Today we had a birthday party for Grace.  There is a certain joy to having a summer birthday kid, if you are the parent, that is.  I can have a party without inviting the entire class, so we get less stuff to put away and can be a little more creative.  Of course it stinks for the kid, but nowadays our school system is SO into fair and equal treatment that we have yet to make it through a year where the girls don't have their teacher assign them a birthday during the school year so they aren't left out.

So what did we do with our creative freedom?  We had a tea party.  Of course the down side to the summer birthday is that everyone is out of town, and someone got a fever, so we only had 5 kids (including one reluctant young male).  The 5 included Andra, Grace and the 2 neighbors, who are really more like family, so it was just like having one extra kid. But I digress.

We bought a china service for 16 on our honeymoon that we have never used, so we unpacked it after 15 years and used it.  It seemed like the right time. We had 3 kinds of tea - Panda Berry tea, Pink Lemonade Green Tea, and Cranberry Blood Orange, all from Republic of Tea.  We had finger sandwiches, and loads of Trader Joe's appetizers like mushroom pockets, and phyllo cups with feta and caramelized onions.  And for dessert we have mini individual cheesecakes.  It was lovely.  I know that really, none of it sounds like kid food, and I think the one kid who came was a little scared.  But here is the thing, I SWEAR GRACE PICKED IT ALL. 

Andra wanted to have a sleepover for her birthday, and wanted to go to teppanyaki for dinner and then go shopping.  She picked teppanyaki over Chuck E Cheese's. 

I know these choices make my kids a little odd, but I am glad.  Except for washing the service for 16 twice in the same week, I had a great time at both Andra's Teppanyaki, Old Navy, Sleepover and Grace's Republic of Tea, Trader Joe's Tea Party.