This was a great way to keep the kids entertained, keep my daughter involved and have some "playtime". It was a lot of fun to plan, inexpensive to put together and easy to execute. All of the dishes you see in the above picture were purchased at thrift stores. That way I don't care of one of the kids drop and break one and they are inexpensive to buy. They don't have to be matching, the new fad nowadays is pretty mismatched tea sets.
We made own own goodies, blackberry tarts, scones and peanut butter and jam sandwiches. We also had a candy bar on a separate table that the kids could grab a bag and take some home with them. (The parents sure loved me).
Next I wrapped individual knives,forks, and spoons in a napkin and wrapped a candy bracelet around it to hold it all together. I also laid out a beaded necklace and wand at every place setting. I purchased a color table cloth form the dollar store and paper doilies to put on top in the middle as seen above. It makes the table look fancy but it only cost me a couple of dollars. Then my daughter and I picked wildflowers in the grass to put in vases on the table as our centerpieces. A fun thing to do with your kids and costs nothing. It also makes for a beautiful vintage centerpiece.
I also was busy cutting card stock to make bunting to hang up. I just bought a few pieces of different card stock from Michael's craft store and cut one triangle out as a guide and traced the rest. I then made holes in both sides at the top and strung them together with some colored string I purchased at the dollar store. I then printed out letters off my computer and glued them on and VOILA! It's simple and looks great! The cutting is what takes the most time. I also strung some bunting on the candy bar table.
Making and doing things with your kids is fun and a great way to spend time with your kids. I never had that luxury before as I was a full time working mom. Now that I've had my son, I'm still on maternity leave and so I have all the time in the world to spend with my kids and I'm loving every minute of it.
I hope that all of you with kids take the time and spend it with them, get to really know them, and have fun with them. I can't stress that enough. All I wanted to do when I was working was spend time with my daughter and now I am doing just that and taking full advantage of it. It probably won't be forever because I'll probably have to go back to work at some point, but I certainly won't waste the time I have now.
I hope this inspired some of you to throw a random party for your kids and their friends and get creative!
Thanks for listening!
Brie
