girls to "help" their guests clean their plates.
Personally, I like a party with a theme that I can take to wild extremes. Maybe get the girls' favorite colors and make everything that color? Take billions of pictures. Make a very fancy guest book and have them sign it. That way, if they love it and it's a success, you can do it every year and update the guest book, and when they leave for college and their parents are sobbing, you can present the guest book and be a hero aunt.
posted by Don Pepino at 12:12 PM on February 13, 2019 [7 favorites]
Every guest chooses their own real china cup & saucer (the thrift store is perfect for this). If not doing loose leaf tea, put an assortment of tea bags in a fancy container for them to select out of. Use real sugar cubes (with tiny tongs?!).
The craft activity can be straw hats from the dollar store with a wide band of velcro hot glued around the band. Get a variety of fake flowers (and bows and birds or whatever) from Michael's or JoAnns, chop off the blooms, and hot glue velcro squares on them. Each person decorates their own hat, and wears their fancy hat to tea.
posted by missmary6 at 12:13 PM on February 13, 2019 [7 favorites]
The craft activity can be straw hats from the dollar store with a wide band of velcro hot glued around the band. Get a variety of fake flowers (and bows and birds or whatever) from Michael's or JoAnns, chop off the blooms, and hot glue velcro squares on them. Each person decorates their own hat, and wears their fancy hat to tea.
posted by missmary6 at 12:13 PM on February 13, 2019 [7 favorites]
We have lots of tea parties here, it's easy to make it fun for kids around that age.
Our kids like chamomile tea, and there's a baked apple tea from Tazo I tried once that they liked too.
Definitely look in thrift stores for a china tea set, that makes a big difference.
We've gone out to high tea for special occasions, and one place they loved let them pick from fancy hats - if you can find or rent some fancy costume hats, that's one option - we also once had a kit that let them make their own fascinator-style "hat" like the british royalty wear, that was nice.
The usual hits for food are pastries ( especially scones - with clotted cream, which they never get outside of tea parties), and little sandwiches. The older one will eat the cucumber kind, but we also make peanut-butter and honey or jam "tea sandwiches" for the younger one. Just a regular pb&j but cut differently :)
posted by mmc at 12:25 PM on February 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Our kids like chamomile tea, and there's a baked apple tea from Tazo I tried once that they liked too.
Definitely look in thrift stores for a china tea set, that makes a big difference.
We've gone out to high tea for special occasions, and one place they loved let them pick from fancy hats - if you can find or rent some fancy costume hats, that's one option - we also once had a kit that let them make their own fascinator-style "hat" like the british royalty wear, that was nice.
The usual hits for food are pastries ( especially scones - with clotted cream, which they never get outside of tea parties), and little sandwiches. The older one will eat the cucumber kind, but we also make peanut-butter and honey or jam "tea sandwiches" for the younger one. Just a regular pb&j but cut differently :)
posted by mmc at 12:25 PM on February 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Lipton has some really good blueberry tea, and I loved mint tea when I was a kid. I think macarons are the fanciest cookie, but feel free to buy them since they are fussy to make. They aren't really good for dipping in tea, so maybe have some shortbread as well.
posted by soelo at 12:26 PM on February 13, 2019
posted by soelo at 12:26 PM on February 13, 2019
Dainty food feels fancy! Stuff like little currant scones (I use the Cook's Illustrated recipe but with a much smaller cutter), petit fours, and mini fruit tarts can be very exciting, and open-faced sandwiches on very thin bread go well (there's a type of bread literally called Very Thin, I think Pepperidge Farm sells it -- be warned, it gets stale VERY fast!). For tea I usually do egg salad and cucumber with cream cheese (I use a vegetable peeler to cut the cucumber the long way so the slices are very thin and then you can lay them so that the darker green of the skin is parallel and at equal intervals and it is VERY fancy -- this is basically what I do, and I use a serrated knife to cut off the edges and crusts to tidy them up a bit). Also very possible five-year-olds won't like them, but they do look fancy and tea-ish. Macarons are also good, and maybe something like mini-cupcakes or mini-bundt cakes and chocolate covered strawberries.
