A Mother/Daughter Tea Party with Derby Flair.

I love my job. I mean, I absolutely love it! Every day, I get the chance to squeeze my creative juices and come up with events that entertain and put a smile on the faces of our members. Selfishly, I love to WOW them! If the jaw drops, I've done a good job.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to start a new tradition at our Club: The Mother/Daughter Derby Tea Party. Living in Louisville, Kentucky, this city is all about the Kentucky Derby. Since it falls very close to Mother's Day every year, this was a perfect chance to combine the Derby with an event for our mothers and daughters. and it didn't disappoint.

The big fun came months in advance of the event. It was time to search for dainty tea cups and saucers. Between the thrift stores, antique & estate sales and flea markets, I had a ball on my treasure hunt. Each little set was better than the next, and after 2-3 months of searching, I finally had enough sets to put on a proper tea party.

We invited our guests, mothers and daughters, to come dressed in their fanciest derby hats and dresses for the party. When they arrived, we had a professional photographer that took outdoor photographs of the families in their Derby garb. They dined on tea sandwiches of pimento cheese and chicken salad, fruit skewers, mini cupcakes, muffins and petit fours. We poured hot water in the cups of the adults and let them choose from a selection of teas in baskets on their tables. As far as the little girls were concerned, I found a recipe for Max and Ruby's Strawberry Tea on Nick Jr.'s website. The girls loved the floating strawberries in the tea, and even those who were not fans of tea loved the concoction.

After tea and snacks, we played two games with our guests. The first game was just for our mothers, but the daughters could help. We gave each of the moms a scorecard for the game, and read the following poem (which I found here and altered a bit). The mom with the most points at the end of the poem won a pretty spring birdhouse.

Poem Game
So this is a rather peculiar game
It really does not have a name
It's simple to play as a game should be
You just do as you're told you see.
So now if you'll please give me your attention
We'll put an end to this suspension
In the end, whoever scores the most
Will receive a prize of which to boast
Now since you're all such fashionable girls
Give yourself 5 points if you're wearing pearls
You may add three if your toes peek out
And earrings will give you 2 more to shout
Score yourself five points if you're wearing any red
Add six more for curls on your head
Now before you think you are going to win
Take away 2 for each safety pin
Give yourself six for pants that are white
Add 1 for a scarf which is just about right
Add 5 more if your shoes are black
And take away 3 for a zipper in back
Now count all the buttons for each you get two
And take away one for each button that's blue
Give yourself 5 if your heels are high
And take away 10 for the green in your eye
Add 10 more for a rose on your clothes
Take away 5 if you're not wearing hose
If your pet you kissed today - add nine
I bet that now you're feeling fine.
This is the end, there is no more.
Who is the lucky lady with the highest score?

The little girls had a great time helping the moms with their score and got so excited when they got points. It was almost difficult to read the poem with a straight face because of all the squeals in the room. The second game was a newlywed type game that helped to find out how well our moms and daughters knew each other. The team with the most points at the end won a scrapbook kit to work on together. Below are some examples of questions we asked:

Questions for Mom

Which do you prefer: (High heels vs. Flip flops, Ice cream vs. Frozen Yogurt, etc.)?
What is your favorite place to vacation?
From which high school did you graduate?
What is your favorite TV show?
In what city were you born?
What is your favorite holiday?
What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
Would your daughter say you are a good driver or a bad driver?
What is the one household task that you dislike the most?
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

Questions for Daughter
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What was the last book you read?
What is your favorite food?
Where is the one place you'd like to go that you've never been?
What is your favorite pizza topping?
What did you touch last: a basketball, a bowling ball, a baseball or a kickball?
If you could meet anybody famous, who would you wan to meet?
What is your favorite cereal?
Where would you rather spend the day: the zoo, the park or the mall?
What scares you the most? (the best answer we got here was when one little girl said her sister!)

After the games were over, our last activity was cookie decorating. I found a cookie cutter shaped like a jockey silk and we baked the sugar cookies in advance and covered them in white royal icing. The moms and daughters could then use food coloring markers and decorative icing to decorate the cookies and take them home in a little clear plastic goody bag.

Overall, it was a great event and the search has already begun for vintage teapots for next year's Mother/Daughter Derby Tea Party. I can't wait!