"Teddy Bear Tea Party"

For my daughter's fifth birthday, we had a Teddy Bear Tea Party. In our local area, there is a "Bear Bus" that comes to the house. They take the kids out to the Bear Bus Workshop and each child gets to choose a plush animal to stuff, adopt and name (like Build a Bear). Before the bus arrived, I had a fancy trunk with toy jewelry from the party store and told each girl to choose some jewelry and get ready for the tea party. After each child had created and adopted their "new friend", we had a proper tea party luncheon with demitasse cups of pink lemonade, party sandwiches and fruit salad, followed, of course, by birthday cake. I used fancy placemats and napkins to make it real girly. They loved it! Before they went home, my husband took a digital picture of each child with their new friend and we printed a copy and filled a frame with the picture as a memento. For the Birthday Girl, there was a group picture with all of her friends. Most craft centers have the bear skins for making a bear, so this can still be done even if you don't have a "Bear Bus" in your area. I paid $14.95 per child, but it turned out to be no more expensive than the other parties where you hire entertainment or even take them bowling or to the movies. By the time you pay the $9.95 and put together goody bags, you have spent as much anyway. We had 10 kids, so the animals were $150.00 and then whatever the cost of the party sandwiches (PB&J, cheese and cream cheese and jelly), and cake and pink lemonade (doesn't take much to feed a bunch of 5-year-old girls). The picture frames were 2 for a dollar from the dollar store.
My older daughter is turning 11 in three weeks - now it's getting more difficult to come up with clever ideas that appeal to that age group. This year, we're doing a movie and then going to a local Gelato shop and making home-made ice cream. She gets to create and name the flavor of the day and then the girls get to make their own sundaes with the gelato that they made.

A very big Thank You to Judy Thayer for taking the time to write to us