Dorothy's Tea Party

For her party with her friends, Dorothy wanted to have a tea party.  I wasn't sure how fun a bunch of kindergartners would find just having tea, so we needed to add some activities to her idea.  We had her party at JoAnn Fabrics, and it was great.  The staff member in charge was wonderful, and the kids were kept nice and busy.

 I went early to help get everything set up.  This tea party was practically sponsored by Goodwill.  I bought all the cups, plates, teapots, and the creamer there.  Except for the teapots, everything was 50 cents each, and those were $2, $3, and $4.  I'm so glad I "splurged" and got real teacups and teapots.  They really helped set the feel of the party.

 I brought our electric kettle to boil the water, and Kevin drilled holes in the plates I bought (also 50 cents each) to make the tiered stands.  I wish I had taken a picture of them before there was food on them, because the plates are so pretty.

 We served lots of little snacks at tea.  The plastic shot glasses were the perfect size for the kids.  You can see some of the "fancy" teacups in the background.  Those are for drinking.  The plain white ones on the table were for the kids to paint.

 I printed out some coloring sheets for the kids to color while we waited for all of the guests to arrive.

 The boys set themselves up on the far end or the tables, away from everyone else.  There were suppose to be more boys there, but three had to back out at the last minute (most due to sickness; I'm glad they didn't share their germs).

 Once everyone was there, they each got to pick a cup and start painting.  Since I bought random cups at Goodwill, they were almost all different shapes.

 The foam brushes made vertical stripes a very popular design choice.

 Concentrating to get it just right.

 Once they were done painting, we moved their cups to the window to let them dry.

 They were pretty all lined up in the sun.

 Tea time!  We had hot chocolate, tea, and water to drink, and all the kids chose hot chocolate (big surprise).  I could hardly make it fast enough, and they had to wait a bit for everyone to get served.

 There were lots of other snacks too, like Goldfish crackers, yogurt, fruit, and mini blueberry muffins.

 How cute are they?

 Kevin was on marshmallow duty.  It's hard to see, but he carried around the tiered tray that had marshmallows in the top bowl so the kids could add them to their hot chocolates.

 They all ate way more than I thought they would.  It wasn't during lunch time, but they all had multiple helpings of what was offered.

 Once tea was over, everyone got a cupcake to frost and decorate.

 Lots of frosting was eaten.

 The frosting was a bit hard to spread, so Kevin ended up having to help a lot of the kids.

 Once frosted, they got to choose some sprinkles to add.

 The sprinkles were big enough that we just put them on the plate, then they could pick them up and put them where they liked them.  Many sprinkles were just eaten and never made it to the cupcakes.

 Dorothy's masterpiece.  I found her plate when I was at Goodwill, and I had to have it for her party.  It was my big splurge at $1.00.

 We put the candle on an extra cupcake so as to not ruin all her hard work.

 Most of the kids ate their cupcakes, but I think they all hit their sugar saturation.  Many refused hot chocolate and just wanted milk or water, and some of the cupcakes just couldn't be finished. 

 Malcolm was willing to keep drinking hot chocolate though.

 The activities went faster than we had planned, so we opened gifts at the party, which was very exciting for everyone.

 When it was time to go, the mugs they painted were put into bags, and everyone got a balloon.

 The JoAnn's host did the bags for me, and they turned out so cute!  I think they were all different.

 This is why we don't try for family photos very often.

 It's much easier to get a good photo of just two people at a time.

 All the cuties at her party.

 Less cute, but probably more realistic.

I hadn't ever done a party at JoAnn's, or known anyone else who has had one, but I highly recommend it.  The cost was very reasonable, and our host person was fantastic.  The kids seemed to have a good time, and I didn't have to clean up my house before or after the party.

Dorothy said she liked it, and she now feels like she is really six now that she had her party.  Happy Birthday, Dorothy!