Tea Party Diva explores Tea Party Lifestyle & Traditions.

This may include recipes, craft, tea parties, entertaining, decor, invitations, cards, tea party themes, kids’ tea party poems and games. You might even find the occasional tea related poem, quote, art and travel tale. Traditions are a big part of the Tea Party Lifestyle -the history of tea, past traditions and traditions and memories we create ourselves with our own families and friends.

It can also give an antique effect. Dyeing paper with tea requires a slightly different process.

Basic Instructions

Ingredients

• 5-20 Tea Bags (depends on desired result)
• 1 tbspn white vinegar to set the dye
• Large saucepan or heatproof container.
• Your fabric

Preparation

• In a large saucepan, bring water to the boil
• Leave saucepan on the stove, but switch off the heat
• Place tea bags inside a mesh bag or muslin
• Let tea bags steep for 15-20 minutes, depending on the desired color
• Remove tea bags
• Allow tea to cool
• Mix the white vinegar thoroughly into the cooled tea

Experiment with a small piece of a similar fabric to what you want to dye, before you tackle your project. This will give you an idea of what combinations of variables will best achieve your desired result.

1. Use different strengths of tea

2. Leave fabric in for longer or shorter times

3. Experiment with different types of tea e.g. Green Tea, Early Grey Tea, Comfrey Tea and other teas give different tones and shades of color.

4. You can also stain fabric using coffee.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION - PLEASE NOTE

1. Use all the usual safety and health precautions when dealing with hot water, and any substances that may cause any allergic or adverse reactions or rash.

2. There is a danger that the tannic acid in the tea may break down the fabric, causing it to deteriorate over time. You may decide to use a commercial dye when working with precious heirlooms or heirlooms in the making.

• Make ice cubes from cordial or fruit punch - your flavor preference
• Add a small grape or tiny fruit slice inside each ice cube when making
• Make ice cubes from tea - adds flavor but doesn’t dilute the punch as it melts
• Add craft sticks to the ice cubes to make a icy treat they can hold
• Decorate the side of the glass with a slice of lime or lemon
• Use shaped ice cube molds e.g. stars, balls, teddy bears or to suit the theme

What ideas do you have for using ice cubes or for children’s tea party fun?

• Large? Small? Dainty? Vintage? Modern?
• This is a great use for a teacup with a chipped rim, as the flowers will cover it

Choose the Flowers

• Low and full growing rather than tall and spindly
• Where will the teacup pot plant be placed?
• Suitable for small container e.g African Violet
• Would a green or variegated leaf plant be more
  suitable or hardy?
• Favourite flowers or colours?
• Colors that complement the tea cup?
• Various hues of the one color? Mixed colours?
• When do they flower? How long do the flowers last

Shabby Chic Teacup Pot Plant - Potting

• Drill a hole in the bottom of the tea cup to allow the water to drain
• Add a few small pebbles in the bottom of the cup to help with this
• Add potting mix and flowering seedlings. Pat down the soil and water
• Leave the saucer under the cup as it makes a perfect draining tray

Christmas Gingerbread Men Decorations

• Before cooking make a hole in the top of each Christmas gingerbread man.
  

  Christmas Gingerbread Man Buy From Art.com

  When cooked, cooled and iced, thread red ribbon or gold thread through the hole to make the gingerbread man into a Christmas tree decoration.

• Use other Christmas cutters or paper template shapes for e.g. Christmas Trees, Snowflakes, Angels, Stars etc. for Gingerbread cookies or Gingerbread Christmas tree decorations.
• Christmas gingerbread men make great gifts for teachers and neighbors too. If adding a hole, thread through a ribbon with a gift tag, complete with a personally written message or drawing.

To a Teapot was written over a century ago, but the sentiments are still as true for tealovers today. Tea, teapots, friends, families, trials, tribulations, tea parties, celebrations, and just a chat and good company… the teapot is there throughout.

The poem comes from The Versebook of A Homely Woman by Elizabeth Rebecca Ward (born 1881), writing under the pseudonym of Fay Inchfawn. Ward’s children’s poem, The Flight of the Fairies, about fairies packing up to go back to their summer fairyland is also a delight. It would be great for a fairy tea party or theme.

To an Old Teapot
by Elizabeth Rebecca Ward

Now from the dust of half forgotten things
You rise to haunt me at the year’s Spring cleaning
And bring to memory dim imaginings
Of mystic meaning.

No old time potter handled you, I ween
Nor yet were you of gold or silver molten
No Derby stamp, nor Worcester, can be seen
Nor Royal Doulton.

You never stood to grace the princely board
Of monarchs in some Oriental palace.
Your lid is chipped, your chubby side is scored
As if in malice.

I hesitate to say it, but your spout
Is with unhandsome rivets held together
Mute witnesses of treatment meted out
In regions nether.

O patient sufferer of many bumps
I ask it gently - shall the dustbin hold you?

