Tea Birthday Party Ideas

Tea birthday party theme works well for "girls-only" celebration. It's a great opportunity to demonstrate their elegance and poise.

Here I have included some party ideas for you to consider. Have a browse and pick the ones that work best for your situation. Enjoy!

Resources:

Invitations

Take a picture of your child dressed in elegant clothes and serving tea. Then print copies of your tea birthday party invitations with a photo of your child on the front.

Write party details, and put the invitations into envelopes. Tie tulle in a bow around envelopes, and hand-deliver the invitations with your child.

You tea party invitations can say "Tasty cakes and pretty clothes. Dresses tied with ribbons and hats trimmed with bows. Little dainty dishes and cups filled with tea. It's my __th Birthday - please come and celebrate with me! Dolls and stuffed animals are welcome!" Then include date, time, address, etc.

For a different idea, you can purchase or cut out teapot-shaped cards. Then write party details on the cards, add tea bags, and mail the invitations out.

Decorations

Remember to keep all the tea party decorations light and elegant!

Hang a sign outside your house that says "Welcome to (your child's name) Tea Birthday Party!" Hang some pink and silver helium balloons in bunches outside your house.

Decorate your party room ceiling and walls with pastel-colored paper streamers. Spread some helium balloons inside the house - this will create a nice, elegant look!

Table decoration should be the focal point for the tea birthday party. Cover the table with a pretty tablecloth. If you like, spread a sheet of clear, stiff plastic (available at fabric stores) over the cloth to protect it from spills.

For dishes, use tea set and inexpensive china cups, saucers and plates. Don't worry if the teacups don't match - a variety of patterns will add color and interest to the table setting.

Set out fancy dinner napkins and gold or silver napkin rings. If you don't want to use real silverware, buy fancy plastic cutlery at a party store. Line plates with doilies and include a colorful vase of crepe paper or freshly cut flowers.

If you're having your tea birthday party outside, put tables in a shady place. Hang flowers around the tables on a post to give the party a fancier look. If the guests are old enough, light candles and place them on the table.

Guest Arrival and Introductory Activities

*Sign in: Set out a nice guest book with a feathered pen. Ask all your tea birthday party guests to sign in their names, as they arrive.

*Jewelry Nibblers: For this tea birthday party activity you'll need edible candy with holes (e.g., gummy rings, Cheerios, Lifesavers, etc).

Separate the candy into different bowls. Provide the kids with some stretchy cords or shoestring licorice. Then have your little guests thread the candies, creating edible bracelets and necklaces.

*Butterfly Tote Bag Activity: You can get a special Butterfly Tote Bag craft kit from a party store. Let the kids decorate their bags with glitter, sparkling gems, and other decorative materials.

Favors

Get nice looking paper or plastic bags. Fill them with your tea party favors. The items can include necklaces, sticker sheets, teapot blowouts, mini teacups and saucers, feather gel pens, etc. Decorate the bags with sequins and glitter.

Tea Birthday Party Games

*Tea-Hee!: Have your tea birthday party guests sit in a circle. Birthday child starts with whispering a message to a person next to her, and then the message is being whispered all around the room. The last person will say the message out loud. Watch the kids giggle as they compare it to the original message.

*Perfect Poise: During this tea birthday party game, the kids will be tested on how graceful they walk.

Prepare some dish towels, and have the kids walk from one side of the room to the other side keeping a folded dish towel on their head (without using hands). When they complete their challenge, put one more towel on their head - they have to continue walking in this manner until the pile of towels falls. The child who keeps the most towels on her head - wins.

*Tea-Spoon Relay: Select a racing area for this tea birthday party activity. Mark one end with start/finish line and the other end with a table. Arrange two tea settings on the table. For each, place a teapot filled with warm water, teacup, spoon, tea bag, sugar cubes, and container of milk.

Divide children into two teams. On the command "Go", the first player from each team runs to the table and fills the cup with water from the teapot, inserts the tea bag into the cup, grabs the spoon and runs back (holding only the spoon in her hand).

Then the first player passes the spoon to the second player, who then runs to the table, removes the tea bag from the cup, and runs back with a spoon.

The third player grabs a spoon from her teammate, runs to the table, stirs milk into the tea, and runs back.

The remaining players take turns in adding sugar cubes to the tea with their spoons. The team to finish first (with all the players doing one leg of the relay) - wins.

