You know by now that I am just a big kid myself and I live vicariously through my kids. One thing I wish I got to do when I was little is having tea parties! I always dreamed of owning a pretty tea set and having delicious crackers and chocolates and tea while speaking in a British accent. So a couple years ago I picked out the prettiest tea party set I could find online and was so excited to get it in the mail. The day it arrived in the mail, I excitedly announced to my kids in a British accent that we are going to have a tea party every week from then on. And ever since, it’s been one of my kids and my favorite traditions to have weekly tea parties.
somebody’s happy!
It doesn’t have to be fancy, most of the time I just stock up on cookies when it goes on sale(our favorite is the Pepperidge Farm, I got a bunch for $1.50 each last week at a grocery store, isn’t that an awesome deal? I was SO excited) and cut up some fruits and a sweet treat served with milk or fruit tea and viola! Sometimes I serve our regular lunch for my son on the tea sets and in his eyes, it’s turned into a fancy tea party! I love how easy it is to please kids, one of my absolute favorite things of motherhood! And there is only one rule at our tea party: all guests must speak in a British accent. I am dead serious about this one rule, I make all of my kids’ friends and my husband or anyone who joins, to speak in a British accent.
We don’t drink caffeinated tea in our household so the teas that I serve are usually fruit tea, hot chocolate, milk tea or my kids’ favorite, chocolate milk. It’s not everyday that I let them drink chocolate milk, so when I served TruMoo Calcium Plus chocolate milk, the kids were so happy as you can see! TruMoo Calcium Plus offers 50% more calcium than regular low-fat milk and has no artificial growth hormones*, and no high fructose corn syrup, which makes me feel good purchasing it and serving it to my kids. The chocolate milk isn’t super sweet like the other chocolate milks I’ve bought for our family, so I am a big fan. It’s creamy and thick and delicious, and I have a feeling it’ll become our regular staple in our tea parties.
This was our first time having an official photo shoot of our tea party. I’m so happy I got some high-quality, beautiful images of one of our favorite mother-children traditions for me to keep and remember, instead of the phone pictures I usually take every once in awhile! At first I was stressing about getting the picture perfect photos of my kids and trying to direct them on what to do, and was even short with them for a moment but I decided to relax and just let them be. Tea parties are for fun after all! I’m still adjusting to being a mother to 3 kids, I’m learning to just relax and not be so uptight about things and get stressed out easily over little things that don’t really matter on the end. As I was watching the kids drinking and laughing and not fighting over who got more cookies but evenly distributing the snacks, my heart filled with so much gratitude and love for how wonderful my kids are. They’re truly such good kids, and I know it’s not because of me, they just came that way! I’m so lucky I get to be their mother, even though they teach me more than I teach them.
I posted on this post last week of why I believe guilt is a good thing. It is a sign of a heightened level of conscience, a sign that you are a good person and a good mother. I also believe in once feeling the guilt, to make a vow to be better and to apologize to my kids and then forgive myself right afterwards and get rid of the guilt! Feeling the initial guilt is necessary in order to motivate us to do better, but it doesn’t do any good by not forgiving ourselves and dragging on the guilt. I am a firm believer of not feeling the guilt one more second than is necessary. And crediting ourselves on our accomplishments and how we’ve improved. So I no longer feel the guilt but am proud of myself for using that guilt to push myself to be better, to apologize to my kids and let them see that I am just a human being, trying to be better and making mistakes along the way. I love how my kids are so quick to forgive. And I am learning to be quick to be forgiving of myself also.
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We made marshmallow tea cups for our tea party and they were such a huge hit! They’re very easy to make and the kids LOVED helping to make it but especially LOVED eating it. Recipe is below!
Marshmallow Tea Cup Recipe
Ingredients:
- Marshmallows
- Lifesavers
- Any round, flat cookies
- Sprinkles
- Candy melts
- Food coloring(optional)
Directions:
- Melt the candy melts. You can add food coloring into the candy melts if you’d like.
- Dip the top of the marshmallow into the candy melts and dip it in sprinkles.
- Dip the bottom of the cookie into the candy melts.
- Place the marshmallow on top of the cookie with the sprinkles facing the top.
- Cut open a little opening on the marshmallow with a knife and stick a Lifesaver in it, to make it look like a handle.
- Let it set and then serve!
*No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from cows treated with the artificial growth hormone rbST and non-rbST-treated cows.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
hello, just a quick comment. I taught in the local school district as a prep time teacher for a while when my kids were younger. The principal of their elementary school (sorry my cap’s aren’t working for some reason) called and asked if I would teach a self esteem class. while teaching this class I told the kids about how a neighbor and I got into an argument. and how she would not speak to me or let our children play together for two years. I had apologized for my part in the argument, but she would not accept it. she said she did, but clearly she had not. such a waste because we are the best of friends and have been for many years. long story short; i told the class that adults make mistakes too and that when you make a mistake…. and know that you have done something wrong, don’t waste time…. apologize and make things right. after class, a child came up to me and told me that he had never had an adult tell him he/she was sorry or admit that they had made a mistake. i told him that i was sorry that it had not happened. sometimes we as adults think that if we admit to making mistakes it takes away our authority or some such nonsense. good for you! I’m sure that because you were honest with yourself and your children, they will trust you and appreciate your honesty.
Those tea cups are adorable! Will have to think of a reason to make them 🙂
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