And will the dust heap, with its cabbage stumps
At last enfold you?

It ought. And yet with gentle hands I place
You with my priceless Delft and Dresden China
For sake of one who loved your homely face
In days diviner.

Her kids love it too. In fact, she says she bribes them with it to do their homework. This looks yummy and easy to make.

Felicity Wishes Fairy Stars Buy From Art.com

• Cut one star from gold, coloured or corrugated card for each child.
• Use the star on a paper crown or on the end of a star wand.
• Alternatively, punch a hole through one star point and thread wool or raffia through to hang around their necks.
• On the back of each star write a number from 1 to 6.
• Make sure you have two dice.
• Choose a space with enough room to jump forward

The Fairy Stars Race - Children’s Tea Party Game

• Roll the dice.
• Call out the two numbers shown.
• The children with these numbers on the back of their star take one jump forward.
• Feet stay together when jumping.
• The child stays where they land until their number is called again.
• The winner is the first to the finishing line.
• You may want a helper to act as a judge if necessary, or to help younger children.

I own and use Secrets For Successful Entertaining, by Lady Caroline Wrey.

I have found it very useful as a resource for tea and coffee party ideas, as well as for more formal occasions. It has also provided inspiration for developing my own ideas.

Secrets For Successful Entertaining - Book Overview
The look and feel of this book is of a high end full color glossy home magazine, but with a hard cover. The beautiful styling in the full page color photos, immediately draws the reader in.

Author, Caroline Wrey, combines cooking, crafts, decor, entertaining and tips for planning and presentation etc.

Many of the pages have step by step color photo instructions. Secrets For Successful Entertaining lends itself to dipping into and leafing through, with a cup of coffee in hand, just as you would a magazine.

About the Author - Lady Caroline Wrey
Secrets For Successful Entertaining, is subtitled How To Be a Perfect Hostess. Lady Caroline Wrey is the daughter of the fifteenth Earl of Lindsay, and was brought up in London and Kilconquhar Castle in Scotland.

She teaches classes on entertaining, and runs a successful professional international curtain design business. She also runs courses in Britain and America, on making soft furnishings and accessories.

Secrets For Successful Entertaining - Chapter headings
Chapter headings include Lunches and Dinners, House Guests and Holding Parties. A menu (with recipes), plus craft and decor ideas are included for each theme.

There are also games and activity suggestions for children, such as the Pet Party’s paw print tablecloth. This idea could be adapted for an inexpensive tea party activity, using paper instead of cloth, for the “paw prints”.

Versatility and themes
Caroline Wrey offers lots of ideas which can act as starting points for developing ideas to suit your own situation, party guests and budget. The strength of Secrets For Successful Entertaining lies in its opportunities for versatility.

Party themes include Romantic Supper, Perfect Picnic, Christmas Lunch, Formal Dinner, Outdoor Lunch, Halloween, Buffet Party, Pet Party, Overnight Guest, Sleepover Party and Weekend Guests.

Verdict
The crafts section leans more heavily towards sewing, although painted pots, table center crafts and place cards are also included. I don’t sew, but am very happy with Secrets For Successful Entertaining for the other aspects it offers. If you sew, that is a bonus.

I not only enjoy looking through this book, but refer to it often for ideas, recipes and inspiration.

Preparation & Prizes

Wrap two parcels with many layers of paper, just as you would in the traditional Pass the Parcel game.

In this variation you don’t usually add little party favors in between the layers, although, of course you can. These can be sweets or little gifts such as stickers related to your tea party theme. The most important thing is that each parcel has a prize at the end.

Pass the Parcel Game Forfeits

If you like you could have a forfeit attached to the last layer, so that the child has to “earn” the prize e.g. jump up and down three times and clap your hands. Vary any forfeits to suit the tea party theme. Forfeits do not have to be a negative thing. A possible fairy tea party theme forfeit would be to pretend to - “Wave your wand three times and sprinkle some fairy dust over the parcel”.

Pass the Parcel Game Forfeits - Variation

You can also have forfeits written on a piece of paper in between each layer or just some of the layers. The child who unwraps a layer with a forfeit has to perform the forfeit. These can be general e.g. sing a song, hop on one leg, give the parcel to someone wearing blue etc. They could also be tailored to suit your tea party theme. Some sensitivity is required with choosing forfeits, so as not to make any child feel ill at ease.

Pass the Parcel Double Trouble - The Game

Children sit in a circle. Give one parcel to a child. Give the other parcel to a child on the opposite side of the circle. As in the original game, children pass the parcel while the music plays. The two children with parcels when the music stops are out.

Continue with the music and this process, until there are only two children left, each with a parcel. They sit next to each other and pass the parcel between them while the music plays. When the music stops, they remove a further layer. At the last layer, they perform the forfeit attached to the outside (if applicable). They then open their parcel and keep the prize.