What I learned at the tea party

I woke up this morning and found myself in the middle of a tea party hosted by our kids. This is the first official tea party I recall attending and it was clear from the start that I wasn’t privy to all the rules. Here are a few things I learned by attending the tea party:

1. You can’t just show up to the party looking like you rolled out of bed. A dress code exists that includes “nice shoes and no T-shirts”. No exceptions.
2. Preparing for the tea party is just as important as the party itself. As a rule of thumb, expect the prep time to take three times as long as the party.
3. You are served at a tea party. You don’t place an order. “it’s not a restaurant”.
4. Girls serve the food, boys pour the tea. This rule is set in stone, I’m told.
5. Colors matter. Oh boy do they matter as I learned when I tried using a green cup with a yellow plate. This won’t happen again. Lesson learned.
6. The typical spread at a tea party is “cake, pizza, chocolate milk, water, chili, bread, cereal…..” Pretty much everything except tea.
7. Attending a tea party requires a good imagination. The plastic piece of pizza pulled in triple duty as the pizza, cake and bread.
8. When the party is over, the attendees are responsible for picking up their plates, dishes and cups. I guess they weren’t kidding when they said this “isn’t a restaurant”.

I learned a lot more at the tea party than I expected and it was fun to see how the three kids worked together to pull it off. Luca and Anna loved matching up the plates and cups and preparing the food. Lincoln was just happy to be included. As best I could tell, Lincoln spent the entire time on “watch the teapot” duty.

It might have been the first tea party I’ve attended, but I can’t imagine attending a better one.