Spooky Fun Tea Party 2

One week after arriving in Florida it is finally spooky tea party day! Granddaughters Ruby and Charlie are the busiest little ladies! I would say apart from school, soccer is their priority. They are up at 5:45am. Each have soccer practice on different days, twice a week, in parks 10km apart and at the same time. I am taken back to the days when their mom and her sibs kept me going in similar fashion! Anyone out there identify?

I've been trying to slip in a question or two as I think about a tea party which can only happen today! So I asked,

"What are you going to dress up as this year?"

C. A prom queen zombie 

R. A vampire

My reaction:

"So, do you like Hallowe'en?"

R. shrug

C. Hmm, yeah

"Is that it?"

R. Well, I like candy!

C. Smile and a nod

We stopped into Publix, the local grocery store the other evening to pick up a few tea party ingredients.

"What kind of cupcakes should we have?"

R. Chocolate

C. Vanilla

We compromised and bought a fudge marble swirl mix.

"How about deviled eggs?" I said rather excitedly because I love deviled eggs!

R. Ewww - deviled eggs...Yuk (after explanation - my daughter had warned me)

C. Do they smell like...you know...fa*&%$*s? My friend says they smell like that.

"OK, no deviled eggs, I said. "Let's make those Oreo crows I showed you in the magazine."

R. Ya, let's go to the cookie aisle.

They knew the way to Aisle 5 and Oreos (both thins and mini) landed in the cart, no problem; then candy eyeballs, candy corn and black licorice. So that was the tea party shopping list covered. The peanut butter and Fluff were already in the kitchen cupboard for finger sandwiches!

Here we are prepping for our spooky fun tea party:

With parents still away, we moved around the decor to set a spooky table. Ruby added red gel necklaces to the vases to look like blood dripping (she is the vampire).

I dared get out Nana's fine china tea cups to make it just a little bit dainty and we came up with this riddle:

Q: How does a vampire sip from a tea cup?

A: With great difficul-tea!

Out came the teeth (photo) and down went the Caramel Rooibos with ease! Vampire teeth sitting on the table left a bit to be desired but we had a good laugh! After all, it was a spooky FUN tea party.

There are so many occasions to have a tea party. The calendar has a host of special days celebrated throughout the year. I certainly cherish any time I get with my grandchildren who live too far away for regular visits.

But there's also just those 'any day' times when a little sandwich, a cookie, a pot of tea and a friend or grandmother sitting with you by the window can make you feel so happy and blessed.

You can imagine how I feel when the girls get home from school and I hear "Gamma, can we have a cup of tea?"