English Tea Party -- Tea Time Around the World

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.  Some of the links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

Now that we are almost half way through December I am going to take the time to share the tea party we had in November. In November we looked at England. To do this we read some books, watched some DVDs from the library and also have some fun books to share with you. Some are for the little ones and some are for the older ones. We will start with learning a bit about England. It is a country in the United Kingdom. It's capital is London. Now I always have had a fondness to England since my maiden name is a town there. However I do not know a whole lot about the history of England besides little bits here and there. To learn a bit more we started with The Tudors: Kings, Queens, Scribes and Ferrets! by Marcia Williams.

Chinese Tea Party -- Tea Parties Around the World

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.  

Now a series of Tea Parties Around the World would not be complete without looking at Chinese tea. Let's face it, the China is where tea began. January seemed like the perfect time for us to look at China since we were looking at the Chinese New Year already. I will admit writing this post has been intimidating me and I keep putting it off. How can I do the long history of tea in China justice? I have decided just to share with you my references and what we enjoyed as we looked at China and the history of tea. 

Zen and Tea -- Picture Book Reviews

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Something I find missing in many people today is connections. People need connections with one another as well as nature. We also need to stop and just be. Today I am sharing two picture books that emphasize these messages. The first is My First Book of Zen: Simple Wisdom for Children by Tracy Gallup. It is recommended for ages 5 to 9. 

Tea and Tea Parties

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Quarto Books USA. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Did you know that tea is the second most popular drink in the world? Water is the first. Hazel is going through a stage of loving tea parties and always wanting to have one. I decided to combine all of this into our cultural studies of various countries and start a new series: Tea Parties Around the World and you are cordially invited to all of them!! Before celebrating a party I thought I should learn more about tea itself. And thanks to my friends at Quarto Books, I am able to share with you The Art and Craft of Tea by Joseph Wesley Uhl and some of the information I found out about tea from it. 

Boston Tea Party Themed Tea Party Around the World

Yesterday I introduced my new series, Tea Parties Around the World. Today I am going to share our first tea party by looking at a historical one and having a tea party with that theme. Our theme is the Boston Tea Party. (After all we might as well start local.) To start we read some books about the Boston Tea Party. Did you know there were actually four tea parties in the colonies but Boston's became the famous one? These are a few of the books we found at our library. There are a lot out there!!

How the Queen Found the Perfect Cup of Tea

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Between my Tea Parties Around the World Series and National Princess Week Resources and Giveaway (have you entered yet?) How the Queen Found the Perfect Cup of Tea by Kate Hosford and illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska found its way to me.

Our Japanese Tea Party -- Exploring Japan with Tea Parties Around the World

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.


So last month our plan was to have a Japanese tea party for Tea Parties Around the World, but life interfered and our tea party happened in May instead, but this is perfect since it is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. So through April and into May we have been exploring Japan. Now Japan is known for its tea ceremony. It sounds so fancy and has an interesting history. To learn more about the tea ceremony we read Tea Ceremony by Shozo Sato.



This book covers everything from a brief history of tea and the types of tea in Japan to the history of the tea ceremony itself. It also gives steps on how to have a tea ceremony at home. We did not try this because I am a bit intimidated by the tea ceremony and I do not feel like we have the right space for it. I had hoped to find a local place that offers them, but I couldn't. The process of the making the tea is a huge part of the Japanese tea ceremony. It is about finding peace and harmony with one's guests. In Japan how the food and drink look is as important if not more important than how it tastes, so presentation is a huge thing in the ceremony. There are different supplies and displays for a traditional tea ceremony.


The book goes into the various utensils and types of them often used in the tea ceremony. There are also various steps to the ceremony with various spaces of each one. There are also various steps to making the actual tea. This book gives beautiful photograph tutorials to them.

It is a fun book to learn about this amazing tradition. It provides kids with what they need to know to try their own.


To learn more about Japan we checked out some DVDs from the library and of course turned to our favorite resource All About Japan. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the photos I took of our DVDs. We took the ones above as well as some folktale ones. We love to get the culture of the country through stories. In the past we have had the pleasure of reviewing The Last Kappa of Old Japan, The Peace Tree from Hiroshima, Once Upon a Time in Japan, Japanese Children's Favorite Stories and Yuko-Chan and the Daruma Doll.


