Tea Party Themes for Your Child’s Birthday

A little girl in a feathered red hat and pink boa pulls on smooth white gloves that go to her shoulders. “Such lovely weather we’re having, isn’t it bear?” She tips the pink rosebud teapot and pours imaginary tea into little cups with chipped handles as a steady stream of ever so polite conversation continues. She seats herself at the low table smiling at each of her guests: Bear, the best friend a girl ever had, Zippy, the monkey who forever tried her patience with his antics, and Louie, the sweet baby elephant she rescued from a gift shop at the zoo sit around the table mesmerized. The quaint scene of children sharing pretend tea with all their friends brings smiles to faces and fond memories of another time. Tea, tea parties, taking tea in the parlor conjures up images of formality and polite etiquette of a by gone era. Yet, tea has made a resounding comeback with teahouses, teashops, and people once again sharing tea with friends and family. Every little girl loves a tea party. Bring her child imagination into reality; throw a Birthday Tea Party for your little girl with frills in abundance.

Theme: Think of a theme to base the Birthday Tea Party around. Take into consideration the time of year of your child’s birthday and what could be tied into it. Spring is a wonderful time for tea parties with flowers blooming everywhere, baby animals being born, and everything magical about this time of the year coming into full view. Suggestions: A Fairy Tea Party would incorporate all things fairy and small. Daffy Down Dilly Tea Party gives a nod to daffodils and the color yellow. Summer yields ideas around a water theme, such as Tea at the Beach, which requires a less formal tea but endless possibilities. A Peter Rabbit Tea would enchant even Mr. McGregor. A December birthday theme might be Tea and the Sugar Plum Fairy, using ideas gleaned from the Nutcracker. I’m going to use A Tisket, A Tasket A Green and Yellow Basket for my theme. That little phrase alone provides me a treasure trove of ideas to use for the party.

Invitations: At least three weeks before the party you’ll want to send out invitations. It is recommended that children’s party invitations be mailed or delivered at homes rather than hand delivered at school. Be aware of all children’s feelings when it comes to parties and other festive occasions. You can make simple invitations or buy a package of note cards, blank on the inside that ties in with your theme. A simple invitation for the theme A Tisket, a Tasket a Green and Yellow basket includes: purchasing tiny, inexpensive baskets; yellow, purple and grass green satin ribbon; purple tissue paper and a few sheets of white stationery. Decorate the baskets with the ribbon by wrapping the handles or just tying a bow. Combine all three colors of ribbon for each basket. Place a square of purple tissue paper into the basket; tuck it around so it forms a bowl. Cut the stationery so it will fit inside the basket when rolled up. Write or type on each square of stationery: A Tisket, A Tasket a Green and Yellow Basket Tea Party in honor of Janie Doe will be held on May 3rd, 2006 at 3 o’clock until 4:30 in the afternoon. Please bring your favorite stuffed animal to join in the celebration of Janie’s 5th birthday! Roll up the invitation and tie a ribbon with a bow around it. Place the invitation in the basket. You can add a variety of things to the basket such a silk violets or pansies. A live Johnny Jump-Up plant wrapped in plastic and tissue would look sweet in the basket. A bit of candy or a cookie gives a hint of sweet things to come. These invitations would need to be delivered to the home of each child invited.

Decorations: The decorations will depend on where you have the party. If you have a lovely spot out of doors and it’s warm enough keep the decorations simple. If you’re indoors and want to add festive touches such as banners, balloons, or create a garden like atmosphere, you’ll need a lot more decorations. I like to keep things simple with a belief that less is more. A green, purple, and yellow balloon bouquet tied to the back of each child’s chair with a satin ribbon makes a room or area outside smile. Remember this is a tea not just a birthday party. For the centerpieces, fill small baskets with violets, daffodils, green mosses, and tiny toys such as child teacups and saucers and tiny teapots. Make sure there is a toy for each child sitting at the table. A white tablecloth with colored napkins and plates that go along with the party theme will look great. If you don’t fear something being broken you can always use your dishes. You can make the tea party as informal or formal as you wish. Just remember these are children who will be having tea. Set up a table for gifts with a basket to catch birthday cards.

Menu: A traditional tea usually consists of Savories, Scones, and Sweets. Savories are diminutive sandwiches or crackers with a variety of toppings. Small appetizers could be used under the savory heading. Scones are a rich quick bread served with Devonshire cream, clotted cream, lemon curd, jams or jellies. The sweets at a tea can be cookies, pies, cake, brownies, puddings, anything dessert like. For A Tisket, a Tasket a Green and Yellow Basket Tea party tiny sandwiches of thinly spread peanut butter and grape jelly cut into triangles with the crusts cut off. Flower shaped sandwiches using egg salad as the spread. Scones with lemon curd and clotted cream will be served along with petite fours decorated like small baskets with violets and a bumblebee on the top. The traditional birthday cake will be served also and placed on the gift table as an added decoration. Pink tea and Vanilla milk tea will complete the menu.

