A Tea Party birthday

A tea party is a wonderful birthday party for a little girl. Turning 5 at my house is a big deal! When my first daughter turned five, I wanted to have a very special birthday party for her and her friends. We threw a fabulous tea party for 12! It really was a hit with all the kids. She invited 10 little girls and one boy. He was a good sport and acted as an escort for all the girls. We had the kids dress up--either in fancy clothes or dress up clothes and had a wonderful time. Read on to find out how you too can celebrate your daughter (at any age) by hosting a tea party!

I got enough of these sets so that I had a tea cup and saucer for each guest. I painted a simple flower and each guest's name on a tea cup and saucer. I painted the tea pots to match and used them for the party too. The kids used their tea cups during the tea party and then they took theirs home as a party favor. They LOVED these. Five years later, my daughter still has hers.

Made from the Schilling Paint Your Own Tea set above

I painted the cups and plates and saucers before the party with each guest's name on them. Then the girls could use them for the tea party and take them home as favors afterwards. They were a big hit! I painted the teapot and creamer and sugar dish to match, and my daughter kept them for years to remember her tea party.

You can make a tea pot birthday cake. I used a glass batter bowl to bake my cake. Use 2 cake mixes and bake this bowl cake twice. Then place one cake upside down on top of the other one. I used a Pampered Chef mini tart shaper to make the spout. I colored vanilla icing pink and iced it all (including the spout). I used a Twizzlers licorice coated in icing for the handle of the tea pot. Then I used sugar letters to write happy birthday on the front and purple icing to make a flower decoration. The flower decoration matched the flowers that I painted on the tea cups and saucers. (As I learned, I would not put the spout on until the morning of the party as it can sag overnight.)

I took picture of each guest with my daughter as the guests arrived. Then I printed these out on my computer. As one of the activities, we made simple foam picture frames. Each guest could take home a frame with a picture of herself and the birthday girl. I put a magnet strip on the back of each frame so the girls could put them on their refrigerators at home.

• Pin the tea bag on the tea cup (Draw a large tea cup on a piece of posterboard and use real tea bags to "pin" them onto the tea cup. Play this game like pin the tail on the donkey.)
• Make your own photo frame (I cut frames from fun foam and then had foam letters and flower sticker the girls could decorate their frames with. I took a picture of each girl with the birthday girl, printed them on my computer and sent them home in their frame.)
• Sugar Cube Stack (Give each guest a pile of sugar cubes and have them build a tower as high as they can in a certain amount of time. The guest with the highest tower wins.)
• Dress Up Fashion Show (Have your guests arrive in dress up clothes or provide hats, scarves, gloves and more for them to put on. Then hold a fashion show for each other. Take pictures!)

I had the tea party mid-afternoon, so I served light sandwiches and cookies and other treats. I made delightful sandwiches using bread baked in a flowered bread tube. I cut the flowered bread into slices and made simple pb&j sandwiches and egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches. I also baked pretty cookies and had mints in candy dishes on the table. Serve all the food on fancy glass platters. We served hot tea with sugar cubes or iced tea (from tea pots of course!) Juice was also available to those who didn't like tea. Of course we also had tea pot cake and ice cream!

One of the most important things at your tea party is pretty food. Even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is fun and festive when it is made with flowered shaped bread! You can serve individual mini cakes and pretty cookies. The tools you need are below!