Tea for Two--or Twenty

Tuesday morning, I took Claire to a tea party at our Library. She was so excited to wear a "party" dress and drink "real tea". I was excited that she wanted to wear something other than her St. Pat's t-shirt.
There were about twenty preschool age girls, and a couple of boys in suits whose mothers obviously want their sons to hate them because, seriously, why would you bring a four year old boy to a tea party? They started with story time, which Claire loves and then were assigned tables for the tea party. The kids were instructed to use their best manners and have a conversation with their hostess.

Our hostess turned out to be about 11 years old, and I saw Claire glancing around, noticing that all the other hostesses were grown-ups. I could tell she felt ripped off because she kept trying to have a conversation on the side with the little girl across the table. When the hostess would ask her a question, Claire would give her a one-word answer and then turn back to her new friend. Hello?? Everyone knows Claire thinks she's about twenty-five years old, so of course she doesn't want to have a conversation with an 11 year old. She'd rather talk to the other three year old who thinks she's an adult.

I have to say, I was very impressed by the behavior of all the kids. They really did have their best manners on, but as soon as the last petit four was eaten, it was back to normal preschool stuff. And of course, my own little preschooler couldn't wait to join in.

Claire had so much fun, she's been asking to have her own tea party. "Like with your stuffed animals," I asked. "No, with all my friends," she answered. Considering most of her friends are boys, that should be one interesting tea party.