Mother Daughter Tea Party

Second Weekend in April

Goals:

For our Sister to Every Girl Scout (Violet) Petal, we wanted the girls to do something for another troop, so we came up with the idea of our girls "hosting" a Mother-Daughter Tea and inviting one of our girl's sister's brownie troop.  

Patch from Troopmoore on Ebay $1

Pre-party prep

Invite to other troop:

Email to our parents:

"We have the Tea Party coming up April 13.  We are hoping to come together as a troop to bring all the things we need to put on this party. The girls are putting on this Tea Party as part of earning the Violet petal (Sister to Every Girl Scout).  All of the craft and activity supplies have already been purchased using non-troop funds.  Hopefully, we won’t have to spend anything out of troop funds with the exception of the mother-daughter tea patches.

We will be putting up two lists, Savory and Sweet; we ask that everyone choose one item off of each list to bring to the party.  We also ask that everyone bring some tea, herbal, green, black, chai… whatever is your favorite or bring lemonade.

The food items need to be finger-food.  Sandwiches should be crust-less and cut into triangles, stripes or with small cookie cutters.  Food can be store bought, but if it is please place it on a nice platter for serving.  If you have a favorite savory or sweet item that you would like to bring please add it to the list.

We are looking to borrow a pitcher for the lemonade.  Donations of white napkins are appreciated. "

We posted two lists on our shutterfly share site.  On with lunch items, one with deserts.  Each family from our "hosting" troop brought a tray from each.

Model list (original is long since deleted.

Savory food
Everyone brought one dish, and because I'm insane and also Italian I made a few extra things, "just for fun." We got a lot of ideas and recipes from this great website: HighTeaRecipes

Final menu:

1.  Strawberry jelly sandwiches on white bread cut in triangles

2.  Grape jelly and creamy peanut butter sandwiches on wheat bread cut in small squares (crustless)

3.  Egg salad on white in squares

4. Chicken salad on wheat in squares

5.  Ham and American cheese on white cut out with flower cookie cutters

6.  Banana bread cut in strips

7. Asiago cheese and apple scones

8.  Plain scones

9.  Cucumber sandwiches on french bread

10.  Goat cheese and watercress on raisin bread

Plus: mock Devonshire Cream and mock Clotted Cream

I made the last three plus the creams.  They were all delicious, though both sandwiches were rather expensive and the kids wouldn't eat either.  Though the cucumbers were cut out with cookie cutters, the cream cheese had a bit of a bite to them, which made them my favorite, but turned off the kids.

Plain Scones: (from above website)

This is a fairly simple recipe, just make sure the scones are nice and golden before taking them out.  The kids will go for these with jelly and/or butter.

Goat Cheese and Watercress Sandwich Recipe

These were fantastic but too strange for the kids and several of the adults.  You need to decide if the fun of trying something different is worth the expense.  Don't make these if you're doing a large scale tea.

Mock Creams: to serve with breads and scones:

These were easy and fun way to make the tea more "Victorian" or "High English."  Also, when paired with the banana bread it tasted like banana pudding. Yum!

Cucumber Open-faced Sandwich:

Not my picture, but mine looked pretty close.

The recipe to this one is here: Cucumber sandwich.  They do a great job of breaking down the recipe, so I'm not going to copy it here.  I could eat these by the dozen, but if you want the kids to eat it I'd cut back on the garlic and herbs (I just used bazil).  

Sweet food

Dessert menu:

1.  Chocolate-covered strawberries

2.  Mixed fruit plate

3. Petite fours

4. Brownie bites

5. Chocolate croissants 

6. Fancy cake

7. Mini lemon bundt cakes

I made the "Luscious Lemon Daisy" mini bundt cakes.  They were very cute and pretty easy to make, plus they have "Daisy" in the name so what's not to like.  

This is out of a bundt cake book I got for my wedding shower, Bundt Classics by Nordic Ware.  I thoroughly recommend the book.  It has many recipes I like even more than these.

I wish I had a better picture.  We put flower shaped sprinkles in the middle and they were adorable.

I think bundt cake is a necessity for a tea, but then again I just love them.  I had tried a more complicated recipe that got stuck in a lovely rose pan.  This recipe was very quick and easy and the mini-bundts don't stick like the fancy ones.  The lemon was enough to give it flavor but not turn off the kids.  

Tea, Beverages and Place Settings

Luckily for us,one of my co-leader's previous obsessions was tea pots and she had dozens of them.  We put 2-3 per table (We had three tables, my fully extended dinning room table plus two long folding tables back to back.)  She filled my largest sauce pan with water and we used that as a constant supply of boiling water for tea.

Again, I wish I had known I was going to blog so I could have photographed the tables before the girls got at them.  Oh well.

