When you have two sweet girlies, you just have to do tea parties, right? I figure it's good to get some practice in with friends while they're young, so I have ideas to do it more when they're old enough to really help and enjoy it to the full!
With Danielle here, it was way easier. She made almost all the food, straightened up, set the table...
The first party was on Wednesday. Having gotten many requests to teach/practice English with kids, we asked Danielle if she wanted to do it while she was here. Just being American and a native English speaker means people are willing to pay too! She was interested, so we put out a flyer for four sessions for girls ages 6-10. But, evidently we know very few friends with girls ages 6-10! But some friends shared the flyer, and there ended up being four girls interested, but they couldn't come each of the days. So, we decided to just one special party. One girl ended up being sick that day, but we got to enjoy 3 very sweet girls for an hour!
We had a simple book about friends, with them to answer "what do you do to be a good friend?" at the end. They all spoke English very clearly, but didn't have an extremely wide vocabulary, so it was fun having various books and props to use.
The tea party didn't take up the whole time, so after a story and songs, playing a game provided great enthusiasm and opportunity to practice colors and numbers and other English expressions.
They also really enjoyed playing with the felt dolls, which taught them the name for various types of clothing too!
Two moms and a younger sister came along, and they all seemed to have a good morning. Danielle did a great job too, leading conversation and facilitating everything!
I hung out with the moms some, but if we were in the room, they mostly just wanted to take pictures with the girls or get their attention in some way. Okay for a little bit, but it got tiring for the girls after while. ;) So I played with Hadassah in another room for a bit, and then Alex took her out to the apartment they're staying in to play when Ellie woke up. Worked out really well!
That afternoon Danielle helped me make some more felt scenes for Dassah. Mine was a garden scene. The spider looks like a crab, I know - need to make more pointy legs! ;) But the googly eyes make everything so much more fun! :) These were mostly pinterest ideas, but a lot of fun to make. And it's fun to know that what I make for Dassah, Ellie will eventually be playing with too!
Danielle made the solar system! It will be fun to teach Hadassah about the planets, and I may have her do things like put them in a line from largest to smallest, and eventually use them to learn where they are in relation to the sun. Gives me lots of ideas of things to make out of felt for homeschooling one day!
Summer evenings are for game nights, we've decided. We're staying up a little later these days and definitely feeling it, but it's really fun having people around to play games with, and relaxing at the end of hot days!
Thursday we had another tea party, this time for Dassah and her friends! This little girl came early as her mom had a doctor's appointment to get to, and they were excited about the food they saw getting ready! And having the parties two days in a row was so smart... Allowed us to just make double of the same foods to have at both!
Fruit on toothpicks was a big hit! Though, we realized, a little sharp for little girls. But they handled them well!
Mini cupcakes are adorable and made sure they didn't get too much chocolate! ;) The mini cupcake pan I bought on Taobao as a mistake (thinking it was a full size one) has turned out to be really useful!
Chewy chocolate chip cookies, again in a smallish size. ;)
Cucumber-cream cheese sandwiches cut in flower shapes. Because shapes make everything more fun.
Danielle also made more of the delicious watermelon lemonade! It is so nice to have her take the time to squeeze four lemons and puree a bunch of watermelon! The girls really liked it too. :)
I told Danielle she is now certified for a tea party hostess. She's great at doing them with girls of all ages!
It is fun seeing these girls become better friends too. They all looked so cute dressed up, and they're really beginning to play together more. Dassah was very happy, said things like "welcome to our tea party!" and is spontaneously giving friends hugs sometimes. It is fun to see her growing up, and so nice to have her have friends to grow up with.
One of the girls' moms then had us to her house for a delicious, huge lunch that she prepared. She is always such an amazing hostess, thinking ahead to have some Chinese food and some American food so there is always something for everyone to enjoy. And on hot days it's also nice to be in someone else's cool apartment with new toys for the children to enjoy.
It's been a year since we moved to this apartment complex, and we are so blessed with the community it has provided. What a blessing.
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