A Beauty & The Beast "Be Our Guest" Tea Party

Beauty and the Beast was my favorite Disney movie when I was little. The book nerd in me connected with Belle, and I loved the music.

When we finally took Little Tomato to Disney, she was enamored with Belle. She asked for a Beauty and the Beast birthday party and so I put together a fun Belle themed tea party for the girls. 

The invitation was printed onto parchment paper and made into a scroll. This was hand delivered to each of the girls. It was rolled up and the ribbon was tied into a bow. I kept a copy to display at the party.

It reads, "Ma chere Mademoiselle, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you to Be Our Guest for Little Tomato's Birthday Tea Party."

Each girl was invited to dress as their favorite princess. As they began to arrive, we took them into our front room where we set up a "Beauty Salon."

The table had several trays of OTC trinkets for the girls. Each girl received a few nail stickers (we avoided the mess of nail polish) and a bracelet...

... a tiara...

and finished with play rings and glitter hair spray - so the girls would 'sparkle like a princess'. 

After the girls were decked out like princesses, we took them onto the deck to do a craft. 

I made a Belle 'stained glass' window for the back door to dress it up for the party. It is the first thing you saw when you came in the front door, and it hid the craft table on the deck to make it a surprise. 

It was completely modeled after Mandie Manzano's Belle. I will follow up with a tutorial on how to do this type of faux stained glass look and link to the post when uploaded. It is great fun, and I have done this (simplified) craft with Little Tomato and her classmates since.

I found hand mirrors in the dollar section at Target (score!) and purchased foam glitter stickers in various shapes for the girls to decorate their own mirror. 

Mirror decorating table

This was a huge hit of the party, as they could also check out their new jewelry and glittery hair in their mirrors. 

After the craft, it was time for tea! 

We had iced tea & pink lemonade for the girls to drink...

... and sandwiches & sweets for the girls to eat. The sandwiches were simple peanut butter and jelly cut into hearts, stars, and flower shapes to make them 'fancy.'

A few of the characters joined us at the party. Mrs. Potts & Chip sat on the mantle...

Mrs. Potts & Chip

Cogsworth & Lumiere joined them...

And the Wardrobe stood in the corner of the dining room. She was far too large to join the others on the mantle. 😋

Wardrobe

I bought two dozen roses at Costco and included individual roses throughout the room, with the big cluster in the table centerpiece. But I had also made fake roses with Little Tomato using red tissue paper, dowels and floral tape. They are in the vase in the photo below.

The table was set with real tea cups and saucers, but I used the 'disposable' fancy plates (the thicker plastic ones with a rose design border) rather than china. I found the rosette tablecloth online for a steal.

After tea, the parents arrived to pick up their sugared-up, happy princesses!