How to Create an Elegant Kids' Birthday Tea Party

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Hosting an elegant kids’ birthday tea party can be a whimsical and fun experience! If you don’t have a birthday coming up have a tea party anyway. Your kids will be sure to love it! Here are some tips to create a magical atmosphere while ensuring it’s enjoyable for young guests.

A charming outdoor tea setup with a floral teacup and cake on lace tablecloth, perfect for afternoon relaxation.

Choose a Theme

Select a fun and colorful theme, such as a fairytale, princess, or garden party. Our daughters had a combined birthday this May. Given the spring season, we had a garden tea party. Choosing a theme will help guide your decorations, activities, and food choices.

Two young girls dressed up for an elegant kids' birthday tea party

Invitations

For an elegant kids’ birthday tea party have fun and create playful invitations for your elegant tea party. You can use themed designs or craft ones shaped like teacups or flowers. Make sure to indicate any dress code or theme. For my daughter’s party, I used Canva to design their birthday cards. Canva has a free version that is simple to use. I highly recommend it for designing birthday cards.

Location

Host the party in your backyard, a park, or a brightly decorated room indoors. An outdoor setting with a picnic table can add a fun touch. We hosted our party in the dining room by the kitchen and on our deck. It is a good idea to have a backup plan in case of rain.

Peaceful garden setting featuring wooden benches and tables under a lush vine arbor.

Decorations and Supplies

For an elegant kids’ birthday tea party use colorful tablecloths, whimsical centerpieces with flowers or tea-themed decorations, and cheerful banners. Add fairy jars and garden supplies. Hang paper lanterns, balloons, or streamers for added beauty. I made a bouquet as a centerpiece using carrots and flowers from Trader Joe’s. It looked perfect for a garden tea party. We used real teacups, but I didn’t want a ton of dishes, so I got a cute tea party paper plate set. Instead of doing real silverware, I bought rose gold colored plastic silverware, which made things easier but still looked elegant.

Elegant Tea party center piece using carrots and flowers

Kid-Friendly Tea Selection

Provided a variety of herbal teas like chamomile, mint, and rose. You can create a “tea bar” where kids can mix their drinks with fun add-ons like sprinkles or fruit slices. I decided to make a strawberry chamomile lemonade with edible flower ice cubes. This drink was absolutely delicious. Find the recipe Here. For hot tea, I bought butterfly pea flowers from Mountain Rose Herbs. Butterfly pea flowers are a vibrant dark blue when steeped. The fun part for kids is once you squeeze citrus fruit like lemon juice the tea turns purple/pink. It’s like a science experiment for kids. The parents and kids had fun with this!!

Snacks and Treats

For an elegant kids’ birthday tea party, it is important to have elegant food. Small appetizers and finger foods and a great option. Arrange the finger foods on rustic or ceramic tiered platters.

Mini sandwiches such as peanut butter and jelly, and cucumber cream cheese with herbs. We love to cut these sandwiches into fun shapes. You can buy sandwich cutters Here.
Fruit skewers
Mini quiche and savory puff pastry appetizers (they sell a lot of options at Trader Joe’s).
Scones with jam or whipped cream
Fun-shaped cookies, pastries, and macaroons
Crackers and herb goat cheese spread
Veggies dipped in hummus

A vibrant outdoor buffet table showcasing an array of colorful pastries and fruits, perfect for parties.

Soft purple macarons on a white plate with a floral teacup, surrounded by a warm bokeh background.

Delicious afternoon tea setup with sandwiches and pastries on a sunny day.

Party Favors

Send guests home with cute party favors such as mini tea sets, personalized tea bags, or fun stickers. You could collect used tea cut sets from thrift stores and have each child pick a set out to bring home.

A vibrant assortment of vintage ceramic tea sets with a floral theme, showcasing delicate porcelain craftsmanship.

Dress Code

For an elegant kids’ birthday tea party encourage kids to dress up in their fanciest outfits or costumes. Provide accessories like hats, tiaras, or boas for added fun. We made homemade fascinators with just a few simple craft supplies from Amazon. To make fascinators you will need round fascinator hat bases, alligator clips, glitter tulle fabric, hot glue gun, hot glue sticks, and craft bows/flowers. There was no rhyme or reason when we made the fascinators, the girls and I just had fun with it. Below is a picture of one I made with some extra yarn I had and a craft bird from Michaels.

lady wearing an elegant tea party fascinator

Music and Photos

Set up a photo corner with themed props (hats, tea sets, fun signs) to capture memories of the day. We kept it simple with just a shimmer streamer backdrop. I played classical music in the background. Classical music seems very elegant and proper to me; I thought maybe it would keep the kids calm too (ha-ha wishful thinking).

Cake

We can’t forget my favorite part of every birthday party cake!! My kid’s birthday parties are an excuse for me to be creative and use my cake-decorating skills. For the garden tea party, I made a rustic naked vanilla cake with lavender blackberry filling and Swiss meringue buttercream. I decorated the cake with edible flowers from my garden. A previous year we had a garden party and I made a garden cake to match my real garden. Of course, you do not need to be this elaborate a simple solution is to buy vanilla cake or cupcakes and edible pansies. Simply stick the pansies to the cake or cupcakes as you see fit. Then you can display the cake/cupcakes on a wood, glass, or ceramic platter.

By focusing on fun and creativity, you can create an elegant tea party birthday that kids will cherish and remember for years to come. Enjoy the celebration!