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A tea party for your child... and her friends!
A make believe or a real tea party is a delight for a child. Having her own tea set and inviting her friends over for a cup of tea and some tea goodies is exciting for her.
But in order to be able to hold that tea party, your child will need to prepare the tea, the tea goodies, and set everything up so that it looks decent.
Helping your child with all of this is a great way to become more involved with her and to impart some of your wisdom at the same time. You can help her prepare the batter of the tea goodies, if you are making cookies. While you are preparing all of this, you're teaching her a thing or two about cooking.
Tea, Tea set, and Tea Accessories:
All right, get out your best china and... You really didn't think that I meant you best china, did you? Not really, I was kidding.
Plastic sets, ceramic, or cast iron will do just fine. A tea set for 4 or 6 is usually best for a child's tea party. This way, there is enough for everyone who will be attending this tea party.
As for the accessories, a drip catcher might be a good idea if the teapot that you are using drips every now and then or if it's a real leak. There are some really cute drip catchers which will appear as a supplementary decoration on the teapot. However, if your teapot does not drip, don't worry about the drip catcher for now.
But a tea measuring spoon to make the perfect cup of tea, an infuser, several honey sticks, a wrap around tea cozy, etc., surely will come in handy and will be delightful for your daughter and her friends at their tea party.
As for the tea that they'll be drinking. You most likely do not want a tea that contains caffeine. In this case, you can
either use a rooibos tea (it does not contain any caffeine). Or, you can use Kid's Cuppa. It is made by The Republic of Tea and is just for kids. It has the sweet, juicy taste of elderberries, blueberries and raisins softened with a vanilla bean and hibiscus flavor.
If your child wants to use green tea, white tea, mint tea, or a
fruit flavored tea, you need a way to decaffeinate the tea to a maximum.
To decaffeinate your tea, let the tea leaves steep until the ideal brew is achieved. Now, throw away the first brew. You see, the first time that one brews the tea leaves, most of the caffeine ends up in that 1st brew. The 2nd and 3rd brew hold, much, much less caffeine.
Tea goodies:
Keep this in mind: kids love to cook and eat their own creations.
With that said, you might be the one making the cookie dough and baking the cookies. But leave the decoration of them to your child. A bit of guidance here and there when things are going to get out of hand is ideal, but if everything is going fine, see what artwork your child can come up with.
If your child already knows her way around the kitchen, then give her the recipe and keep an eye on things to make sure that there are no drastic mistakes in the preparation. For this, cookie cutters, cake stands, dessert servers, decorated place, etc., are perfect.
Now that everything is prepared, the tea is not too strong, and the snacks and tea goodies are all ready to be served. Leave your child and her friends alone while they have fun with their tea party.
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