Simple Beauty and the Beast Afternoon Tea Party

I have always loved the story of Beauty and the Beast, and I have wanted to host a Beauty and the Beast themed tea party for many years. A few months ago, I decided to do it with a group of Preschoolers. I decorated, and we ate cupcakes and tea sandwiches, drank tea (juice) and made a few crafts. It was easy, inexpensive, and lots of fun... and today I am sharing all the wonderful DIY details of my simple Beauty and the Beast tea party.

Like any party, a good tea party needs simple and festive decorations.

I made a doily banner using paper doilies from the dollar store. I basically just used glue to attach folded doilies over a piece of twine. Then, I embellished the banner with flower clothespins and letters that spelled out "tea". 

I also used an old book to make a book page table runner. Such a simple idea... but it turned out really cute and added some visual interest to the table.

In keeping with the "book" theme, I used some colourful hardcover books to display an "enchanted rose" centrepiece that I made using more dollar store supplies. You can find the full tutorial for this dollar store Beauty and the Beast centrepiece here.

And to complete the decor, I designed this "Be Our Guest" sign. You can download it for FREE by clicking on the photo below, right-clicking, saving it to your computer, and printing it like a regular 8x10 photo.

To keep everyone entertained, we did a variety of Beauty and the Beast themed crafts.

The tea party guests made paper crowns that they decorated with jewel stickers.

The kids also made paper flowers with their pictures in the centre. Cute, right?

Everyone also made enchanted mirrors from tin foil, paper plates, craft sticks and jewels.

And the kids created their own enchanted rose artwork by gluing a picture of a rose and dollar store rose petals to a piece of cardstock.

To download the picture of the rose: click on the photo below, right-click, save it to your computer, and print it like a regular 4x6 photo.

Finally, the party guests crafted their own rocking teapots on paper plates folded in half. 

For food, I kept things simple. We had tea (apple juice) in tiny real glass teacups, cupcakes with sprinkles, and tea sandwiches.

The kids loved the peanut butter sandwiches cut out with flower-shaped cookie cutters.

This was a really simple party theme, but it was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

A Beauty and the Beast tea party would be great for a birthday party, a special afternoon, or a movie night. Do you have little ones that would enjoy these treats and crafts?