Name: Maya (3)
Location: Phoenixville, PA
We celebrated my daughter's third birthday with a Toddler Tea Party. Twelve little girls arrived in their frilliest dresses for tea on a sunny Saturday morning.
As the guests arrived, they sat down at a long table dressed with pink and white linens and bouquets of fresh flowers. I made the tea table by pushing together a few LACK side tables from Ikea. They cost about $10.00 each and they are the perfect height to fit children's chairs.
The first thing we did was decorate cookies. I scattered sugar cookies on vintage silver-plated trays with shiny bowls of mini candies and bottles of pink and green buttercream icing for the kids to decorate their own cookies. As the girls designed their candy creations, I served herbal tea and apple juice in pretty pots. Afterwards, the girls played musical chairs and freeze dance.
For brunch, I piled mini-muffins and assorted triangle tea sandwiches on vintage tiered trays. The strawberry cream cheese muffins and egg salad sandwiches were a big hit with both the kids and adults. As the party was winding down, I sent each child home with a unique party favor - a personalized Lenox tea cup! I picked up a box of Lenox tea cups at a flea market for just a few dollars. I painted each guest's name on the cup in pink acrylic paint. I tucked in their custom designed cookies and tied it up with a bow for a truly unique party favor.
Thanks Anne! Readers, visit Anne at The Maker Girl.
(Images: Anne Dale)
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This looks lovely. I'm astonished, though, that three-year-olds were able to handle the frosting and decorations with so little mess! Seriously--there isn't even a little errant icing on the plates beside the cookies, let alone in the kids' hair! I don't think my piping skills are nearly that good...what's the secret?
Hi SPLITTY, The girls did great with the icing! I used a homemade buttercream frosting and poured it into empty ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles. (You can buy them at dollar stores and some grocery stores) I snipped the tip off so the icing came out a little thicker. Much easier to handle than a pastry bag!
I'll have to give it a try!
This is so cute; you pulled it off really nicely. I was just talking to my girls tonight about doing a tea party birthday this year, so I hope you don't mind if I borrow some of your ideas!
I was wondering about the icing, too - I did a similar thing with gingerbread men, icing, and bowls of m&ms for toddler boys, once...talk about mayhem! But this looks gorgeous, and the ketchup bottle idea is genius!
Thanks for sharing.