Plus another favorite resource for us is The Magic Tree House series.


Now we know a bit about Japan and its culture so we will tell you about our tea party and our Japanese craft. For our tea party we went to David's Tea and asked our friend there for a good Japanese tea. He sold us Sencha Ashikubo.


He gave me the warning of not steeping too much because it will get a very grassy taste. It was too grassy for us, but we tried it. I used our Chinese tea cups and a tea pot I felt looked a bit Japanese. (It was a gift, so I do not know the history of it.)


We also found some instant Japanese soups to try. Since we were a bit busy we did not try to make anything from scratch this time.



We put a little of each soup into our regular tea cups so we could each try it. We liked the udon soup better than the miso.



To go with our tea party I wanted to do a craft. We found a fun craft making kokeshi dolls in this book.


They are usually simple wooden dolls.



Kokeshi By Kimivanil (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Ours are made from origami paper (ours is from Tuttle Publishing), a toilet paper roll and a ping pong ball. I made one but Hazel has not gotten around to making hers yet.


Hazel loves how mine came out though. What do you think? Now I also have sewn a kimono for Hazel's 18-inch dolls.



So that is our exploration of Japan with a Japanese tea party. This post is part of the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway!!



Welcome to our fourth annual Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway! Follow along all month for ideas about sharing with kids the rich cultures of this vast and varied region. Also, be sure to enter the giveaway below and link up your posts at the bottom of the page. For even more ideas, visit our blog hops from last year, 2015 and 2014. You can also follow our Asia and Australia & Oceania boards on Pinterest.

May 1 Miss Panda Chinese on Multicultural Kid Blogs: 10 Fun Facts About Taiwan for Kids
May 5 Chinese American Family: Visiting Locke and Connecting with California's Rural Chinese History
May 9 Kori at Home
May 11 The Art Curator for Kids: Chinese Bronze Vessels with Abstract Zoomorphic Designs
May 12 Kori at Home
May 15 Crafty Moms Share
May 17 Bicultural Mama
May 19 Wise Owl Factory
May 22 Ketchup Moms on Multicultural Kid Blogs
May 23 All Done Monkey
May 25 Miss Panda Chinese
May 30 All Done Monkey
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Giveaway Enter below for a chance to win one of our great prize packages in our annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month giveaway! The giveaway goes from May 1 to May 31, 2017, at midnight PT. If the winner falls outside the shipping area of a prize, that prize will revert to the next lower prize package. Read our full giveaway rules. And for all of our readers, here is a special offer from our sponsor Tingomo! Use the code TENOFFTINGOMO to get 10% off any pre-order! (first kits to ship in July)
Grand Prize
From One Dear World: Set of 4 plush multicultural dolls, each with its own passport, plus the story book The Adventure of Hat Hunting in London, starring the dolls as the main characters
From Tuttle Publishing: Adventures in Asian Art, Indonesian Children's Favorite Stories, Malaysian Children's Favorite Stories, and Filipino Children's Favorite Stories
From Wisdom Tales: Rock Maiden - US Shipping Only
From Bollywood Groove: Go on a fun adventure with Maya & Neel and learn about famous festivals and places in India! In this very colorful, three-picture-book series, kids will learn about festival of lights - Diwali (Amazon best-seller), festival of colors - Holi and the home of Bollywood - city of Mumbai. US Shipping Only
From Miss Panda Chinese: Winner's choice of an "Everyday" learning unit with audio links
From Tingomo: Passport Craft™ Kit: Make Your Own NEPAL Paper Lanterns US Shipping Only, will ship in July

1st Prize
From World Music with Daria: set of tingsha (handbells) US Shipping Only
From Quarto Knows: Summer Under the Tamarind Tree, I is for Iran, and 50 Things You Should Know About the Vietnam War - US Shipping Only
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From Miss Panda Chinese: Winner's choice of an "Everyday" learning unit with audio links
From Tingomo: Passport Craft™ Kit: Make Your Own NEPAL Paper Prayer Flags US Shipping Only, will ship in July

2nd Prize
From The Dumpling Mama: Pack of 20 good luck envelopes: Give good luck wishes with money in a red envelope. Perfect for Lunar New Year, birthdays, graduations, and holidays US/Canada Shipping Only
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From Candlewick Press: A Piece of Home and Bronze and Sunflower - US Shipping Only From Miss Panda Chinese:
Winner's choice of an "Everyday" learning unit with audio links a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Relaxing Morning so here are some Birthday party ideas

This morning we are having a relaxing morning. Hazel slept in until 6:20 (much better than her usual time between 5 and 5:30). She is having fun coloring now, so I thought I would share some of the birthday party ideas I have been gathering.

