The Bunny Tea Party

Our dining room today was decorated for a Bunny Tea Party, given for the granddaughters of my friends up the road.  The four little girls had a very good time, but us 'big' girls enjoyed it just as much, if not more so.  I sent out invitations with bunnies on the cards, and the place cards had bunnies as well.  I bought pink and blue bunny Peeps and used those to decorate the cupcakes, plus I had my usual Easter parade of porcelain bunnies all over the dining room and living room.

The cupcakes for the tea party--- German Chocolate with chocolate pecan/creamcheese frosting, Hummingbird cupcakes with creamcheese frosting, and tiny brownie-bites with chocolate frosting. JS made delicious cucumber sandwiches, S carved out a watermelon in a perfectly beautiful basket shape and filled it with fresh fruits, and JD brought little cups of ice cream.  Hot tea for the ladies, warm chocolate milk for the girls.

We all wore 'fascinators' in our hair for today's party........ we've already done tiaras, and fancy hats, so JD thought that the British-style fascinator would be a good choice for today's special party accessory. Keeping with the British tradition, I had Victorian 'crackers' for each of us as the prizes for the Tea Bingo game, which the little girls just love to play. Each 'cracker' was filled with a paper crown, two riddles, and a colorful ring.

At each place setting, I had a cloisonne teapot charm attached to either a beaded necklace or bracelet, so now we all have our special tea-time jewelry for future tea parties.  The little girls also got gift bags filled with books and art supplies.  Before those girls left this afternoon, they started to wonder what we could do for the next tea party.

Such pressure.... we'll have to come up with a good idea for the next time the little girls are here visiting their grandparents.  Crazy dangling earrings?  Wear something with polka-dots?  Everyone bring a baby picture and we have to guess who's who?  Polish your fingernails in crazy designs or colors?

Years ago, both of my grandmothers enjoyed a cup tea in the afternoon, complete with special china cups and little cookies or desserts. Tea time was a ritual in both their homes..... I was always happy to have those little tea parties, even if only the two of us were there.  I started doing tea parties in our Clear Lake house when our special friend Miss C was a little girl, and when C visits us here we still enjoy a cup of tea together and talk about those tea parties when she was younger. Miss C remembers all the details and all the surprises, and she will talk about those tea parties now as if they happened just yesterday.

I'm hoping that Miss C will have tea parties of her own when she's married and has children.... and I also hope that the four little granddaughters from today's tea party will also want to have tea-time party traditions when they get older.

It is just so much fun to put together special cakes and teacups and plates and surprises for little girls. The kids love the fuss, the attention, the surprises. Those girls had such a good, good time today.... and hearing those girls laughing this afternoon brought back all those memories of Miss C when she was their age.