what to serve at a tea party?

[elephantmeg]

I'm having a princess tea party for DD's 5th b-day next weekend and I'm torn as to what to serve for the beverage. We ended up having to invite all the girls from her daycare-so ranging from 2-5 year olds. I have princess paper cups and some play kitchen type tea cups and some regular tea cups.

I can't decide whether to do
a herbal tea mostly cool
juice
regular tea with milk and sugar (mostly cool as well)
some combination? Tea with milk and sugar and then apple juice or something in a tea pot? My kids aren't really fond of herbal tea so I'm not sure if other kids will be...

For food I am doing:
mini quiches from costco
mini sandwiches cup up cute
pear "mice" (where you use 1/2 a pear and then ears out of almond slices and a nose and eyes out of raisins, and a twizzler tail)
maybe chocolate dipped strawberries
crinkle cut carrots and dip
mini scones if I get to them
and then a castle cake

And any other ideas for a princess party are also welcome! We're having a lot of fun planning this party!

[dowlinal]

I've always served apple juice and/or pink lemonade from the teapot at a tea party.

[JustMe]

I was also going to suggest lemonade, but pink lemonade sounds even better.

[Seitvonzu]

my mother served slightly warmed apple juice out of a teapot when she threw a "tea party" over this past christmas-- the kids were totally cool with it.

my kid (5) would be cool with herbal tea. her favorite is anything mint. *shrug* she's sorta weird :)

she'd also be cool with regular tea with milk/sugar.

when i did a mini-tea party when she turned two i served the kids pink lemonade.i believe it was "fizzy"-- my child is big on that, but not everyone's kid likes that.

your menu sounds so fun! have a blast :)

[wellyes]

I think herbal tea is awesome for little kids, but, I bet most mothers would expect you to serve apple juice.
Sounds like a fun party!

If my turning-5 DD and her friends are typical, then every princess loves to go to a ball after tea (let them hop around to music).

[ang79]

Both my girls have had a princess tea party for their 4th birthdays. Everyone came dressed in their favorite princess attire. For DD1 we had some games (pin the "crown" on Ariel, finding the "pea" - really a small ball - under a pillow after reading the Princess and the Pea, and awarded prizes like wands, crowns, and jewelry from the dollar store. I cut up cheddar cheese and rainbow bread into fancy shapes w/ cookie cutters, had fresh fruit w/ dip, cupcakes, mini brownies, and the kids poured apple juice as their tear. And dancing to princess songs. For DD2, the girls did some crafts (decorating little handheld mirrors w/ sticky jewels, and decorating a magnetic photo frame w/ foam stickies), and played games from a Disney Princess Its Your Birthday CD (cute for a party, has musical chairs and other games), as well as danced. "Tea" was hot chocolate and then they added milk for cream and baby marshmallows for sugar cubes. It was just a few friends over for a dinner party, so I let DD2 pick the menu, which ended up being fresh strawberries, fresh veggies w/ dip, dino chicken nuggets, blueberry muffin balls from my cake ball maker, and brownie bites. All the little girls had a great time at both parties, but I think the highlight for most was getting to pour their own tea from the little teapot into their teacups. We used the Green Toys tea set, so good size for them to pour from and no worries of breakage! And my girls were both very excited about decorations, which was only streamers across the ceiling and windows and tons of balloons, but they woke up in the morning to all of this and it was as magical as Christmas morning almost!

Have fun!

[123LuckyMom]

This may be a no-no, but I drink a lot of tea, and when I was pregnant, I switched to decaffinated tea. I drink mine with milk. DS wanted to taste it, so I gave him some. He loved it. Now when he asks, I'll give him some in his own cup. I know the decaf stuff (I use Twinings English Breakfast) probably has chemical residue or something, but for a tea party, couldn't you serve decaf tea with lots of milk in and a bit of sugar? Then it would be very authentic!

[georgiegirl]

Traders Joes has sparkling pink lemonade. I served it at DD's birthday party today.

[elephantmeg]

OK, I think I'll do an option between juice and tea. I am a big tea drinker and the kids LOVE tea (with milk and sugar) so I think I'll do that. I have the green toys tea set plus extra dishes so I'll see if I have enough tea cups of those to go around.

For activities we are making wands. I have a silhouette cameo and I've just finished cutting out and sewing these
http://www.silhouetteonlinestore.com/?page=view-shape&id=3966
and crowns
http://www.silhouetteonlinestore.com/?page=view-shape&id=31020
and I bought jewel stickers at michaels to decorate them
then I'll have a dress up station with beads etc (they are supposed to wear their dress up dresses) and maybe some sparkle nail polish and some lavender powder and lip gloss and after everyone is ready we'll have a parade and do some games and some dancing and eat!

[dhano923]

DD had a tea party for her birthday in November and I served apple juice in the tea pots. I know a lot of parents don't give their younger kids tea so I played it safe. Our activity was decorating their own garden hats with feathers, beads, and ribbon anthem they did a fashion show. I also provided plastic bangles, necklaces and rings for them to wear. The invite asked them to wear their favorite dress, so they all looked adorable!