How to Have a Healthy and Courteous First-Day-of-School Tea Party

Our tea party picnic and Teddy bear picnic were so much fun that my 2¾-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, has been asking for another tea party. With Zoey starting Montessori school this September, we decided to have a first-day-of school tea party. We actually had it on her second day of school, but the concept was the same!

 

We always like our tea parties to be healthy and to encourage courteous behavior. This one focused on healthy foods and courteous behavior along with a new beginning-of-school year tradition.

Healthy and Courteous First-Day-of-School Tea Party – YouTube Video

In this 1 minute, 49-second video, my daughter, Christina, and Zoey (Christina’s niece) enjoy their tea party and new tradition.

Following are our menu, items used, and the grace and courtesy lessons we emphasized.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Our Menu for a First-Day-of-School Tea Party

Video – Preparations Before the Tea Party

• Apple Slices with Peanut Butter (above video plus tutorial)
• Mini Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins (super-healthy and yummy muffins made using mini muffin pans and mini muffin cups)
• Warm Peppermint Tea made with hot water and peppermint tea bags (cooled to a safe temperature)

Items for a First-Day-of-School Tea Party

• Ceramic Tea Set with Basket (I chose this set because it has a pretty basket and settings for 4 … many are only settings for 2. If you get this set, be sure to save the plastic inserts if you want to store your tea set in it. I put the inserts back in the basket {just cut the tall part down to fit easily} to safely store our special-occasion tea set.)
• Child-size table and chairs
• Tablecloth
• Placemats
• Napkins
• Let’s Have a Tea Party!: Special Celebrations for Little Girls by Emilie Barnes (This is by the same Christian publisher as My Very First Tea Party. It has lots of fun ideas for themed tea parties. I just used it as a reference, but Zoey will probably enjoy it when she’s a bit older.)
  
• Multicraft tray for food and tea set
• Flowers that Zoey helped arrange.
• Food and Tea (See menu above)
• party dress (Zoey’s is from Gymboree.)
• white gloves and hats are often used, although we didn’t use them for this tea party.
• printable for first-day-of-school interview (we chose a first-day-of school interview from Positively Splendid.

Our First-Day-of-School Tea Party

I love that Zoey’s becoming so comfortable with “please,” “thank you,” and “you’re welcome.”

Zoey LOVES pouring and sharing herbal tea!

This is a fun tradition to start. We’ll enjoy seeing the changes through the years. This makes a perfect keepsake!

Grace and Courtesy Activities Used in Our First-Day-of-School Tea Party

We focused on these tea-party manners:

• saying “yes, please” or “no, thank you”
• saying “thank you”
• saying “you’re welcome”
• dabbing mouth with napkin
• saying “thank you for the tea party”

Learn more about Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy (my book for teaching grace and courtesy for ages 2-12!)

This was another fun tea party! Next year, we’ll probably have a back-to-school tea party!

Update: You can read about our healthy and courteous back-to-school tea party here.

Do you have a special first-day-of-school or back-to-school tradition?

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

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