Oh how I love a tea party! Tea parties are a way of life in our house.  We have them as often as we possibly can! The first time I ever had tea – real tea, at tea time – was on a trip to England with my mother and my brother.  We were going to visit some family, and my mom wanted to make sure we had the experience.  We eventually started looking forward to it every day I knew once I got these tea cups and saucers, that it would only be a matter of time…

Not TECHNICALLY tea cups, but definitely dainty, and perfect for the tiniest hands… but I won’t look crazy holding one too!

This weekend, on a trip to Williamsburg, VA, we were lucky enough to have a patio facing the lake!  Since in total, there were going to be seven ladies on this trip, I went ahead and packed tea cups, saucers, hats, one of the cupcake stands (what’s a tea party without treats?), one of my teapots, tulle, ribbons, and table cloths, you know… just in case.

Photo by Eva Wilson for Socamom.com

It was a little overcast, but the ladies all had a wonderful time.  Once our two year old tea party guest declared, “Let’s get started, girls!” it was time to start passing the tea and cupcakes.

Here’s what you’ll need in your tea party tool kit.  I suggest getting a cheap suitcase to house it all so that you can store all your stuff easily AND take it along with you on a mommy daughter trip.

Hats – I got the grown up hats at Burlington Coat Factory.  They are made by Giovannio – their hats were featured in the New York Times, in Vouge Latin America, and on several morning news shows. The kids hats… Dollar Store.  They’ll only be able to wear them for a brief time, and the adult hats need to double as church hats for me – can’t go super cheap on them.

Tulle – I got the tulle at Hancock Fabrics.  Tulle is pretty inexpensive, so you can get as much as you want to decorate with. Packs well too.

Table cloths – got two round plastic ones from the dollar store.  I would suggest getting at least two.  They are pretty thin.

Feathered boas – I got mine at Michaels. I get them whenever I can find them on sale.  Feathered boas are itchy – just to let you know – little kids won’t keep them on long. Probably just for pictures….

Tea Pot – Got the teapot at Target. It holds A LOT of tea!

Tea: You’ll need some kid friendly tea. We used Bigelow I Love Lemon Herbal Tea. It is Caffeine Free and has added Vitamin C. The most important part for me was that it was ‘Caffeine Free’.  I picked lemon because my niece really likes lemons, and if nothing else, it would remind them of some sort of lemonade – a taste they were already familiar with.

Spoons: Since your tea cups will be small (I used large espresso cups), you’ll need small spoons like these – perfect for small hands.

You can get some from IKEA too – Love these.

Tea cups and saucers: You have lots of choices here. When baby girl and I are having imaginary tea with her stuffed animals, we use this one.  Check in your local store, they may have the itty bitty spoons to go with it.

Photo by Eva Wilson for Socamom.com

We had several IKEA items on our table here. The tiny cups, forks, plates, knives, spoons, bowls, saucers, all that – came from IKEA’s Role Play section. Most of it is only available in store. Got the flowers from Michaels.

There are some optional items that are pretty fun to have too.

Gloves: You can get them for a dollar during easter time at the Target dollar area, along with some pretty cheap hats.  If you aren’t eating (just doing imaginary tea and treats) gloves are fine.  But if there will be snacks, and you aren’t having tea with the Queen, there will be finger licking… not so nice in gloves.

Baby girl has on gloves for her pretend tea party.  They don’t sell the blue and white tea party set anymore in IKEA – at least I haven’t seen it in a while.  This was about 4 years ago. She’s a veteran now.

I got some of these at the 10 for $10 sale at Claires – perfect!

Cloth napkins are also a fun optional item – kids love to put up their pinkies and dab the corners of their mouths!

I just got this new teapot – I love polka dots… you can add color with a new teapot, or fun and inexpensive paper napkins too!

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