Tips, Tricks and Tidbits for hosting a Fabulous Little Girl’s Tea Party

My oldest daughter, Grace, turned eight last month and she desperately wanted to have a tea party with her girlfriends.  She was hoping that everything would be pink, girly and super fun for the celebration.  She and I had a quick brainstorming / Pinterest searching session and decided that we wanted to have some yummy foods, make some fun crafts, have a couple of games with prizes and most importantly she wanted her party to have a welcoming feeling.  Here are some of the tips, tricks and tidbits that we learned along the way that you can use for hosting your own fabulous little girl’s tea party:

You’re not hosting the queen of England, this is a child’s party.  Keep that in mind while you do your shopping: it does not need to be perfect.  I chose most of my tea cups, saucers and teapots from my local thrift stores.  I love the mismatched look and I definitely love the price!  And because I knew that drops, spills and breaks tend to be inevitable when you have a group of that many little girls I decided to use paper plates and napkins.  We set a ring pop on each tea cup place setting just for an added touch of whimsy.  I picked up some “crystal” serving platters from the dollar store, but the girls didn’t seem to mind (or even notice).  Each chair back was draped with a fun feather boa and a necklace that the girls took home as part of their favors.  It served double duty, bringing color and excitement to the setting when the girls arrived.

Food can make or break a party!  I always try to have a plethora of delicious (and super non-healthy) snacks on all tables so that they can grab a handful of M&Ms or popcorn while they are working on crafts or chatting away.  For Grace’s tea party, we served lemonade, fruit punch, tea (of course!), pink and red M&Ms, popcorn, Doritos, pink candy corn, and the all important chocolate fountain with treats to dip.  I can’t tell you how excited children get when they see that wonderful waterfall of chocolatey goodness.  And really, I don’t blame them because I get just as, if not more, excited!  Food is a natural ice breaker, will keep the kids entertained while you are busy gearing up for the next activity and will send them home with a fantastic sugar high that their parents will be so annoyed excited by.

Homemade decor is pretty much the most awesome thing, if you ask me.  You can customize sizes, shapes, colors, etc to be the perfect match for your party.  I made paper rosettes, spray painted thrift store tea pots, made a fabric banner and even tissue paper pom poms.  I’ll have tutorials up soon for the pom poms and rosettes, but I can tell you now that they are super simple but add a lot of life to a room.  The fabric banner was also a quick and easy project.  I bought 1/4 yard each of four coordinating fabrics and cut two different shapes from each and just sewed a zig zag stitch across the top.

Little girls are notorious for loving cheesy, silly games and crafts, so take advantage and come up with some fun themed activities.  We chose to paint heart shaped picture frames and decorate tea mugs, both of which went home with each girl as favors.  We also played two cute games, both races, with a small nail polish and Rainbow Looms set as a prize for the winners.  For the first race, we had three sugar cubes set on a spoon and the girls had to race while keeping their cubes on the spoon.  I nerdily called this one “Sugar Rush.”  And the second game went along the same lines, having the girls balance books on their heads while racing.  They all giggled and had a great time.  PS: Sorry for the creepy smiley faces on all of those cute girls, I chose not to try to contact each parent and make sure that they wouldn’t mind their kiddo’s face plastered all over the internet.  🙂

And my last little tidbit is that you don’t have to be a master cake decorator to pull off a sweet and sassy rose cake.  There are tons of Youtube videos out there showing you exactly how to re-create this look.  I was intimidated at first, because cake decorating is just not my thing, but it was incredibly easy and so forgiving of mistakes.

Make sure to take the time to look around and take it all in.  I was so lucky to get to see how excited my daughter was with the outcome of her party and know that I had a hand in creating it.  Don’t beat yourself up if things aren’t perfect because the kids will more than likely not even notice.  Be the loudest voice singing “Happy Birthday” to your special kiddo.  As parents, we only have a short time span where they want us there and involved in their parties, so take advantage and live it up while you can.

And definitely, most importantly of all, EAT CAKE!

Linked at Savvy Southern Style, Ginger Snap Crafts, DIY By Design, Everyday Home, Seasoned Homemaker, Crafty Allie, Practically Functional, Design Dining and Diapers and The Turquoise Home