Hi Julie,
About four weeks ago, I read your description for Tea Time to my three kids. My girls, in particular, were very interested because they regularly set up their own tea times. My 13-yr-old boy snubbed me and returned to his card game.
Well, last night, the girls shooed me out of the kitchen and said I was not allowed back in until further notice. About two hours later, I received an invitation: I was to arrive at our tent in the back yard at 9pm SHARP for the “BEST tea party EVER.” So at 9pm sharp, I rang the little dinner bell outside the tent. In the tent was a plate of homemade cookies they had just made (and they even cleaned up after themselves!), specialty tea, a fan to keep things cool, our Favorite Poems Old and New book, Apples to Apples, Girl Talk (by American Girl), Battleship, and several suspicious sleeping bags and pillows. Well, one thing led to another, and we were having a full-blown tea party/sleepover extravaganza! We drank tea, ate cookies, read poetry (handing the book around in a circle to read our favorites), played Apples to Apples–OH–and jumped up and down on top of bubble wrap! We then snuggled down and “slept” to the sound of crickets, intermittent sprinklers, and not-so-distant barking dogs across the way. I didn’t get a lot of sleep, but we had a ball, as well as a very special mother/daughters night.
Thought you’d like to hear about our fun tea time…Thanks for the idea. I suppose our future tea times will end up on Tuesday afternoons, but this was a great way to start them off!
Stacy
