tea parties

Maybe you’re not the tea party type.  I know I’m not.  But, alas, with a 5 year old girl in the house, I’m likely to be pulled into these things grudgingly.   Now for our three-year-old’s birthday I find myself turning to The Tea Party Book by Lucille Recht Penner. 

This book consists of recipes and craft ideas for themed tea parties including Teddy Bear Tea, Valentine Tea, Tea by the Sea, A Japanese Tea Party, Royal Tea Party, Full-Moon Tea Party, Garden Tea Party, Tiny Tea and Rainy Day Tea.   We’ve tried the Valentine Tea.  We made heart shaped sandwiches and pink pudding.     The sandwiches were creamcheese and strawberry and they were disgusting.  I recommend creamcheese and jelly instead. 

Tomorrow we’re making Tea by the Sea for Ulysses.  It recommends lemondade with lemon slices, mini hot dogs and icecream sandies and some other trappings like fishbowl centerpieces.  We are going to add an indoor kiddy pool for a winter swim but we won’t be going through the extensive shenanigans to create the indoor fishbowl.

 So, like all good recipe books, you must pick and choose.  I find that the themes are good to a point, after that you have to improvise.  But the book is well-organized and easy to flip through for a child.  It’s nicely illustrated so it’s fun for a kid to look through and pick out ideas.  If anything the difficulty will be keeping them to one or two good ideas and then following through.  I recommend the book for any family with a child or as a gift, perhaps with a teaset accompanying it.