Valentine's Tea Party

I know I have said it before, but I am so very blessed and grateful for my momma's group friends. It is so nice to have such a wonderful group of women, who support and encourage one another, who each bring something unique to the group with our different and varying talents and personalities, to share life with. Being a mother is a hard and scary business sometimes, and sometimes it is tiresome, and our little ones don't always say thank you for the endless amount of work that we do for them, so it's nice to have a group of friends who understand and relate, and who lift each other up when one of us needs it. I don't know what I would do without these amazing women in my life, and I am thankful for each and every one of them.

And I love holidays, any reason to celebrate and make a day seem magical and fun. We always try to get together for holidays, to let the kids play and so we can catch up and chit-chat.

So many people asked why I bought all the tea sets for Starla's birthday party, and said things like "You'll never even use those again." and I of course replied that I would have tons of tea parties with them, that they would be put to good use. And I thought what a wonderful time to have a tea party; Valentine's day!

And since we are trying not to spend money, I knew I had to only use what I have on hand to decorate and host the party. I have TONS of crafts stuff, and fabric, and ribbons, and buttons, and just tons of stuff on hand from years and years of buying things and not using them all (see, saving things can be a good thing!) So I looked through my stash and came up with decorating ideas...

I printed up the free valentines printables from A Fanciful Twist (the link is in the Valentines Treats post) and glued them onto heart shaped doilies and made them into a garland....





I pulled out some of the decorations we had at Starla's birthday party, like this mobile (it has been hanging in her room since the party) which I actually learned to make from this tutorial on A Fanciful Twist blog.



I put tons of different sizes and colors of heart doilies all over the place. I love heart doilies and have a giant supply of them that we use to make valentines each year. In fact (sorry to change th subject and get off on a tangent, but this seems like a good a place as any....), every year when we buy a box of character valentines for the kids with like 32 in them, and they only use like 20 for their class, I just put the rest into a big ziploc and save them, and pull them out each valentines. After years and years of doing this, we have this extensive collection of valentines, which I think is so much more fun than having one single kind to choose from. The kids can be thoughtful and think "hey I think so & so would really like this pokemon one, or I think so and so would really appreciate this harry potter one" and put some thought and effort into it. I am one that truly believes it is the thought that counts, and that you should spend time thinking about what the other person would like. So of course I want to teach this to my kids. So when Roman asked his teacher for a class list of names to work on his valentines, and she replied that since there are 26 kids in class and it would just be so much easier to write your name on 26 valentines and then just hand them out randomly, I was sad. Oh I do understand needing simplicity in a classroom with 26 kids. I understand needing to do the least amount of work possible when you are swamped as a teacher. But I also understand teaching my kids good values and character traits, and that sometimes in order to do this, you can't take the easy way out. So I told Roman that I thought he should still get a list from her, and take the time and effort of writing each kids name on a valentine and thinking about which one they would like best. It teaches him that our friends are worth the effort, and it teaches him thoughtfulness, and it teaches him that sometimes it is worth the extra time to make someone feel special and important. Because really, aren't people and our relationships with them, the most important thing in life? I think so. So friday he asked again, and she said she would get him a list. When I picked him up from school, he said "oh no! Mrs. Shelton forgot to give me a list" and he was a bit upset. Later that evening, during dinner Mrs. Shelton called, and said she totally forgot, and asked for my e-mail address so she could mail me the class list so that he would have his valentines ready for monday. She gets super brownie points from me. :)

And on another note though, even though I did all that with Roman, for Starla's valentines for her class and this tea party, I just let her "sign" the back of each one and we didn't take the time to fill them out for each kid, I think at this age they don't really care, and that I have plenty of time to instill that thoughtfulness with her, lol.


I was happy with my pretty table....











and the hodgepodge of decorations. I like hodge podge. :)





Starla asked if she could wear her Cinderella dress for the party. I so love that she enjoys dressing up. :)





I think the boys enjoyed sipping tea and eating cookies as much as the girls did, who says tea parties are just for girls?! :)














good friends, good conversation....what more could you ask for?








I love Sawyer's shirt (and his smile!!) Starla says she is going to marry this boy someday, I even think daddy would approve since he's sporting the horns. :)





Kristi brought bags for the kids to color and then put their valentines in, everyone had fun with them....





madness ensued (but a delightful chaos I must say) when it was time to pass out the valentines....



Happy Valentine's day everyone! Hope you have a day full of joy, love and memories.