Make sure you have a tablecloth of some sort (or even, like, a cheesecloth, that's a cheap option that's very gauzy), and flowers are nice, and place cards add an air of formality if you'd like that. I agree that mismatched china is charming. This is perhaps overkill, but is there any chance you could get a fancy tea strainer and some looseleaf chamomile or something and pour the tea through the strainer to take out the leaves? So fancy and grown-up. Also perhaps silly but I really liked tiered serving things for tea. They feel special to me.
Good luck!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:48 PM on February 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Make sure you have a tablecloth of some sort (or even, like, a cheesecloth, that's a cheap option that's very gauzy), and flowers are nice, and place cards add an air of formality if you'd like that. I agree that mismatched china is charming. This is perhaps overkill, but is there any chance you could get a fancy tea strainer and some looseleaf chamomile or something and pour the tea through the strainer to take out the leaves? So fancy and grown-up. Also perhaps silly but I really liked tiered serving things for tea. They feel special to me.
Good luck!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:48 PM on February 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
You could have a bin of costume accoutrements like little lace gloves, hats, sparkly costume jewelry, etc that they could accessorize with when they first get there.
Maybe make a camomile tea and then cut it with some juice (like, a fancier juice than normal... blueberry, maybe? Or pear? You can get a wider variety in the hippy natural section of most grocery stores).
Also, you’re an amazing aunt! I love this!
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:52 PM on February 13, 2019 [4 favorites]
Maybe make a camomile tea and then cut it with some juice (like, a fancier juice than normal... blueberry, maybe? Or pear? You can get a wider variety in the hippy natural section of most grocery stores).
Also, you’re an amazing aunt! I love this!
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:52 PM on February 13, 2019 [4 favorites]
Oh, and sparkly accessories for their stuffed animal “guests,” too!
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:55 PM on February 13, 2019
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:55 PM on February 13, 2019
How long do you have before this party? Because I did tea party party favours in these pink and blue paper teapots and they were brilliant. Mine shipped from China and were purchased well in advance, but probably similar is on Ebay in the US.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:06 PM on February 13, 2019
posted by DarlingBri at 1:06 PM on February 13, 2019
Tiny little sandwiches are a must on thin white bread, cut the crust off or use a cookie cutter for fun shapes. Cream cheese is a nice simple topping, adding sliced fresh strawberries makes it pretty & tasty. Make some fun combinations like PB & banana or apple, bacon & PB is great. Lemon curd, roast beef, ham & cheese, Nutella & raspberries. The traditional cucumber with a sprinkle of malt vinegar & buttered bread are lovely, but not everyones cup of tea. Fillings they'll giggle over while trying are always fun, but having a few PBJ for the fussy eaters might be nice. The idea is a selection of different flavors in tiny little nibbles.
Think tiny foods. Tiny cupcakes (many cupcake places will sell these or even supermarkets), tiny cookies. You can get packs of tiny cheese cake bites from costco that would be perfect, but even a tray of brownies cut into little inch wide bites would work. If you live near a bakery, some little pastries would be a hit with pretty much any kid I know, but even donut holes would be lovely served on a pretty plate from the second hand store.
Sugar cubes with tongs & a cream pourer is a must, if you can get a cow shaped one even better. Or you can get those sugar on stick things you can stir into coffees.
Scones & jam/jelly & cream are traditional. Or fresh strawberries & whipped cream.
Teacups & saucers as others have suggested from the opshop. Also don't forget tiny tea spoons and small plates to put the food on for serving. Think glassware that looks like crystal. If you don't have a tiered rack or a cake stand they are pretty easy to make stacking a pretty plate up on something solid so it looks fancy. Also doilies under everything, you can get paper ones. Fresh flowers on the table. OH and fairylights if you have them.
Make sure to address everyone as Miss/Ms Last name so it sound fancier and don't forget to hold your pinkies out when drinking tea.
posted by wwax at 1:08 PM on February 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Think tiny foods. Tiny cupcakes (many cupcake places will sell these or even supermarkets), tiny cookies. You can get packs of tiny cheese cake bites from costco that would be perfect, but even a tray of brownies cut into little inch wide bites would work. If you live near a bakery, some little pastries would be a hit with pretty much any kid I know, but even donut holes would be lovely served on a pretty plate from the second hand store.
