Boy/Girl Tea Party, Part 1

Let me be clear: I love having four boys. But not having a girl does deny me the option of certain experiences, like shopping for pretty frocks, making pretty crafts, playing with pretty dolls.  Well, I decided, that's life. But --boys or no boys, girl or no girl-- I refuse to be denied tea parties.

Guest List
My oldest and I began by drafting the guest list, trying to balance numbers of boys and girls. We ended up inviting an equal number of each, with four girls accepting and two boys (a third did as well, but in the end couldn't make it), plus my three out of four boys.

the finished product

Invitations
We decided on the theme of a "cupcake tea party." (That way I was only on the hook for producing cupcakes, should time, focus or inspiration fail me.) For invitations, we cut out cupcake shapes from construction paper, with the bottom and top from different colours, and glued them together. Then I simply hand-wrote the details with a coloured pen.

cupcake tops to cut out

Activities
I must admit I was not enthused by most of the activity ideas I found, as a lot was geared for girls (like makeup stations or crafting a handbag) or, if boys were the focus, the "tea party" aspect was largely overshadowed by the addition of pirate or monster themes. (Arrgh, matey! Pass the sugar, or I'll make ye walk the plank!) Nope and nope.

But in the end, a little inspiration and imagination gave us some fun activities:

Decorating Hats

• hats were thrift store finds, various kinds/styles
• kids chose their hat and the decorations from an assortment of feathers, sequins, pipe cleaners, pompoms, ribbon, foamy shapes
• parent-helper used a hot glue gun to attach the embellishments

Tea Cup Treasure Hunt

• kids were let loose to find the tea cups for the party hidden through the house
• certain rooms were off-limits (like the kitchen)
• hunters were instructed that no objects needed to be moved/opened to find the cups; all were in "plain sight"

Mad Hatter Tea

• similar idea to Musical Chairs, but always having the same number of chairs as players (i.e. no one is "out")
• at the start of each course, before serving the food, music is played and kids walk around the table; when the music stops, each kid sits down in the chair s/he is at and stays at that seat until the next round
• I must confess that this one did not actually work at our party. I faced a near-unanimous mutiny. But I still think it's a great idea. Link to the original idea is here.

All right, there were some pirates present.. but very well behaved.

Next instalment: Setting The Table and Food