On the buffet table, we set up a pitcher of water, a pitcher of lemonade, and rows of glasses.  We also had several boxes of assorted teas, herbal, black and green.  We had sugar bowls, milk filled creamers and honey on each table.

Between my old dinning set, my co-leaders everyday china, and my mothers second best china, we had enough teacups and saucers for everyone, along with plates and silverware (most things were fingerfood anyway).  We didn't use paper products for this event with the exception of napkins for two reasons; one, we were doing "Use Resources Wisely" next and two, it's fancier, and fancier is just more fun.

Party Day

Schedule:

                 12:00     Our girls arrive and set up
                 12:30     Guests Arrive and are brought in for gathering activity
                 12:45     Lunch
                 1:05       Mommy and Me Game
                 1:20       Tea-Pot Craft
                 1:40       Dessert
                 2:00       End

Gathering/prep

We had our girls and their mothers come a half an hour before our guests so that the girls would get the feeling of really "hosting."  They weren't going to be able to really welcome our guests if they all arrived in one big chaotic mess.  

As the moms showed up, they helped me set up the buffet table, while  another mom helped he girls hang their decorations and fill out their "Who Knows Who Best" game sheets for later.  Of course this all took maybe 15 minutes and then I had 8 extremely excited and well dressed ping-pong balls bouncing around the house in a blurr of taffeta and lace.  

In the end, I had to give up my obsessing over the table and pull the girls together for an impromptu circle where we pretended our feet were glued to the ground.  Once they were a little calmer they practiced greeting each other with the Girl Scout hand shake until the door bell rang.

Greeting/ Gathering Craft

We had each of the girls say "Welcome to our party" and shake the Brownie's hands.  It didn't take as long as it might have since we only had two Brownies.  We realized too late that it was the day many of the local second graders were getting first Communion.

After they said hello, I had a quick little Oriental Trading craft set up in the craft room for the girls.  My girls brought the new girls there while the moms greeted each other and we put the final touches on for tea.

Craft from Oriental Trading

Lunch and Tea

We had everyone take their seats before going to the buffet so we could formally greet everyone and say "Grace." We go with the fun and simple "Rub a dub dub. Thanks for the grub. Yay God!" Then we told the girls that they would all get a gold coin for their bucket (they were earning them to get a summer party) if they tried real tea. Quite a few were rather skittish about it.  

I am proud to say all of the girls gave the tea a good try. They got to pick out their flavor, steep it and prepare it with sugar and whatever else they wanted. I think they enjoyed the ritual of it, though I can't say they all liked the tea. However, one or two of them had to cut off before they got too much caffeine.  

After preparing their tea, everyone took turns going to the buffet and picking out their meal.

"Who Know's Who?" Mother-Daughter Game

I love this simple game that we came up with for the moms and daughters to do together.  Basically, it's the Newly Wed Game (if you're old enough to get the reference).   Both mother and daughter fill out a list of questions, secretly, the other is not allowed to see their answers.  So, for example, the girl is asked her favorite color.  Someone other than her mom helps her how write it down.  After lunch, we split the group in two and went around the table having each of the moms guess what color their daughter had written down.  As they said it their daughter would reveal if they were correct.

When we played we alternated mom and girl questions.  We didn't keep score or have a winner.  It was just for fun.  Everyone enjoyed it and it was a fun way to get the moms involved and break the ice.  The girls guessing what mom does while her daughter is at school was particularly entertaining.

Girl's Worksheet

Mom's Worksheet

Teapot Craft

After the game, we had the girls bring their plates to the kitchen and move into the family room for another craft I got from Oriental Trading, while the moms switched lunch out for dessert.  

I think I've said before that I was kind of in love with the Oriental Trading Pre-packaged crafts, but the further along we got in the year the further and further out of love I (and the girls) fell. They prefer things where they can put their own spin on it. I still use Oriental Trading, but I don't buy kits any more. I like the "DYI" unpainted stuff for them to decoarte and paint themselves and the big bags of supplies like stickers and pony beads.

These tea-pots were cute as can be, but were a little tricky to manage. The stickers kept sticking to themselves and they needed more adult help than I would like. I do think the girls enjoyed them. If you are interested the link is here.

Girls working on the craft

A finished tea pot

Dessert and Wrap-up.

We had another round of buffet and tea for those who liked it and the party wrapped up.   Our guests left first. I wish we had made the girls help clean up more but mostly it was the moms cleaning up and the girls ran off to  play.

Our Spread

After the guests and the girls who needed to be somewhere left the remaining girls headed outside.  We spotted them in the backyard, digging in the dirt in their fancy dresses.  I love it!  That's what I want girl Scout to be about for my girls, for them not to be afraid to be a girl or to get dirty!

