Cooking with the Grandchildren: Summer High Tea
When summer arrives your grandchildren may have time in their schedules for some really spectacular fun. Kids love to cook. You’ve done breakfasts, snacks and holiday treats with them. Why not plan a high tea kid style? You’ll get lots of time with the grandchildren both planning and executing the fancy event.
Summer high tea can be planned for a number of different reasons. You may want some one on one time with a granddaughter. You may want to work with your granddaughter to invite a group of her friends for a special occasion such as a birthday, or a summer get-together playdate. You may even choose to invite both boys and girls in an effort to teach social skills such as etiquette and appropriate conversation.
Themed teas are great fun to plan. What is the latest kid movie that has captured every child’s heart? Do you want to come as princesses or pirates? Or maybe you want to plan a book-themed tea where each child brings along a favorite book to share.
Decorations for the tea will follow the theme and you may want to plan a simple craft to go along with the day. One idea is to decorate a picture frame, take several good photos of the day and then send them along to guests for a wonderful memory of the day.
Since teas are generally served with both sandwiches and sweets, here are some ideas for a child-friendly version of the day:
Drinks: You might try herbal teas, but be prepared to serve something more familiar such as chocolate milk, lemonade or hot cocoa.
Sandwiches: Most children are a bit picky about sandwich fillings, so stick to choices that are easy on their palate such as turkey on whole wheat, nutella and banana on white, cinnamon cream cheese on rye, cinnamon toast points or pbj on virtually any kind of bread.
Sweets: Brownie bites, mini-cupcakes, chocolate-dipped shortbreads, fruit kabobs with marshmallows or rice krispie treats cut into cookie cutter shapes are some good choices.
Be sure to involve your grandchild in the cooking process. They can help set the fancy table, gather flowers for a centerpiece, make and cut the sandwiches, mix and help bake the cookies, frost cupcakes and add sprinkles, and so much more. This should be a day to remember and the grandma, grandchild combo is the key to success.
For more ideas for your special child-friendly high tea see:
