Poetry Teatime, Cardboard Tea Sets, and Grownup Tea Parties

tis the season 🫖

Hello! May seems to be a big season for tea, so here are some different ways you can have a fancy little time at home (and why it might be worth it.) And, as you’ll read if you scroll down: sake sets and trays are a perfect gift for grownups because tea parties are still cool. 😎

Cardboard Tea Party

Kids actually love being hospitable and serving each other…it’s a great skill and passion to have! Tea parties (real or pretend) are a great way to flesh it out. Here are some printables I made so you can have a sweet little cardboard tea party at home! (They’re .png’s, so you can just tap on each image and download it.)

Here’s a set for your kids to decorate and cut out on their own if they like.

Here’s a set that we recommend gluing onto cardboard and cutting out. It’s extra fun if you cut a slit in the bottom of each piece, then make a little stand with a rectangle of cardboard that slides right into the slit (like when we made the winter play scene in last January.)

And here are some food illustrations that work quite well glued onto thinner cardboard (like a cereal box) and cut out.

To make a tiered stand for the food, simply make plate-sized circles out of cardboard, and hot-glue half a toilet paper roll between the plates. (Your child can also decorate the plates.)

Enjoy!

Poetry Teatime

If you’d like to have a more serious, consistent time of classy snackery, invest in an actual small tea set. (It’s not too hard to find a good set—or compile your own eclectic set—from a thrift store.) I think the goal of poetry teatime is to communicate to your kids that 1) they are worth your time, 2) they’re deserving of dignity, and 3) your family values enjoying beautiful things together.

Here’s one of the most important things to remember about poetry teatime: don’t idealize it. “Doable” for your family in your season is right on target. If you use a kettle and strainer for seasonal loose-leaf teas and bake homemade treats, um, that’s awesome and your kids will love it. Last year I shared some specific snack ideas and practical tips.

But if you’re just microwaving Celestial Seasonings tea bags and peeling open string cheese for each kid—which is my style, personally—that’s super memorable and sweet, too.

The whole point of this is setting time aside and showing your kids that you think they’re beautiful and worthy. You don’t even have to read poetry. (If you do want to read poetry, there’s a great list of books here.) But maybe you just need to talk. You can ask your kids the questions I shared at the beginning of the month ⬇️

Grownup Tea Party

I gave my husband a sake set for Easter, and we’ve been enjoying little at-home dates on Sunday afternoons where we mix up a fancy drink—usually something lychee-flavored—in the slender little pot and pour each other tiny cups again and again. It’s 100% like a tea party and it’s already become a treasured tradition. We’ve had fun doing this with friends, too, even just taking turns pouring from a refreshing bottle of sparkling mineral water 😅

If you do a regular teatime with your kids, or if you have tips on what makes your teatime special and/or doable, please share in the comments! I loved reading these last year; reader Raygen recently sent me a picture of their completed tea set; they’ve been thrifting tea cups from all over America this past year as they travel in their RV!

Here’s a photo that reader Tyler shared of her family’s Poetry Tea Time; she’s a pro!

I hope this gave you some fun ideas to connect with each other!

Warmly,

Hope from Family Scripts