Birthday party advice needed ... tea party with boys!

[bajanswife]

I'm having a Strawberry Shortcake party for DD's 4th birthday - SS is her fave character right now. I wanted to make it a tea party because my family loves tea parties and so does she. The thing is, she has a 5 yo brother, plus maybe 1 or 2 other boys who might be invited because we are close to them or they have a sister who is invited (and younger siblings are usually invited too at this age). I had dreamed of this being a tea party with 8 little girls at one table and the grown ups (mostly moms and my best friends) at the other. I have ordered party stuff from Party Pro for 8 guests - SS cloth hats and other girly stuff. I was also going to get them necklaces to dress up with. I had not planned on boys at all, but I really think we will have a couple - DS really wants to be there for sure!

So, what to do with the boys? I had thought of having them represent Huckleberry Pie maybe - but what party favors would I give them? Cute cap? What else? If I had no other boy guests I had thought of making DS a server - dressing him up cute and having him serve tea. He might enjoy that for a little while, but not all afternoon.

Help! I am not very imaginative when it comes to these things!

 

[LMC]

My 4 1/2 yo DS loves to have tea parties with my 6 yo DD. We don't make it a boy/girl thing. He sees it as she is "waiting" and "serving" him so he loves it.
She caters to his every whim. He is a very ruff and tumble kind of fella so it's not like he has a soft side that is more apt to this stuff.
Just don't make a big issue of boy/girl. I am not familiar w/ hucklberry whoever, but the cap sounds good and maybe bandanas, spy scopes, bug nets, cane fishing pole. I would say magnifying glasses but they may end up burning something down.
I am sure you won't keep the boys attention nearly as long so make sure you have other things for them to do as well.

 

[Spinning]

I love tea parties! We never did one for a birthday party but have many at our house Boys included! They actually love it! They get dressed in our Dress up box stuff. We have had sponge bob, bear in the big blue house and captain hook at our table! LOL! ( even have a princess Ariel dress I wear!)
Have you thought about chocolate covered strawberries? YUM! oh and if you can find the tiny cupcakes they always go over great!
I think having your son as the server is a great idea even if there are other boys.
Favors can always be just candy in a bag, with a few little toys. I can't really think of anything that would work with the tea party theme for boys.
it is so much fun to watch the kids make tea! Usually 5 pounds of sugar...tons of milk and maybe a spash of tea! HAHAHA
Have fun!

 

[grlpwrd]

I have a collection of old SS stuff and IIRC Huckleberry Pie has a dog named Pupcake. Maybe you can make a batch of purple colored juice and call it huckleberry tea or something like that and cupcakes that look like dogs or make some huckleberry pie.

I wouldn't make it a girl/boy thing either. I would offer it to all the kids there.

About party favors or decor... HP has a straw hat and green and white striped clothing and a matching hanky. A hat and hanky would be nice, but also a little plush dog, too, that matches with a small green and white striped hanky. It might be too much work, though.

HTH

 

[momof2inPA]

I asked my 5 year old boy, and he said it would be ok to go to the party if the boys sat at a separate table from the pink stuff. He might be a bit more anti-girl than other 5 year olds because of his big brother.

 

[christinadei]

Why don't you get your husband to host the boys in the backyard. They can have an adventure, play games or whatever. Maybe grill hotdogs and have their own little party. That or just let them sit with the girls and don't do anything special for them except maybe get them seperate gift bags. With little cars or bugs or boyish stuff.

 

[bajanswife]

Thanks for the ideas so far. I'd like to get the boys hats so they don't feel left out - I'll look for cool straw hats.

I like the idea of DH playing with the boys - he won't sit down to tea with us anyway! Problem is I can see some of the girls wanting to join the boys

I wasn't going to do loot bags because the girls are getting dress-up stuff as their treats to wear home. So for the boys I guess a hat and one other cool thing to carry. I was thinking of not sending home any sweets - most of the moms around here dread seeing the sweets come home, and would love not to get them!

 

[funhouse8]

I work in a pre-school and have tea parties with the boys all the time. They really seem to enjoy this. especially the ones without sisters!

 

[soccerchick]

If they are around 4, they will probably jump in the fun with the tea party w/ no problem. In our old neighborhood, we had a close circle of friends w/ all girls except one. Nathan played dress up, tea party, princess whatever, and was just "one of the girls" so to speak. If you don't make a big deal out of it, it probably won't be one. If they are friends and like to play together, this will be no different.

Sounds like fun!

 

[disykat]

My younger son would have loved to go to a tea party at that age. Whenever he got invited to girl birthday parties he chose a tea set as their gift. We have a boy family, so I think he was kind of intrigued.

He probably would have still liked the necklaces, but the straw hats are a good idea. Maybe sticking out some plates etc. that don't have the SS logo and they can choose would help. He came home from one girl's party with a beaded necklace, a ring, and a little box he had glued jewels on. He called it "pirate loot" and really treasured it. The mom in charge had a natural way about giving the boys a way to participate that didn't compromise their "manhood".