Daisy Scout Meeting Twelve

Note about this blog:  So it it turns out blogging at an insanely detailed level kinda takes a lot of time.  It also turns out I've got a crazy-full life.  Did I mention I work full time, have two kids, friends and a husband.  My poor husband.  Anyway, the point being these blogs are probably going to be further apart for awhile since I'm spending my "free to indulge my OCD time" planning for this current years Girl Scouts. I'm stealing a little free time now since the last weekend of the month is generally Girl Scout free (Or at least we have a week off from planning).

The first week of April marks the end of cookie season so I was going to make my next blog a cookie blog.  Unfortunately I don't feel particularly cookie inspired so that blog will have to wait until I am and I'm just moving on the next meeting for now.

Daisy Scout Meeting Twelve

First week in  April 2013


Goal and Badges:        

Finish Magenta "Respect Authority" Petal and start working on Violet "Sister to Every Girl Scout" Petal.  (Yes, at this point we stopped doing the petals in order.  This was actually the last petal we did on our own.  We did Field Trip Programs for "Using Resources Wisely" and "Making the World a Better Place."

* * * * * * *

 Arrival:   Gathering- 1- Violet petals

2-  Draw a picture of favorite person in charge

4:10         Daisy Circle- Promise/hello in Greek

Authority Web

Water team garden

Talk reward system and rules

4:20         Read Vi’s Story

               Snack

               Discuss being a sister to every Girl Scout

4:35         Daisy Friend Project

5:00         Vi craft/ practice manners and Daisy Handshake

5:15         Switch

5:25         Closing Circle

* * * * * * *

Gathering Activities

Violet Petals
The first thing we had the girls do when they arrived is dip their violet petals in watered down white paint so they could dry before the Vi project.  (See project details later in blog).

Draw a Person in Authority
After the girls finished with their petals and we put them aside we had each girl draw their "favorite person in authority."

Daisy Circle:

The Promise Leader led the Promise and we sang our Amazing Daisy and Planting songs.  After that, I told the girls that we would be finishing up Gerri the Geranium and starting Vi the Violet who both had origins in Greece.  I played them a recording I had downloaded of how to say "hello" in Greek and well took turns repeating this.  It was fun because it was so foreign to everyone.  (The Journey Book has a different language for this week, but Greek made more sense to me because of the flowers we were doing.  Also, I'm a control freak and need to do it my way).

Audio for "hello" in Greek

Authority Web

After going around with the hellos we decided to try something called the "Authority Web".   I got a ball of yarn, held one end and threw it to one of the girls.  That girl needed to say who she drew as her "favorite person in charge."  Then she held a piece of string and threw it across the circle to someone else who said her person and so on and so worth until everyone had had a turn and we'd created a giant yarn web.  At the end, we pointed out that everyone in the community was connected like a giant web, coming together to work to protect us all.

This was certainly more fun then just going around the circle again.  I'm not sure if the girls got the profound meaning of it all, but that may have been because their "favorite person" was generally their mom or teacher (or us), which didn't quite give the community feel, like a fireman or police officer might.  It might work better if it was phrased differently.  Or maybe they got it as well as any group of 5/6 year-olds was going to get it. Who knows.

Example of web from on-line

Respect Bucket

If you read my last blog you'll probably remember that we had some issues with our girls being chatty and disrespectful during story time (it doesn't help that the Girl Scout stories aren't the most engaging stories.  Amazing artwork.  Blah story).  Well, after the last meeting we racked our brain to find ways to help them behave.  What we came up with was The Bucket of Respect.

I found an old Easter bucket and the plastic coins we had left over from the "Brave Olympics" and the Red Petal.  We told the girls that every time they were respectful to themselves, each other, or us they would get a coin to put in the bucket.   When the bucket was full they would get a special surprise.   This was not a competition, but a team sport.  Only by working together as a team would they get enough coins to fill the bucket.

This time, when my Co-Leader read the story I went around and handed each girl that was behaving a coin.  Worked like a charm.  We kept it going through the end of the year and they earned a "Water Party"  with an enormous 50 foot slip and slide in my backyard in July.  Definitely a success.

Our Bucket of Respect, almost full

Snack and Story time

When my co-leader read the Story "Friends Around the World" the girls sat up straight with their hands folded as they watched me and my coins out of the corner of their eyes.  They ate their snack and waited until the story was over to ask for more.  After we discussed the story and what is meant to be "sisters" to each other.

Daisy Sister Project

This is one of my favorite projects we did.  I was quite proud of it.  It took more time than I had anticipated (and we skipped a game that I planned for after) but it was worth it!  In this project we had each girl write one nice thing on a petal about for every girl in the troop.  Later I collected all the petals and glued them around a picture of each girl to create a Daisies Garden with all the things the girls like about one another.

