Boy/Girl Tea Party, Part 2

Much delayed, but here is the second instalment on our boy/girl inclusive tea party! (If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.)

Setting the Table


Knowing that I was likely to host several more kiddie tea parties, I left my "grown-up" finery safe in the cupboard, and instead checked the thrift store for cheap and child-sized tableware. Our table boasted:

• assorted small "tea" cups and saucers, which I think were originally intended as espresso cups, but that happened to be a nice small size;
• assorted mini glass dishes --some were probably punch glasses, others were tiny dessert glasses, and I think one was an oversized jigger;
• colourful paper napkins that we already had on hand;
• and a lovely tablecloth, hand-embroidered with ... teapots! (Okay, I admit, the tablecloth I picked up in the summer. I just couldn't let that nice stitch-work languish in a thrift store!)

No joke, the cups/saucers and glassware totalled less than $1 per guest, and the tablecloth was the most expensive single item at $7.99.

Food

Although our theme was "a cupcake tea party," we decided to offer more fare than just sweets. And because I wanted to try the "Mad Hatter" tea party game, we served the food in courses. Our menu was:

• thinly-sliced veggie sticks --carrot, celery and red pepper-- served upright in the individual glassware with a small shot of dressing in the bottom;
• a combination of cubed fruit on skewers;
• and, last but not least, cupcakes and two kinds of tea, both herbal --one camomile, and one chocolate spice.

Cupcakes

My boys requested that we make "bat" cupcakes (another idea from Chirp magazine), and I thought they'd be nicely complemented by some "butterfly" cupcakes, inspired by those found in the kids' cookbook Cook It Together by Annabel Karmel. Both were a hit!

We decorated the bats with Smarties eyes, jelly bean mouth with sunflower seeds for fangs and dried mango as the wings. The butterflies had two half-cookie "wings" piped with a butterfly outline in chocolate.

The party was such fun, and I'm looking forward to inviting guests for a springtime tea party!