Recipes: Following are the recipes and suggestions-
Pink Tea: Make a strawberry punch or pink lemonade.

Vanilla Milk Tea: Yields 4 to 5 servings
1 cup of milk
1 2-inch piece of vanilla bean, split
4 teaspoons English breakfast tea
1 quart boiling water
Pour the milk in a small saucepan, add the vanilla bean, and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Remove from the pan from the heat and let it stand until the milk is cool. Remove the bean.
Warm a teapot and teacups with hot water. Drain and dry them.
Put the tea leaves in the teapot and add the boiling water. Cover with a tea towel or cozy and steep for 5 minutes.
Pour about a ¼ cup of the cooled milk into the teacups.
Stir and strain the tea into the hot cups. Serve right away.
– Recipe from The Charms of Tea (p 47)

Savories: Use a loaf of Pepperidge Farm thin sliced bread. This bread is heartier bread that holds up well when being shaped. Cut off the crusts.

For the peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches, spread a thin layer of peanut butter on one side of a slice of bread. Spread the jelly on top. Place another slice of bread on the jelly. Cut into small triangles.

Egg Salad Flower Sandwiches: Make or buy your favorite egg salad. Cut flower shapes from the thin sliced bread with a cookie cutter, spread with egg salad, leave open faced, but add a center with a small bit of cut up dill or chives.

Other suggestions for sandwich fillings: Cream cheese or flavored cream cheese, tuna or chicken salad, thin sliced ham or turkey. One you’ve made the sandwiches, keep them fresh by covering them with damp paper towels and wrapped in plastic wrap.

Sweet Lemon Scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 ½ tablespoons butter
1 8-ounce carton low fat lemon yogurt
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425o Stir together flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir together the lemon yogurt, egg yolks, and lemon peel. Add to the flour mixture and stir lightly with a fork. Add cream 1 tablespoon at a time until dough begins to clump together. Gather dough on lightly floured surface and knead just three or four times or until the dough holds together. (Do not overwork!) Pat dough into a rectangle about ¾ inch thick and cut with a 2-inch round cookie cutter. Place scones on ungreased cookie sheet and brush tops with beaten egg whites. Bake for 10 minutes or until light brown. Serve warm. Makes approximately 16 scones. Make smaller scones than recommended in the recipe keeping in mind the appetite of little ones. Adjust the time of baking for the size.

The scones can be frozen before baking. Place on cookie sheet in freezer until firm, then put into plastic bag and keep frozen until ready to bake. Add just a few extra minutes to the baking time.

Serve Devonshire or clotted cream with the scones. You can find these items, along with lemon curd at specialty stores and in some supermarkets. Following is a recipe for Mock Devonshire Cream:

½ cup heavy cream or 8 ounces softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
½ cup sour cream
In a chilled bowl, beat cream until medium-stiff peaks form, adding sugar during the last few minutes of beating. (If you are using cream cheese, just stir together with sugar.) Fold in sour cream and blend. Makes 1 ½ cups.
– Recipes from If Teacups Could Talk by Emilie Barnes (p 23 & 65)

Sweets: Order dainty Petite Fours decorated in a basket weave with violets, green leaves, and a bumblebee on the top. I would also consider purchasing small boxes that a petit four would fit in so the children could take them home. Bring out the traditional birthday cake of your choice with great fanfare, have your little one blow out the candles and serve a slice to all the guests.

Serving: I recommend adult supervision throughout the party and if the tea is hot an adult should serve it. If you can get a hold of a couple little tables for the children to sit at that would be great. Arrange the table with the centerpiece basket in the middle, but leave plenty of room for a plate of sandwiches, scones, and the cream.

For Fun: Gather up all kinds of fun dress up clothes for the children to put on when they arrive for the tea party. Ask friends, parents, and grandparents if they have “dress up” clothes they’d like to get rid of. Take a trip to a thrift shop or second hand shop to look for feather boas, high heels, gloves, costume jewelry, anything that a little girl would love to dress up in. Each child was asked to bring a stuffed friend. If there’s time, have them each introduce their “friend” and tell a little story about him/her.

Sharing tea with friends is a grand pleasure, indeed. Even if those friends are five and six years old or are covered in fur and filled with stuffing. Just remember to plan well and have fun during the preparing and during the party itself.