Eloise Tea Party -6yr- Felt Flower Bouquet Craft

THEME:  Our theme was an Eloise" tea party at "The Plaza" (aka our local park district) for her sixth birthday on the front had a picture of Eloise and said "I am Eloise.  I am six.  I am a city child."  Inside we included a small paragraph explaining who Eloise is and about her books for those who were not familiar.  We also included some popular Eloise phrases (hurry hurry hurry rawther etc.)  

DECORATIONS:  We used black and pink as our theme colors just like Hilary Knight's classic illustrations.  Tablecloths were black and each pink plate was placed on a white circle doily to look extra fancy.  I took terra cotta planting pots painted them white with acrylic paint and decoupaged some Eloise illustrations I downloaded from the internet.  These turned out so cute and even cuter when we filled them with bunches of homemade pink tissue paper and pipecleaner flowers. 

We used both pale pink and hot pink for the flowers.  The table also had large balloon bouquets of pink helium balloons.  When the guests arrived my father was the "front desk" and had all the guests sign the "Plaza register" to check-in and wish the birthday girl a happy birthday.  He was very dapper in a crisp white shirt black pants black vest and bowtie.  

PARTY FOOD:  We kept it simple and opted for chocolate milk instead of tea.  We served PB&J finger sandwiches fresh cut fruit on skewers and strawberry fruit dip chips pasta salad and oreos dipped in white chocolate with sprinkles (super big hit super easy to make!  Melt white chocolate dip one half of Oreo in chocolate place on waxed paper and sprinkle with your favorite sprinkles allow to dry for about 20-30 minutes).  Everything was served by my father who now went by the name of "Bill" the waiter from the Eloise books.  He served each girl individually off a silver platter.

ACTIVITIES:  After each girl signed in to the "Plaza" they went over to see "Miss Lynn" the "Plaza Hostess" (aka my Mother-in-Law) to decorate foam "Do Not Disturb" signs just like the one Eloise wears.  Another activity was run by my mother "Miss Anne the Plaza Florist"; she had the children create their own floral arrangements in baskets with floral foam at the bottom. 

The flowers were made from felt shapes with "x" slits in the middle.  This was easy for the children to do as they slipped a felt shape onto a pipe cleaner and made the center of the flower by sticking a gumdrop onto the end of the pipe cleaner.  We also read about half of the "Eloise" book to familiarize those with Eloise who did not know her.

GAMES: We played "Hot Skipperdee" freeze dance to get the crazies out and Pin the Tail on Weenie.  My mom made a huge pug out of felt and made individual curly pug tails to play with.  We also played "Dress-up Dash Relay" with two teams feather boas dress shoes gloves etc.)

CAKE:  Instead of cake we ordered bright pink frosted cupcakes from Sam's Club and displayed them on a two-tiered dessert platter on the present table.

FAVORS:  The girls took home their crafts along with a special surprise.  The night before the party we made turtle-shaped soaps from molds and put them into baggies.  On one side of the baggie I glued on the art from the front of the "Eloise Takes A Bawth" book (quite appropriate!) and on the other side was a sticker we printed out on Avery labels which said "Here is a soap turtle just for you so you can have your own Skipperdee too!  Thanks for coming to my 6th birthday pary!  Your friend Lasey"

SUMMARY:  While this party seems like a lot of work I started slowly doing a couple projects a week for the month before the party.  It was adorable and the moms were quite wowed and ended up staying to enjoy the fun!  And best of all my daughter thought it was perfect!"