Little Girls' First Tea Party

Team Darjeeling

Little Girls' First Tea Party

Years ago when my youngest granddaughter was 3 (she's now 19yo), I started sharing teatime with her- a pot of Earl Grey tea, her favorite, making her cup with a little tea and a lot of milk and sugar. As she got older, we'd go to Afternoon Tea at tearooms around the Bay Area and discuss the food, the tea- what was good and not so good.  We'd talk about school, friends, family and it all created a very special bond between us.  She's now away at college and I miss her and those times. 

Earlier this week I hosted a small tea luncheon party for my dearest neighbor girls and their mothers. Holly is 5yo and Caitlin is 3yo and they are cute as can be, full of curiosity and energy and very friendly.  Neither of them had "gone to tea" before so they were very excited, and I certainly thought it's time to introduce them to this wonderful experience.  Neither of their moms had "gone to tea" either, so it was new for everyone.  They were welcomed at the door by Godzilla and a special teapot sign.

For the table I mixed  the themes of blue TARDIS with Valentines and my Rose chintz dishes, which were a gift from my husband many years ago.

We started the meal with Eve Hill's Kensington Palace scones served with whipped butter and homemade Strawberry and Lime jam (a gift from Holly's mother, jam-maker extraordinaire!).  The girls were drinking a tisane served in the traveling TARDIS teapot, Roasted Almond Fruit, from my friend Roberta's shop Experience Tea.  (These mothers would never have approved of caffeine tea and milk and sugar!) This tea is so delicious hot or iced- it's now my take-to-work cold drink. We grownups drank a lovely Kenya Hand Rolled black tea from Robertson Tea- light but complex in flavor, somewhat reminding me of Yunnan Golden Bud.  

I'd worried about savories, sandwiches- what to fix for little girls still in picky-eater ages?  Martha helped by suggesting sandwiches with sprinkles, and I thought- everyone likes bacon and eggs, so the menu developed from there.  

Our savory course included teapot-shaped peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles sandwiches, egg and bacon tarts and turkey roll-ups with cheddar cheese and apricot jam.  The teapot sandwiches were of course a big hit (chocolate sprinkles!), but the others, while appreciated by the moms, were only nibbled by the girls.  Oh well, thankfully none of us had high expectations around them eating.

The sweeties included Salted Caramel chocolate cupcakes (my favorite Farmer's Market baker), Jammie Rodgers cookies, a gift from Martha, and homemade lemon bars.  As expected, these were a much bigger hit with the girls and their moms all around.

The girls were by then antsy in their seats, so left the table to play with toys in the toy chest and run around in the living room.  They did have to be reminded on manners a few times, "please", "may I leave the table" (they are little girls after all), but they and their moms were wonderful guests and we had a great time.  We all enjoyed sitting at the special table, eating special food- as I heard one of the moms say to her daughter.

Now I'm planning to invite them over for tea and books.  I completely forgot to read one of my children's tea books!