Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tea Parties

When you're having a rough patch through your days - do you ever just throw out the chores and have a tea party? We do - and it is always so wonderful! We enjoy it, we relax and create special memories together!

I've been wanting to try these tea biscuits - and last week when we just needed something fun and colorful - I pulled the recipe out! I'm not a big fan of raisins - so I switched things up and made two different variations of this recipe. Basically I made one complete recipe in two bowls and made half garlic and cheese (1/2 c. shredded cheese and a sprinkling of garlic powder) and the other half with mini chocolate chips (1/2 c.). They were both delish!

For lunch, we had the savory batch with bacon and lettuce:


And, for dessert we had the sweet ones - I was really wishing for some whipped or devonshire cream - but melted ice cream or plain works too!


I made hot tea and we spread out a blanket, ate and read books!


Have you had a tea party "just because" recently? I highly recommend it!


19 comments:

Jenny Lynn said...

I remember doing tea parties with my girls when they were small. I wondered what kind of tea you serve your girls and if they drank it? Mine did not always like the apple Cinnamon tea that I would make.

Monica Wilkinson said...

Hi Jenny -

I make plain black decaf tea. We add a little sugar and some milk - and they drink it! Sometimes better than others, but out of all we've tried - this seems to be the most successful! We also love any other kind of pretend tea: milk colored pink, juice or sometimes even water.

Have a great day!

*carrie* said...

Other than the one at Nana's, we've never had a tea party!

Love that pic of Rachel.

Unknown said...

My daughter has asked to have a tea party tonight as well. Since it will be after a long day of work and preschool I think we will just have sandwiches cut into little triangles and some fruit, but maybe we will try the biscuits for dessert!

Tea parties are a special time with our little girls, aren't they?

Susan said...

Monica,
The grandchildren - the boys too - and I had a tea party last week on a rainy day. I told them it was a "proper" tea and we had to use good manners... that created a lot of laughter as the boys were all about it not being proper. Because it was impromptu, I didn't have a lot of things to serve so...
We had cinnamon toast, fruit, and a couple of leftover cupcakes that I cut into quarters and tea. They love tea because they can put milk and sugar in it.

LynnMarie said...

We use to have tea parties when our children were small and even our son liked it. Now I'm a Grannie and we have tea parties with our Grandchild. So much fun!! Great way to break up a day and relax.

Jada said...

So sweet! I wish I was your neighbor! LOL I'd be over to visit quite often. hehehe

~katie~ said...

So special, Monica! And what a lovely tea pot! We have the same dessert dishes (the ones you have the grapes in). :-)

Ok, so I have a question for you that is going to seem crazy silly, but I did not grow up having tea nor did anyone around me. So, I'm very slow to be educated or grow an appreciation of it. When my daughter and I have tea parties ~ we simply use water!! :-) Anyway, my question is this... how do you make hot tea? Do you warm up some water on the stove in a tea kettle until it whistles then transfer it to your tea pot and steep several bags of your favorite tea in it? Then do you take the tea bags out? Or is there another method?

Up north, I guess more folks are coffee drinkers (or that's been my experience anyway) and when you invite people over, the first thing you do is have the coffee pot brewing for company. If anyone wants tea, I simply put a tea kettle on, and pour the hot water in a mug and then they select a tea bag and steep it in their cup individually. Whenever I see tea parties on blogs, I never see a tea bag string hanging out of a cup, so I know there must be another way!

Now that I have a few friends that are tea drinkers (and I've moved a bit south), I feel very sheepish that I know nothing!!!

Could you help me out? I know this probably seems so very odd to you, and it's probably super simple, but I would sincerely appreciate a tea "how-to" so I can do this someday! My mother gave me a beautiful teapot because she's never used it. I'm determined to! :-) I'm wondering if I'm the only gal in my 30s who has never made hot tea??

Thank you! *blushing*

Leah said...

I can't wait untill my daughter is old enough to have tea parties!!

A Joyful Chaos said...

Our daughters have several te parties every week. So much fun!

Blessings~

angie said...

I need to remember that I need not, should not, wait until it is the perfect day to have a tea party. The act of setting aside the time for preparing and enjoying the party can turn a gray day into a special day.

Wendi said...

Fun! I am planning tea party luncheon for Megan and me on Friday. It will be so much fun!

lovealways, cBe said...

Mrs. Monica!! I loooove tea parties with the kids! They are si fun and yummy! Can't wait to do one again!! :)

Melissa said...

I miss "just because" tea parties. I miss scones. I miss the excitement of planning. I miss you, dear friend!

Anonymous said...

Oh Monica;

I LOVE it! You knew I would. I admire you so much for just putting aside your plans or "dropping everything" to have these fun times with your kiddos. Oh, how I wish I could have been there!
Also, I wish I was your friend Katie's Grandma, so I could teach her all about tea parties. How deprived she has been! Hopefully you can help her learn about tea parties and how much fun they are.


LOVE the cute picture of Rachel!

Love you, Grandma/Nana

~katie~ said...

To Monica & Carrie's sweet Grandma,

Your kind words brought tears to my eyes!!! Your sweet granddaughter filled me in over email, and I am thrilled to try this out! Oh, how I would love a tea party with you all!

(Glad to see you commenting again! Your words are always so encouraging!) =)

Blessings to you and thank you both!
Katie

kt said...

How sweet! I am an avid tea drinker--daily pretty much! I enjoy *tea time* & so do my kiddos! It's a great way to learn & practice manners for children as well as an intentional time of 'slowing down' & just *being*.

I recently hosted a 'tea' w/ friends & will do so again this weekend. I blogged about it here:http://inspiredtoloveliness.blogspot.com/2011/01/have-tea-will-relax.html

Lynn said...

Here in England or at least my little bit of it - lol - everything still stops for tea! It is a set time in the day to gather your thoughts and rest awhile before getting supper ready for my menfolk coming home from work and before my son gets back to his school work. Friends often visit at this time too. As we know most chores are done and this is our time to relax.
L.x.

Blissful & Domestic said...

what a fun thing. We have not had one lately. This is definitely a sweet reminder to me to plan one for my littles:>