Sugar cubes with tongs & a cream pourer is a must, if you can get a cow shaped one even better. Or you can get those sugar on stick things you can stir into coffees.
Scones & jam/jelly & cream are traditional. Or fresh strawberries & whipped cream.
Teacups & saucers as others have suggested from the opshop. Also don't forget tiny tea spoons and small plates to put the food on for serving. Think glassware that looks like crystal. If you don't have a tiered rack or a cake stand they are pretty easy to make stacking a pretty plate up on something solid so it looks fancy. Also doilies under everything, you can get paper ones. Fresh flowers on the table. OH and fairylights if you have them.
Make sure to address everyone as Miss/Ms Last name so it sound fancier and don't forget to hold your pinkies out when drinking tea.
posted by wwax at 1:08 PM on February 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Oh my goodness, these ideas are all so great and adorable (and achievable!). I am going to have lots of fun planning and hosting this :) Thank you all so much!
posted by just_ducky at 1:10 PM on February 13, 2019
posted by just_ducky at 1:10 PM on February 13, 2019
Seconding sparkly costume jewelry, like tiaras.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:14 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:14 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
One time I did a tea party with children and dolls, and I purchased mini sized everything- like mini m&ms, mini cupcakes, and I got mini tea sets too.
If you have a Trader Joe's near you, they have great options for tea party foods- including beautiful macarons for low price. If there is a Chinatown in your area, you would most likely find great things there for a tea party.
Thrift stores are totally your friend- you can get great dishes, and a lace curtain for a tablecloth.
Additionally, read "Tea Party Rules" by Ame Dyckman.
posted by momochan at 1:15 PM on February 13, 2019
If you have a Trader Joe's near you, they have great options for tea party foods- including beautiful macarons for low price. If there is a Chinatown in your area, you would most likely find great things there for a tea party.
Thrift stores are totally your friend- you can get great dishes, and a lace curtain for a tablecloth.
Additionally, read "Tea Party Rules" by Ame Dyckman.
posted by momochan at 1:15 PM on February 13, 2019
doilies!!!!
I did an alice in wonderland party for a friend, and I made some great decorations - there was a huge mason jar on the table full of colourful dollar-store candy.
I also made garlands out of playing cards. I got a few cheap packs and taped individual cards to a red ribbon, spaced about 6" apart, then hung the ribbons from the ceiling, looping all over the place. It was cheap and looked really fun and fancy.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:19 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
I did an alice in wonderland party for a friend, and I made some great decorations - there was a huge mason jar on the table full of colourful dollar-store candy.
I also made garlands out of playing cards. I got a few cheap packs and taped individual cards to a red ribbon, spaced about 6" apart, then hung the ribbons from the ceiling, looping all over the place. It was cheap and looked really fun and fancy.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:19 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
If it's nice outside, play croquet after which will burn off a little energy while very much still feel like it fits the theme of the day.
And fans! Fancy ladies at tea parties MUST carry fans (like these).
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 1:48 PM on February 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
And fans! Fancy ladies at tea parties MUST carry fans (like these).
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 1:48 PM on February 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Cloth napkins, as suggested above, mean cloth napkin animals. Youtube will help you immensely.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:03 PM on February 13, 2019
posted by Sunburnt at 2:03 PM on February 13, 2019
You might scour a thrift shop for some fancy dresses. Even if they are a little big, a dramatic grown up dress and possibly heels will add to the fun.