To start I don't believe in going broke for a birthday party. I believe in an at home party with friends and family. I like to have a theme, but that is because I like to go a little crazy planning it. Hazel's birthday is New Year's Eve. We usually have a party for our friends and family on January 1st. When she is a bit older we are  hoping to have a small kids' birthday party for her half birthday as well. I tend to make most of the food and cake myself and I buy the appropriate paper supplies, but often buy special napkins and solid color everything else to save money. It is not about how much you spend but how much fun you have.

For her first birthday party we did a cupcake theme. We made invitations with pictures of Hazel saying "Our Little Cupcake Is Turning One". Needless to say instead of a cake we served cupcakes. I also made paper cupcakes and filled them with candies for favors. Of course this was before cupcakes were so in so I had trouble finding cupcake related items. Right after her party cupcakes became the very in thing. Resource: I bought a template because I couldn't find anything for free, but this site looks like it would work: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/templates-f143/cupcake-box-templates-go-linseys-card-t350478.html.

For her second birthday, we did a tea party. Our theme was "Tea for Two". Since it was still mostly an adult party, we served many different flavors of tea and typical tea time treats. I made a birthday cake and had my nephew paint a miniature tea set for the top of it that I bought at Joanns. I also had a bigger paint your own for everyone to sign so Hazel has a memory from the party of who was here. For the older kids that came we had white mugs to paint. I also had put together a bag of kids activities including a coloring book with pages I found on line with crayons and stickers. For a favor, I found garden teacups and saucers at Micheals on clearance in the fall for 39 cents each and bought them up knowing we were going to have this theme and put two tea bags in a nice bag and attached a tag that said "Hazel's Tea for Two" on one side and "Thanks for Coming" on the other. I attached the tags with a string to the bag and had them hanging out of the tea cups. Resources: http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/tea-birthday-party.html, http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/free-coloring-pages.html, http://familyfun.go.com/parties/tea-party-704536/#lollipop; http://hubpages.com/hub/Tea-Party; Pink Princess Tea Parties by Barbara Beery (I borrowed it from the library), Come to Tea by Stephanie Dunnwind, Let's Have a Tea Party by Emilie Barnes, The Totally Tea-rrific Tea Party Book by Tanya Napier. I borrowed all of these books from the library, but found I wanted to own some of them because of the many themes they had in them. From these books I took decoration ideas, recipes, etc. I also got many facts about tea and the history of tea and tea parties and printed them. I stuck them into my centerpieces and decorations so the adults could have something to read in case they got bored.

Indian Tea Party: Chai and Henna -- Tea Parties Around the World -- Exploring India

This month we decided to explore India with our tea parties. India seems like a good one to mention when exploring tea around the world. It was after all a big part of the British trying to grow tea somewhere besides China. When the British were able to smuggle some tea plants out of China they ran into the problem of needing the correct environment to grow it in. They decided on India and began to colonize there. In my British and Chinese tea party posts I shared great resources to explore the history of tea, so I am not going to repeat it all here. Of course tea is so sensitive to environment, methods of processing and even methods and times of picking, so the tea in India was even different from the tea in China.

Irish Tea Party with Book Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

For March we thought we would explore Ireland as St. Patrick's Day is in March (this Friday). We also received a book to go along with our exploration of Ireland that I will share here. Yesterday New England was hit with Winter Storm Stella, so it was the perfect day to have a tea party. Hazel and I both had a snow day while poor Steve got the overnight shift and went in early so he would not have to drive during the worse of it.

2024 Wall Calendars for Different People

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these calendars in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Do you still use wall calendars? I love having them. We actually use quite a few. I have one in my classroom, one near our desk computer, one in my sewing room and my husband hangs one in our bedroom too. Plus, he has one next to his desk. I always love seeing what different calendars are offered and I also think of them as great gifts. The pictures are often beautiful or fun and it helps to have the paper calendar to check dates, appointments, etc. Last week I shared two Page-A-Day calendars that I will use in my classroom, but today I am sharing two wall computers based on some of my favorite things: birds and teapots. The first calendar is Audubon Kids Birding Calendar 2024 by National Audubon Society, and the second is The Collectible Teapot Calendar 2024 by Sarah Archer with photos from Betty Shin Binon. 

