The Tea Party

My daughter wants to have a “Tea Party” as the theme of her birthday party this year (you always have to have a party theme, or so I have been told).  Now, I have never actually been to a tea party, but I assume they involve tea and little cakes and maybe a cookie or two.  Seriously, this sounds so simple.  I thought this was going to be one of the easiest birthday parties my wife has ever put together.  Boy, was I wrong.

My wife started planning the party weeks ago.  Her first project was to create tea pot birthday party invitations (she borrowed the pattern from one of the teachers at my kid’s school, but she still cut the out and assembled them by hand).  After the invitations were taken care of, she enlisted the help of my mother as she began her quest for tea sets.  Between the two of them, they probably hit every thrift shop in town.  They were successful though, as they managed to find five fancy tea cup and saucer sets for my daughter and her four friends.

Next came the search for princess costumes for the girls to “dress up” in for the “Tea Party”.  Fortunately, my wife’s sister was able to help out on this front and passed down a plethora of princess costumes her three daughters had accumulated over the years.  Of course, my daughter has spent the week trying everything on, making sure everything fits, and deciding what she is going to wear first at the party.  She wasn’t exactly thrilled when we explained that she was going to have to share the new “dress up” gear with her friends at the party, but she is okay with it now.

Now that the invitations were delivered, the tea sets found and purchased, and the princess outfits ready to go, my wife turned her attention to the cake.  Now, my wife is serious about her birthday cakes.  She could easily just make a sheet cake and then cut a tea pot out of it, but that isn’t good enough, not by a long shot.  She is making a three-dimensional tea top out of cake and fondant, with a handle and spout, even a lid.  She is even planning on putting a flower pattern on the pot with different colored icing.  The only problem is, once she starts working on the cake, there is no interrupting her.  She started working on it Thursday night and I am sure it will be a masterpiece by Sunday.

Now I have never been to an actual tea party before and I am not sure how welcome I will be at my daughter’s party as she and her friends dress up as princesses and drink tea and eat cupcakes.  Although I may not be the world’s biggest fan of tea and I won’t be dressing up as a princess (I just won’t fit into any of the costumes), I wouldn’t miss my daughter’s birthday party. 

She only turns five once right?