My mom threw a party for my daughter when she was about 6 like this and a friend of hers altered some old dresses so there were small enough to be managable and the girls loved it.
she also let them play with makeup and tons of costume (not TOY) jewelry.
posted by domino at 2:49 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
My mom threw a party for my daughter when she was about 6 like this and a friend of hers altered some old dresses so there were small enough to be managable and the girls loved it.
she also let them play with makeup and tons of costume (not TOY) jewelry.
posted by domino at 2:49 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Adding to the excellent advice upthread:
Feather boas for dressing up (available at craft stores)
Sprinkles (in the party's theme colors) on whatever possible: mini frosted cupcakes, white chocolate dipped cookies, mini cream puffs or eclairs (often found in frozen case at Aldi)
Edible flower garnish on foods where possible
Cream cheese and jelly sandwiches - with the crusts cut off, of course
Dang. Now I'm sad my nieces are grown up!
posted by sarajane at 3:13 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Feather boas for dressing up (available at craft stores)
Sprinkles (in the party's theme colors) on whatever possible: mini frosted cupcakes, white chocolate dipped cookies, mini cream puffs or eclairs (often found in frozen case at Aldi)
Edible flower garnish on foods where possible
Cream cheese and jelly sandwiches - with the crusts cut off, of course
Dang. Now I'm sad my nieces are grown up!
posted by sarajane at 3:13 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Google cream puff swans. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at these!
posted by antiquated at 7:27 PM on February 13, 2019
posted by antiquated at 7:27 PM on February 13, 2019
Oh, my, I've just acquired all my grandma's mismatched china cups. As kids we would get to pick out one, and we would be served tea with an enormous amount of sugar and milk. I LOVED IT.
Since doilies were mentioned, another favourite of mine was to "ice" a cake by shaking icing sugar through a sieve over a doily-covered cake. Perhaps a little participation to decorate this way to make a gorgeous lacy cake before the event? Could be done with cupcakes and tiny doilies so they each get to do a few?
I loved preparing the table and then coming as the guest ... perhaps part one is final touches in the kitchen, stage two is donning hats and dresses, stage three is tea?
posted by chapps at 9:43 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Since doilies were mentioned, another favourite of mine was to "ice" a cake by shaking icing sugar through a sieve over a doily-covered cake. Perhaps a little participation to decorate this way to make a gorgeous lacy cake before the event? Could be done with cupcakes and tiny doilies so they each get to do a few?
I loved preparing the table and then coming as the guest ... perhaps part one is final touches in the kitchen, stage two is donning hats and dresses, stage three is tea?
posted by chapps at 9:43 PM on February 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Bonus activity: Mary Poppins (for the floating tea party scene) or a reading of the Mad Hatter's excellent poems!
posted by chapps at 9:50 PM on February 13, 2019
posted by chapps at 9:50 PM on February 13, 2019
Yes, seconding chapps's idea because it maximizes dress-up opportunities as well as letting the girls share the behind-the-scenes fun parts! Get everything ready for final decoration, the girls get fancy aprons and/or chef's hats to wear while they put icing, sprinkles, etc. on comestibles, then serve stuffed animal guests at the table, then costume change into tiaras and pearls and whateverall, human guests join their toys for elegant tea, then after tea yet another change into their gloves and hats for croquet. And then maybe they get to leave with some of their new finery? Next year, new thrifted bling.
When they get a little older if you keep doing these, they can make their own pillbox hats. You just need posterboard, tape, and fabric and frippery to cover and beautify. Duct-tape a hair clip in the hat to affix, or just tie it on with a wide ribbon. My friend used to have everybody over to make hats New Year's Eve, and it was definitely the most fun part of the night.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:02 AM on February 14, 2019
When they get a little older if you keep doing these, they can make their own pillbox hats. You just need posterboard, tape, and fabric and frippery to cover and beautify. Duct-tape a hair clip in the hat to affix, or just tie it on with a wide ribbon. My friend used to have everybody over to make hats New Year's Eve, and it was definitely the most fun part of the night.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:02 AM on February 14, 2019
Such great ideas upthread--so excited to host one of these myself now.
For Very Fancy Hats without the glue gun: industrial-size coffee filters + food coloring.
posted by luckdragon at 4:59 AM on February 15, 2019
For Very Fancy Hats without the glue gun: industrial-size coffee filters + food coloring.
posted by luckdragon at 4:59 AM on February 15, 2019
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posted by chromium at 12:06 PM on February 13, 2019 [6 favorites]