Tea Cups for our Tea Party

At the beginning of the meeting, we had the pleasure of having our priest come talk to us about the virtue of the month, docility and how he had been docile to God's call.  It was great for the girls to hear about his experience.

While we try to follow the schedule that we put out at the beginning of the year, we have to be flexible.  Our tea party had been schedule to take place over the weekend, but I wound up having surgery a month ago. I knew I wouldn't be up to organizing everything.   So instead of the clean up we were supposed to be doing this evening at our meeting, we needed something to fill the slot.  Jessica came up with the wonderful idea of having the girls paint tea cups for our tea party.

 We first thought about going to one of those do it yourself pottery places, but decided that was just a little more (ok, a lot more)  than we wanted to spend.  Instead we got mugs from the dollar store and used Folk Art Multi-Surface paint.  It was a much cheaper option.  For 14 mugs, 10 bottles of paint, paint brushes, styrofoam plates, and a couple of table clothes, the total was $43.  We actually only used half of the paint.

While the paint is non-toxic, the mugs are not supposed to go in the microwave and we taped off the lip of the mugs so that when the girls use them, their mouths do not come in contact with the paint.  After the paint dries which takes about an hour, it goes in the oven to "cure".  From the Plaid website,
 Place project in a cool oven.  Set oven temperature to 350ºF.  Once temperature has reached 350ºF, start timing for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn the oven off.  Glass must heat gradually with the oven to avoid breakage. Do not place glass in a hot oven. Let glass cool completely in oven. Do not use for 72 hours.  I copied the instructions for everyone to take home.  It worked great.

The girls seemed to all enjoy making their creations.  We also had a little excitement in the middle of the painting.  We got the alert that there was a tornado warning.  We put the painting on hold and headed down to the basement.  Luckily it was Nina's birthday and she had brought cookies to share with the group.  We kept things lighthearted and enjoyed the little break.  After a while, the storm passed and we headed back upstairs.  Luckily the paint brushes didn't get dried up.   I am sure they will like getting to use them at the tea party in June. 

Spring Tea

I am looking forward to life getting back to normal around here.  This has been one heck of a year.  Our social hall flooded and was out of commission for months.  This totally impacted our religious education program and our Little Flowers.  We all prayed and prayed that we would have it ready by May for our Sleepover and our Tea.  We also lost our priest when he passed away on Ash Wednesday.  Needless to say, life at the parish has been crazy.  I will be going back to fill in all the gaps on this page, but decided to start with the present and work my way backwards.

Last year, we asked the Ladies Auxiliary to join us at our Tea and we continued this tradition again this year.  Planning was sooooo much easier this year.  Instead of having a dinner, we focused on just desserts and drinks.  It made life so much less stressful.  It helped also because we were able to reuse the centerpieces from last year and the lay out remained the same. 

We started with a prayer and then I shared a little about the group had done over the past year.  The pillowcases were passed out that the girls had made.  This was great because the girls were able to show the ladies what they had made.  Of course, the ladies oohh'd and aahh'd over the girls which is so wonderful. 

The dessert table was wonderful this year.  All the moms made 2-3 dozen treats and then the group provided a fruit tray.  Everything looked so pretty.  I had asked that everything be small and I think everyone liked that.  We were able to get a sampling of everything!!  We even had some of the girls' brothers helping out to serve drinks.  They all wore white shirts and dress pants.  They were looking so handsome!!

After everyone had been give the chance to eat, and I could tell the girls were getting restless, it was time for the fashion show.  I really want to stress modesty with these girls and so our fashion show is a modesty fashion show.  They start off with their tea dress and then do a wardrobe change of their play clothes.  This year, I could really see a difference with the girls as they just seemed so much more confident in their walk.  At the end, they come out wearing their aprons and sing A Song to St. Therese. The ladies loved it. 

I made a table with a display of all the virtues.  I put the virtue, scripture verse, the saint and also a picture of the activity or craft that we did on each page.  It's a great refresher for the girls to see and the ladies enjoy seeing what we are learning.

 
Here are a few of the decorations.  I have two sets of china and then we supplement with the dishes from the church.  This summer, I will be on the look at for more dishes at garage sales.

The desserts all looked so beautiful!  

I bought these beautiful edible butterflies off of Etsy.  I just couldn't resist them.

 

 

Here is one of the favors that the girls made for the tea.  On the back we put a prayer to St. Therese.  I found this beautiful idea over at Shower of Roses.  I bought the doilies on Amazon.  I just noticed that the price has gone up $4 a box since I bought them, but there are 1000 in the box and we will definitely use them.  I bought the holy cards and medals from The Society of the Little Flowers.  They were each only 15 cents each which made them to be very affordable.

 

Now that we have done this for a couple of years, we are ready to open it up to all the ladies in the parish.  Let the planning begin!!!  Well, first I need to finish washing all the table cloths and take a breath.

Our First Annual Tea Party with the Ladies Auxiliary

This year, we decided to invite the Ladies Auxiliary to join us for our Spring Tea.  We made a great "Save the Date" poster for them at the beginning of the school year and then went to one of their meetings back at the beginning of April to personally invite them to join us.  Not only was the evening to be a tea, but also a modesty fashion show.

This was a very big event for us.  We are down to 7 moms for our group (one just had a baby) and 22 ladies RSVP'd to say that they would be joining us.  I knew we could pull it off, but I wanted it to be really special for the girls too.  I probably drove some of the moms crazy with my little details. 

