I found this tea pot fabric one day and designed the party around it....knowing that I had high aspirations to make fancy tea party dresses. This was my most complicated dress pattern I had yet to make, but I loved the halter style neckline and flowing skirt, so I had to at least give it a try!
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| Maya spinning in circles, with delight... |
Skipping an hour of sleep here and there allowed me to make matching dresses for both daughters to wear to the party...which I was very pleased with the results.
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| the birthday girl, all decked out and ready! |
Given I had spent most of my birthday budget on fabric (seriously, even with coupons, how on Earth is fabric SO expensive?!), I had to make some thrifty shopping choices for the rest of the party. I scored a complete coordinating set of tea cups and saucers at Goodwill that matched the colors I had already decided to use.
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| Set of 8 cups and saucers...$6 |
For snacks and food we served pink cupcakes, finger foods and lots of chocolate covered goodies. Pink lemonade and sweet tea were also served. Hot tea and coffee for any parents or grandparents present.
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| tea party snacks, dainty and cute... |
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| more yummy decadent snacks |
Despite the food and table decorations, I still felt the party needed more decorations, but low on cost. I raided my scrapbook paper to find coordinating colors and used this template to cut out tea pot shapes. Once they were cut out, I taped them (yes, high class, I know) to the tulle I had left over from another sewing project. Wahla! A practically free themed birthday banner for the family room. Cost = $0 used supplies already in my home
 I was a bit short on activities and a pinata sounded pretty fun, and would be a cute decoration. The tea pot pinatas I found online were crazy expensive, especially to just be destoryed in a matter of minutes. I used these directions to draft my own, because I was somewhat used to not sleeping at this point. I used the same template to make two more teapots, and made my own pull string pinata in the colors of the tea party. I had learned from my previous party planning days that young children and hitting at pinatas do not mix, so pull string pinata was definitely the way to go! I filled the pinata with candy purchased after Valentine's day (all the pretty pink wrapped yumminess, perfectly timed for a March birthday party). Cost = $0 used supplies already in my home Candy = $6  Lucky for me, Easter was a few weeks ahead and the cute hats, pearls, gloves and purses were purchased for each girl from the Dollar Spot at Target. We used these cute girly accessories as party favors and adorned the chairs for added decoration. 8 girls x $4 of accessories = $32 in party favors 
Wrapping paper and a tablecloth from the Dollar Tree, plus matching plates, and 2 pack of paper lanterns = $4 for decorations!
For crafts, we used even more tea pot templates pre-cut and gave the girls glitter, pom poms and markers to create their own tea pot to take home. If the party were for an older age group, paint your own pottery would have been fun, but for the target audience of three-year olds...that wasn't in the cards.
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| decorating their own tea pots... |
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The birthday girl selected pink cupcakes, with pink sprinkles of course...  |
Overall, a very successful low cost party for my littlest and her friends. Happy Tea Party to All, and to all a good night!
For those who want to know the overall cost, the budget breakdown is below:
Decorations purchased: $4
Candy for Pinata: $6
Party Favors: $32
Fabric for tea party dresses for two girls: $27
Tea Cups and saucers: $6
Box of cake mix and icing for me to make cupcakes: $3
Total Cost: $78