Finished Project, purposely blurry to protect the innocent ;)

Supplies:
1.  Petal Template:

2.  Construction paper- a different color for each girl.
3.  ~3" circle photo of each girl.
4. At least two copies of a list of positive attributes for the girls to use as a "word bank."

  Notice none of these have anything to do with appearance.

5. Markers or pens (I, of course, love my sharpies), 1 per girl.
6.  Poster-board (I used two glued together) or mural paper.
7.  White envelopes.
8.  Glue.
9.  Anything else you want to use to fancy up your garden. (I used cricut shapes, green sharpie, and glitter glue.)

Pre-meeting Prep:
1.  Cut out petals.  Each girl needs to have one petal per girl and one for each leader.  (We had eight girls and two leaders so I cut out 10 petals per color).
2.  Place each set of petals in a separate (unmarked) white envelope.
3.  Cut out Photographs of each girl.

Steps
1.  Each girl picks a plain white envelope and writes their name on the back.  That way they don't fight about the color petals.  They get what they get.  Then recollect the envelopes.
2.  Leader picks an envelope at random and gives each girl and each leader a petal.  The girl whose envelope it is goes into the other room with one of the leaders to chose a word for themselves and so they will be surprised later.
3.  Have each girl pick a positive attribute to put on the petal. (My girls started to get over-excited and by the end they were putting down 2-3 words.  I didn't discourage this. )
4.  Collect all the petals and put them back in the labeled envelope.
5.  Repeat with each girl.
6.  After meeting, assemble garden to display later.

The girls really loved this activity.  They loved that they got to go into another room and make one for themselves and they loved making the petals for their friends.  I didn't have one incidence of meanness or of a girl having trouble finding a positive word.

Close Up

I wanted to have the whole project ready to display for our Tea Party the next week, but one of our girls was absent.  I sent home for her a petal for each girl, but it wasn't back in time, so, instead, I had the poster ready for the final celebration.  The downside of that is that the excitement about the poster had waned a lot. I wish I could have had it ready for the next time they met and maybe left space to add the absent girls' later.


Vi the Violet Project

Vi was a easy and straightforward flower to make.  I added the dipped petals and felt leaves to mix it up a little.

My Vi

Supplies:

1.  Pictures of real violets. (I also had a real African Violet plant)

2.  Purple cardstock.
3.  Dixie cups.

4.  Washable white tempera paint.
5.  Small paper plates.

6.   Petal templates.

7.  Dark green felt.

8.  Leaf template.

9.  Red and/or pink sharpie.
10.  Glue.
11.  Stapler.
12.  Googly eyes.
13.  Green pipe-cleaners.

Pre-meeting Prep:
1.  Use leaf template to cut out two leaves per girl from green felt.  (Like with Gerri, I made the template from printing out a picture of a leaf, gluing it onto an old manila folder, and cutting it out.)
2.  Cut out five purple petals per girl  from cardstock (and maybe a few extras just in case).
3.  Cut pipe-cleaners into 1/2 ( one per girl) and 1/4 (two per girl) lengths.

A Scout's Vi

4.  Lay out at each girl's spot a paper plate with their name on it and five petals.  In the center of the table lay out 2 dixie cups filled half way with equal parts white paint and water.

Gathering
1.  As the girls come in and take their seats, show them how to dip the pointy, middle part of the petals into the paint.
2.  Place the dipped petals on the paper plate to set aside for later.

Later in meeting:

1.  After splitting girls into two groups, have them get their garden poster and begin gluing down the longest pipe-cleaner for the stem and the two smaller for the leaves.

Another Scouts' Vi

2. Place real violet plant in the center if you have one.  Have leader go around and staple down the stems as the girls pass around pictures of real violets.
3.  Have the girls assemble the petals into a flower and glue down.
4.  Girls glue leaves at end of branches.
5.  Girls glue on googly eyes and draw on mouth.







Practice being a Hostess

While my half of the girls were making Vi the Violet with me, my Co-leader was working with the other group on how to greet people when they came to the upcoming Tea Party the next week.  They practiced the Girl Scout Handshake and welcoming their Brownie guest.

Closing Circle: 

We did the Friendship squeeze and we reminded the girls about the Mother-Daughter Tea Party coming up and how we had guest Girl Scouts coming who we needed to welcome and treat as sisters.

Homework/Handouts:

The girls had the usual handout for "Being a Sister to Every Girl Scout" and were asked to read chapter 4 in the Daisy Flower Garden Journey book before the next meeting.  They were also given paper flowers to decorate so we could put them up at the party.