Par-TEA for 4!

Hindi ko keri ang mag-plan/host ng party kasi madali akong mangarag. I tend to panic and over-think.

But for the love of my baby girl, I prepared a tea party for her and 3 of her friends on her birthday last June 14. I thought of giving it a try because there will only be four of them. Four little girls! How hard would that be, right? :D

I decided to DIY everything. From the invites, party hats, food, decors, games, etc...

I only realized it wasn’t a walk in a park when it was already 3PM and there were still a lot of things left undone. The curtains and decors weren’t up yet. The chicken lollipop was still in the deep fryer. The sandwiches weren’t assembled. And the birthday girl hasn’t taken her bath yet. And the party starts at 3:30! 8-?

Two of the girls already arrived while we were putting up the curtains that will serve as the backdrop of the party (okay, okay, the curtains are really there to hide the clutter on that side of the garage. It served its purpose well :D). They didn’t mind that everything is still in the works because they were busy putting stickers on my new tea set (yes, on my NEW, immaculately white, TEA SET! ARGH!).

When Amber’s guests arrived, I started serving them tea, which is really apple-flavored iced tea in a teapot. Of course I asked the kids’ guardians if they are allowed to drink iced tea before serving them. Otherwise, I would have served them fruit juices. I don’t give Amber iced tea yet but for her party, I’m giving a little leeway. :)

With their tea, I offered them mini-cupcakes, mini-chocolate chip cookies, pretzels, mini-cream puffs, mini-sandwiches, hotdogs-on-stick and yogurt sticks, which they enjoyed the most.

For the adults, we served (and failed to take photos of) spaghetti, chicken lollies, lumpiang shanghai and sandwiches. All were cooked by the mighty, Ate Judith!

When they finished their tea, we had the Catch-The-Tea game. This is a version of the Pin the donkey’s tail game, only we used teapot and cups to match the party theme. The kids had so much fun! They were all very excited when I gave them each their personalized cut-out cups.

They decided to declare Rafa the winner. Check out why...

LOL! Kids and their humor.

A birthday isn’t a birthday without blowing a birthday candle – on a yummy cake.

Amber personally chose that cake from the selection we showed her.

Next activity is the Dress-A-Princess game. I handed them each a Disney Princess paper doll with 4 matching dresses each. The dolls were a hit! They spent quite a long time trying on the different dresses on their dolls.

After a while, the girls asked if they can dance. No, they actually insisted that they wanted to dance. And since this is the part that I failed to consider when planning this party, I do not have a playlist prepared! Thanks to the TV and internet, I was able to search dance songs – mostly Amber’s favorites, and played it on Youtube while the girls dance.

At 7:30PM, they still didn’t want to leave. Well, I guess that meant that they enjoyed the party. So I had to promise them that next year, they will be having a teddy bear & pajama party so they can stay late! I hope I can live up to that promise. Teehee!

And the birthday celebrator looked like she enjoyed her party, too! I received a generous amount of "It's cool, Mom!", "I love it!" and "You're the best!" from the little girl. I am so relieved,... exhausted but very pleased.

Thank you to Amber's friends who gave life to the party and a memorable birthday for the birthday girl.

Happy 4th birthday again, sweet girl!