Every little girl at some point dreams of being a princess, I believe it is because deep down that is exacly what we are called to be, our innate design. We are daughters of the King of kings. We are each a princess, an heir to the greatest Kingdom there is. Long before my daughter was ready for a serious "Mother/Daughter" about puberty and body changes, she was still in need of reminders of who she is.
From the time she was five, I have hosted some type of mother/daughter tea party for the girls at church. Our themes have varied but the essence of the message was the same. You are loved, you are special, you are a princess of God. There are so many times that I have spoken those words, and needed to hear them myself. In this post, I am going to outline how to set up a tea for young girls ages 5-9 and go over some of the more special teas I have hosted. This is such an awesome opportunity for moms and daughters to take some time and focus on each other. I wish I had more photographs of these teas, but since I was usually the sole coordinator, I was either busy setting up or trying hard to carve time out for me to spend with my own daughter. The teas themselves do not need to be eleborate to be successful, find some other moms with girls of similar ages and host a mother/daughter tea party yourself.
Our little princess at last spring's Princess Ceremony.
First, you need to have a little theme. This should not be one that requires an exorbitant amount of time or money--the purpose of these teas is to store up treasures in Heaven, remember! Here are three of my favorite themes that we have hosted. The first is based upon Veggie Tales' Sweetpea Beauty. This movie is delightful, it is funny and wholesome, and a great counterpoint to the modern princess mentality that focuses on looks and wealth. My second favorite tea was the Mary Tea. I hosted it on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and all of the food symbolized different titles for Mary. I got much of my inspiration from Jessica and her other blog Catholic Cuisine. (After all, if we are princess of a mighty King, we need to remember our Lovely Queen!). My last theme that I would like to share came from The Princess and the Kiss by Jennie Bishop. After completing the first six lessons in Life Lessons from the Princess and the Kiss, we had a beautiful Princess Ceremony.
Giving Cogirl her special gift at the Princess Ceremony.
You can notice tow things, I was fairly pregnant with Little Man and this was one of my simpler tea set ups because of it.
After choosing a theme, choose the food you will have. Keep it simple whatever you do. Store bought items and simple small treats are all that you need to make it special. Organize, who will bring what, where you will host it and then gather simple but elegant plates and cups. For the larger tea parties, we used disposable one however for small ones at my house I used my china. Anything from Chinet to china and everything in between can be made special and beautiful. Tomorrow, I will outline activities and crafts to add to your tea party, each of them teach a lesson and/or enhance bonding between mother and daughter. Please check back for more ideas as we continue down this series of mother/daughter growing. Please like my page on Facebook and check out my boards on Pinterest--I am building a mother/daughter board presently.
In closing, I am going to post my usual opening talk for all of my tea parties, feel free to use them and to share them. Thanks.
How many of you have ever dreamed of being a princess? Have you ever wanted to live in a beautiful castle? Did you know that you already are a princess? You are the best kind of princess, God's princess, and He made you like no other princess that has ever lived. You are specially crafted, knit together by God's own Hands, beloved from the moment you came to be. God knows everything about you, He planned every inch of you and picked the family you would come into. He even knew, before you were born, that you would be here, at this tea party, today. God knows everything about you, and loves you deeper than you can imagine, He is your King, the King of Kings. Your palace isn't here on earth in some far away kingdom, your castle is in the greatest of Kingdoms, God's forever Kingdom and each time you say yes to Him, you add to your riches in Heaven.
Now, every King needs what to help Him in His Kingdom? That's right, a Queen. Our Queen is our beautiful and Blessed Mother, Mary. She said the ultimate yes to God as His princess and is now Queen of Heaven and Earth. Mary was once a little girl like you though, she understands all that you are feeling and questioning and wondering. She was also an earthly mother, and knows the struggles a mother must go through. Mary, who has felt every joy and hurt, every wonder and worry, every good and bad; is there for you always. So let us begin by praying the Hail Mary to our marvelous Queen.
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