Holiday Shopping -- Products Review -- Uncommon Goods

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Uncommon Goods. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Before I start this post, I will warn my family that they should not read this one until after Christmas since it contains gifts I am giving them!!

Have you started your holiday shopping yet? I try to have mine done before Thanksgiving so I can enjoy the holiday season and not have to deal with the crowds at the mall. Now I do all the Christmas shopping for our family including my own gifts. After the first few Christmases I realized I needed to because even with a list, I was not getting what I wanted. When Uncommon Goods asked if I would review some products I jumped at the chance since they offer unique and unusual gifts.  They offer handcrafted gifts and more that are in harmony with the environment and there is no harm to animals or people with their products. Not only that, they stand behind their products and there is no date that things must be returned by. Plus with every purchase they donate $1 to a non-profit of the buyer's choice (from their list of non-profits to which they donate). This is not an ordinary company. 

Sip Tea with the Mad Hatter Review & Giveaway

Disclosure: I was sent this book free of charge for this review in return for an honest review by The Children's Book Review & EW Foundation. All opinions in my review are my own and I will receive a small compensation for writing it. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation for your purchase.

Have you noticed that good manners seem to be disappearing in our society? Manners are taught and usually they are learned at home. Even if schools try to teach them, if they are not used at home, it does not do much good and with today's school there is not time to really teach good manners. Today we are sharing a book that helps teach good manners and other social skills. It is Sip Tea with Mad Hatter by Loretta Neff and illustrated by Anirban Mitra.

Rainy Day = Tea Party

Something to make me smile

Ok, I have discovered two new to me fabric stores. I'm so excited to have some place besides Joann's to shop! One is near Hazel's school so next year when she will be going by herself I will have some place to visit often.

Hazel's newest tea set

Since I made Hazel the needle felted tea set, she has wanted to have a tea party/birthday party. Her birthday is still several months away (new year's eve), but I have been looking for fabric in the theme I want so she is getting excited for it. And we celebrated my birthday last month and my sister's this past Saturday and went to a friend's 5th birthday party, so she has birthday on her mind.

So this morning she set up a tea party in the living room. Of course it required two baskets of fruit and vegetables to serve with the tea cups (we used both felt and plastic). She also invited the Dish and the Spoon to join us.

Our Guests

Her set up after the party

After getting a sore back from sitting on a foot rest, I asked her if she would like a real cup of tea. So we made a pot of chamomile lavender tea with a bit of honey in it. I added milk to hers and used my good china cups to make it special. She claimed the tea tasted like chocolate, but only had a few sips. But she enjoyed it. I remember these tea parties with my mom, so I want to have special ones with her.

Taking a sip

She wanted cheese with her tea

Our set table with candles lit

We are working on some fall crafts to share, but it has been hard to get Hazel to stay on task for them. Hopefully we will have some tomorrow for you. In the mean time check out:
1) Make and Takes Little Apple Favors I want to try this one later today!

2) I {heart} nap time Halloween Crafts {Lifestyle Crafts}
3) I {Heart} Nap Time Free Printable for Halloween 
4) FamilyFun Magazine Tree sculpture  great nature craft!!

Tea for Two

Tea for Two

So after playing around with the tea cups from my needle felting book, I decided to experiment and make a tea set. I bought more blue, but of course it didn't match the first blue, so I made new tea cups and saucers. Then I used a similar technique to make the teapot, but made it bigger and made a lid for it. After getting the tea pot to a point of something I liked, I only had enough of the blue for a plate, so I made a plate of cookies. If I make it back to the store, I'll get more blue to make a sugar bowl and creamer, but for now Hazel is happy with her new tea set.

My Inspiration and Technique Guide

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Tea Pot Lid

Tea Cup and Saucer

Tea Pot

Mother's Day Celebration with Link Party

This year for Mother's Day Hazel and I went to a tea house on Friday for afternoon tea. I had promised her we would do something like this when I had to miss the Mother/Daughter Tea Party at her school in April. I figured Mother's Day weekend was the perfect time. Hazel dressed up for the occasion with gloves and all. We had a wonderful time.