We were able to use the money from our cookie sale to provide the food and drink and then I asked all the Little Flower moms to bring a dessert.  Each mom and daughter hosted a table which was a wonderful way for the girls to meet some of the ladies from the parish.  It also allowed the ladies to learn more about our group.  The girls were able to show the ladies our display of the virtues that they had worked on.

We were so fortunate that the parish's dishes are quite pretty.  They went well with our china.  I will certainly be on the look out for more china this summer at garage sales.  We were also able to use the table clothes and napkins from the parish.  We had just enough!!!  To continue with the beauty, we had
Angels and Saints At Ephesus playing in the background for our music.  Perfect for a church tea.

At one of the meetings, the girls made cute little flower pots that we used as little favors.  I made up a prayer card with the St. Therese prayer on it to clip on each of them.  There was a little clothes pin inside each flower to hold the card.    All the ladies seemed to love them.

 

I also got crafty and made little place cards with my Silhouette which made seating everyone quite easy.       

 

We started the evening with a quick history of Little Flowers and what our group is all about and then after a prayer, we had dinner.  There was chicken salad sandwiches, ham and cheese, and peanut butter and jelly.  There was also a pasta salad and garden salad and some beautiful little cucumber bites.  We also had a fruit tray, cheese tray, and a veggie tray.  I would say we went a little overboard with the food.  We probably would have needed about half of the food, but better to have too much than not enough.

We  had a beverage station with the group's favorite punch, plenty of different teas to choose from, iced tea and water.  There were also fresh lemon wedges and mint for the ladies' tea.  I had my teenage son work as a server.  It helped the girls keep their dresses clean as he did the pouring of the punch.  He was also a great help clearing tables and bringing out desserts.  He even looked the part in his black pants, white shirt and bow tie.

After dinner, the girls put on a modesty fashion show for the ladies.  They modeled their dressy or church outfit and then got to change into a play outfit.  At the end of it, they all came out together with their Little Flower aprons and sang 'O Little Flower of Jesus' for the ladies.  It was so cute.  When the girls came out, the desserts caught their attention and they totally forgot what they were supposed to do.  They were oohing and ahhhhing at the table.  We all got a good laugh out of it.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the beautiful desserts.  All of them looked so delicious!!  Once again, we went overboard with the desserts.  We could have probably cut the amount in half with this also.

The whole tea lasted about 2 hours.  The girls stayed for a while to help us with some of the clean up and then most of the dads came and picked them up.  It only took a little over an hour to clean everything up which really didn't seem long at all.  Everyone pitched in which really helped.

It was so great visiting with the ladies and also spending time with our daughters.  I know this is going to be a tradition at our church for a long time to come.  Our girls are going to grow up feeling they are very much a part of the church.  When they attend activities, they are going to know the people around them.  What a good feeling!!

Spring Activities

May is fast approaching and before things get really crazy, I thought I would post about some of our upcoming events.   We have two big activities coming up, our mother/daughter sleep over at the church and
then our Spring tea.

I know a sleep over with a bunch of girls might sound a little crazy, but last year we did it, and it was so much fun!!  Believe it or not, the girls actually did go to sleep.   We do crafts, play games, watch a short movie, pray the rosary and have lots of slumber party fun.  I will definitely post pictures after the big event.

Our other activity is the Spring tea.  Last year it was a mother/daughter tea.  This year, we decided to invite the Ladies Auxiliary to join us.  We thought it would be a great way to get the different groups of the parish together.  We will also be putting on a modesty fashion show for the ladies.  The girls will model a modest church outfit and then change for a modest play outfit.  They are SO EXCITED!!!

We are going to have a display table set up at both events with a preview of all the virtues that we worked on this year.  I thought it would be a good reminder for the girls before the tea.  Then for the tea, they would be ready in case any of the ladies ask about what they have learned.  I got the idea of doing scrapbook pages from Jessica over at Shower of Roses.  I changed it a little to include a little picture or idea of what activity we worked on for the month.  Pictures of the virtues we have done so far are below.  Hopefully I will have a chance to take pictures of the display.

I love seeing how excited the girls are getting for these activities.  It seems like it's all they have been talking about all year.  Can't wait to come back and post pictures of all the fun things that we did!!

                                         

 

Tea Party Etiquette 101

To get ready for our tea party this spring, we had a practice with a lesson in etiquette.  I set the tables with the church's dishes (wanted to save the china for the big party).   We had lemonade and served some fruit and angel food cake kabobs, rice krispie treats and some fresh fruits and veggies.  It gave the girls a chance to practice going through a buffet line and pouring their own punch.  I want them to feel confident at their tea party.

After the girls got their food, we started our lesson.  There was a lot of information to go over, but I certainly didn't want the girls to feel overwhelmed.  I came up with a great way for them to remember the most important manners.  I cut out paper flowers using my Silhouette and placed the manner in the middle of each flower.  As we reviewed the manners, the girls would find their flower and put it in their vase which was just a jam jar filled with some rice.  The girls were really paying attention and when I mentioned one of the manners, they would start waving their flower in the air.

The girls got to take their bouquets home with them to share with their families.  I encouraged them to practice them every night at dinner.  By the time the tea party comes, they will be little manner experts!!

Here is a list of the manners on their flowers:

• No Burping
• Elbows off the Table
• Chew with your Mouth Closed
• Use Please and Thank You
• Napkin in your Lap
• Speak Kind Words
• Use Proper Utensils
• Bottom on Seat 

I think we all learned something about manners and tea party etiquette this evening.  I know I learned a lot as I researched for the meeting.  Our family is certainly guilty of using poor manners at the dinner table and a lot of it is just laziness on my part.  This was a fun way to review for moms and daughters.