When I was 6 years old, my friend's parents had a formal dinner party for some of the children in our class. My mother made me a new velveteen and taffeta dress and I'll always remember how beautiful the house was and the elegance of the dining room. I had never seen so many dishes and silverware on a table at once!  I think that started my love affair with entertaining. Of course, my parents also loved entertaining and I would always help out. In the 50 years that my husband and I have been married, we have really enjoyed entertaining our friends and family, from impromptu backyard cookouts to formal seated dinners. I was a home economics teacher for 36 years, too, which really fed my love for entertaining and decorating.

Now, we have three granddaughters ages 6 through 9, and I wanted to have a young ladies' Christmas tea party for them and their friends in the neighborhood so they could get an idea of what a really fancy dress-up party looked like and learn proper etiquette! 

Their parents love to entertain and do it often, but not usually in a formal manner like this, with china, crystal, and silver. I sent invitations to each girl and told them to wear their fanciest dresses and as much make-up as their mothers would allow, and a hat or tiara if they so chose. I invited the mothers to stay as well so they could enjoy this new adventure with their girls.

In 2021 we hosted our first tea party and they were so excited and looking forward to it, although they really didn't know what to expect. After they arrived, I sat them down and went over a few etiquette rules for them to follow during the tea party. It was funny hearing them repeat those rules to each other during the event. My oldest granddaughter asked if she could act as hostess and I agreed. She answered the door, invited each guest in, took their wraps, and helped them find their place cards. The girls were all very well-behaved and enjoyed the fancy food and drink, and being able to use the china, crystal, and silver just like grown-ups do. The tea party was a roaring success and the girls said that we had to do this every year.

Last year we had the second tea party with my middle granddaughter being the hostess. We added a few more girls, too. Now my youngest granddaughter insists on another one next year so she can act as hostess. I sure hope I have one more in me!

It has been great to have a multigenerational activity to share with each other. Many of the girls wrote sweet thank-you notes to me after the parties. I think it's so important for this younger generation of girls to get some insight into this type of entertaining and I hope they, too, will want to embrace it one day in the future.