Birthday Tea 4yr - Tea Bag Toss

BIRTHDAY TEA PARTY - 4 YR OLD.  This site is wonderful for sharing birthday party ideas.  Thank you for some great suggestions.  I also added some of my own.   

INVITATIONS:  Purchased Plastic Teacup/Coffee Cup with crystal design at local party store.  Glued pieces of colored glass on bottom of cup.  Intertwined silk daisy through handle.  Invitation glued to actual tea bag and put in teacup.  Mini teapot graphics from computer "You are Invited to a Tea Party for Carly*s 4th Birthday.  Date, Time, RSVP." 

Each teacup was wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with another silk daisy.  We invited only 3 of my daughter's closest friends so it was not difficult to hand deliver each teacup invitation.  I would suggest that a tea party for 4 yr olds should be kept small (no more than 6 kids) and all the children should be close in age. 

DECORATIONS:  Child-sized Patio Furniture (round table and 4 chairs) were moved indoors.  Purchased a lace table topper at Walmart which fit perfectly as a tablecloth.  Lots of Pink Silk flowers decorated throughout the house and put some in a vase and used as centerpiece for their table.  Pink balloons.  Pink Gingham plates and napkins with flowers purchased at Walmart.  Instead of buying child-sized tea cups, used my demitasse cups.  Perfect size. 

ARRIVAL:  As each guest arrived they were ushered into Carly's Room to get dressed for the tea party.  Straw Hats (I glued ribbon and tiny flowers on them), Boas, Dress Up Shoes, Gloves and lots of jewlery were all laid out for them to choose from.  My daughter also has a Talking Vanity which lights up when used.  Blow Dryer makes real sounds.  Carly's big sister (Age 6) was a great helper and was the pretend Hair Dresser.  After the girls were dressed, we took lots of pictures then sat down for lunch. 

MENU:  Butterfly shaped Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, Fresh Fruit, Sugar Cookies shaped in all different kinds of hearts and flowers.  The cookies were displayed on a 2-Tiered Dish stand.  Instead of a cake, I made strawberry (pink) cupcakes with white icing.  I found some really cut sugared mini decorations of little girl faces with bows in their hair and put one on each cupcake. 

Adults Menu consisted of chicken salad on mini croissants, fresh fruit and same cookies and cupcakes.  Best part was the peach flavored iced tea to look like real tea.  The girls loved drinking their tea out of the demitasse cups and kept asking for more.  Big Sister also acted as the little waitress.  While the girls ate their lunch, we talked about Manners and I read them "Elmo's Manners Book" which was short and sweet and told them how to always say please and thank you. 

GAMES:  TEA BAG TOSS - Made mini bean bags that looked like tea bags.  Brown colored fabric sewed in a square and filled with navy beans.  For the string I used the white cord from a gift bag and then glued a small square of paper with a mini tea pot graphic at the end of the string to look like a real tea bag.  Also printed a large Tea Cup Graphic from the computer and taped to a basket.  The object was to throw the tea bag into the tea cup. 

PASS THE TEA BAG - Similar to hot potato toss but we used the Tea bag Bean bag instead and played music.  Girls sat in a circle and passed the tea bag while the music played.  When the music stopped, whoever was holding the tea bag was out. 

PIN YOUR TEA CUP ON YOUR SAUCER:  I drew tea cups and saucers on pieces of foam and then cut them out and decorated with foam flowers.  Also wrote each girl's name on the tea cup with white shiney fabric paint.  Glued magnets on back of cup and saucer.  We played the game on the refrigerator.  Object similar to pin the tail on the donkey.  

FAVORS:  Pink Gingham Gift Bags that matched the plates filled with nail polish, maribo bracelet, candy bracelet, tea cup magnet (from game), heart shaped sugar cookies and white gloves.  Also gave each child a straw hat from dress up and 1 pink balloon. 

Since my daughter's birthday was just after Easter, I purchased the gloves, hats, cookie cutters, colored pastel sprinkles and maribo bracelets for favors at ½ price at Target.  After the games my daughter opened her gifts and we took more pictures(use some black and white film too). 

It was a great day and a memory that we will cherish always.