*Decorative Hair Accessories: Have hair accessories such as plain headbands and/or barrettes around your tea party area.

Allow time for each guest to choose their hair accessory. Have the kids glue on various decorative materials (e.g., sequins, jewels, glitter, bows, ribbon roses, buttons, etc.) to make unique hair accessories. It's best to use tacky glue or glue gun. (Make sure that you use caution handling glue gun).

*Sifting for Gems: Reveal a shoebox filled with sand (or white cornmeal) with hidden plastic rhinestones. Pass the shoebox around so each girl can stick her hand in the sand and sift through it to reveal a rhinestone.

*Makeup Center: Put makeup items on the table. You can use nail polish, lip gloss, stick-on fingernail decorations, etc.

Let the girls take turns in putting on the makeup. Stand by so that you can help them put on eye shadow, blush, lip gloss, and fingernail stickers.

*Dress-Up Fun: For this tea birthday party activity, you'll need large baskets or boxes, an assortment of accessories and clothes (e.g., feather boas, hats, scarves, capes, shawls, belts, costume jewelry, barrettes, headbands, shoes, purses, etc).

Before the party, sort similar items in large boxes or baskets. At game time, let children go through the boxes to find things to wear. Have the girls dress up and put on a Fashion Show (see next activity).

*Fashion Show: Start out by marking a runway on the floor with a masking tape. Have girls wear jewelry along with clothing you've provided (see previous activity). As guests line up to walk down the runway, play some elegant music in the background. Comment on what each girl is wearing as she walks down the runway.

*Adorn Your Dolly: Let the kids dress up their dolls or stuffed animals with clothes that they can make themselves out of colored paper, or scraps of fancy fabric. Provide lots of tape for "sewing" pieces together. Next, invite everyone to tea. You can include place settings for dolls and stuffed toys, or design a smaller table especially for miniature guests.

Kids' Tea Party Cakes:

*Teapot Cake: Prepare "handle" and "spout" pieces a couple of days in advance. Purchase fondant, which you can color and form into correct shapes. Use thin dowels cut into 5- and 8-inch lengths, which you insert into spout and handle before setting them aside to dry.

Bake two cakes - one in large glass batter bowl, and the other one - in 8" round pan. Spread frosting on the 8" layer. Then place the dome-shaped cake on top. Frost the cake, and then place the handle and spout pieces on the teapot.

Tea Birthday Party Food Ideas:

*Pinwheel Sandwiches: Cut away the crust from bread slices. (You can use white or whole wheat bread.) Spread various sandwich fillings over each slice.

Roll up the bread tightly. Cut each slice into fourths and secure with a toothpick. Cover and keep chilled until serving time.

*Gelatin Flowers: You'll need two different 6-oz packages of flavored gelatin.

In a bowl, pour 1 cup of boiling water over one flavored gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Repeat the procedure in the other bowl with remaining gelatin. Pour each gelatin mixture into a baking pan. Chill for at least three hours.

Place each pan in warm water for 15 seconds to loosen the gelatin. Use the cookie cutter to cut out flower shapes. Arrange the gelatin flowers on a serving dish.

*Elegant Fruit Platter: Add a little elegance to a fruit platter by making lemon roses. Just cut around a lemon to form a thin spiral of peel. Make the spiral as long as you can.

Starting at one end of the peel, begin curling to make the shape of a rose. Place three or four lemon roses on a platter filled with bite-sized pieces of fruit. Poke toothpicks in fruit pieces to make them easier (and more fun) to eat.

*"Kids Tea Party" Finger Foods: Prepare some more finger foods. Spread peanut butter on Ritz crackers. Place thinly sliced banana pieces on the crackers. Top some of the banana pieces with another cracker.

Serve candies, mints, nuts, and chocolates in decorative glass bowls or trays.

*Elegant Cookies: Prepare and serve cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar over top.

*Miniature Pizza: Cut pizza into mini-slices.
*Scones
*Biscotti
*Cinnamon Buns

Tea Birthday Party Drink Ideas:

*Tea, tea, and more Tea: Serve various kinds of tea (e.g., White, English, Kukicha, Earl Grey, Oolong, etc.)
*Sparkling Apple Juice (served in fancy flutes).
*Pink Lemonade