Tea Party

I will be trying to plan a group activity for the elementary school kids once a week.  

I am doing this to give them something to look forward to each week and to help with some of the after school chaos.  It also helps the kids relax and let go of the stressful school week. 

Youtube video explaining the tea party

This week we had a Tea Party! 

I watch two kids aside from my own during the school week and I also invited some cousins to join us for tea. 

I asked that the girls wear dresses 

And the boys wear collared shirts

I did talk to the kids about traditional tea parties.  That ladies and gentlemen would get together for tea and sandwiches and socialize. 

We briefly talked about what behaviors ladies and gentlemen show. 

So the kids tried their best to be gentlemen and ladies :)

They even held out their pinky's!

Supplies

• 2 tea sets (found at good will)
• mint candy centerpiece
• tea sample box 
• serving tray
• spoons
• napkins

Not many supplies are needed to throw a tea party.  Of course you can go as extreme as you want and decorate as fancy as you'd like but I was trying to keep it simple. 

To make the mint centerpiece I bought two different mint types. One type had more vibrant colored mints, the other were more pastel. I also bought some dark chocolate mints, because who doesn't want dark chocolate. 

My centerpiece dish was too big for the amount of candy I bought so I placed a glass in the middle of the dish upside down to take up some space.  I ended up having the perfect amount of candy to fill the dish this way. 

For food I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ham and cheese sandwiches.  I cut each sandwich into quarter triangles.  This making each sandwich more of a finger food and giving the kids the option to eat some of each. 

Before the kids came downstairs we set up the tea cups and the table.  They giggled as they entered the room! 

I don't have a tea kettle so we warmed up some water on the stove and ladled it out into each cup.  Then the kids picked their tea bags. from the sampler. 

They added their tea bags and then passed the sugar cubes around and each took 2.  They stirred their tea and oohed and ahhed at the color change. 

Then it was taste testing time! 

Most of the kids enjoyed their tea, it was pretty much hot punch.  There were a couple who didn't like it and we gave them some punch.  After their first cups we allowed a second cup of tea or a cup of punch.  

The kids drank their tea ate their sandwiches, then enjoyed some mints and cookies.  

Tea party success!