Turning Three with Tea and AG

Remember when I told you I don’t believe in extravagant birthday parties for kids? It’s time for me to eat my words, but it’s ok because they were delicious. They came in the form of scones, french tea, caviar, and gold leaf on decadent desserts.

In my defense, it was all their idea idea. 

 I can’t resist both of them. The one on the right is my best friend from childhood, Lauren. We’ve been friends for over 20 years. Now Lauren is a successful business woman in D.C. and we’re very proud of her. She’s Abby’s godmother and she wanted to do something special for Abby’s birthday and I wasn’t about to stop her.

 So Lauren made reservations and treated us to a real-life tea party at the Ritz Carlton! Oh, la la.

We had finger sandwiches (Abby’s were peanut butter & jelly and ham & cheese)

 and individual tea selections (Abby got her own tea pot and cup with apple juice)

 and a 3 tier tray of desserts to share, plus Abby got her own small plate and a “birthday cake” that was really a giant pile of whipped cream and strawberries.

 She was loving it

 They had a piano man who played Happy Birthday, You Are My Sunshine, and Once Upon a Dream just for her. She repayed him by dancing and twirling next to the piano.

 At first we were worried that we had made a bad choice and it wasn’t going to be an appropriate place for her, but she was very well-mannered for the most part and a few ladies even came over from other tables to compliment her behavior. 

The staff was great with her. They gave her a stuffed lion, their mascot, dressed up like a princess and were very patient and accommodating. They seemed genuinely excited to have a little girl come to their afternoon tea. 

 Then we headed over to the American Girl store in Tysons Corner, VA

 As you would probably expect, Abby wanted everything she laid eyes on.

I am a big fan of American Girl. At one point I had the entire historical collection, but then they just kept adding more dolls and I couldn’t keep up. I passed down my Molly doll to Abby a few days ago and the plan had been that we would bring Molly on our trip and she would come to our tea party and Abby could pick out a new outfit for her. (That’s why I love these dolls. Molly is about 20 years old and is still perfectly playable except her limbs could could probably use a once-over with the magic eraser.)

We looked all around at the accessories and even found some that reminded us of our fancy tea party.

I’d been saving up for the Ruthie doll (the brunette) to have as a keepsake to remind me of my Mommom. I was very close to her and she passed away a few years ago. Her name was also Ruth, and the Ruthie doll is from the Great Depression era, which makes her the same age as my Mommom. Plus she comes in a purple dress, which was Mommom’s favorite color.

Except we forgot to bring Molly. Oops. Once we got there I knew there was no way I could bring a three year old into a doll store and buy a doll for myself but not her and then not let her play with it. I could almost hear Mommom’s voice in my head. I knew exactly what she would have said about that. “Oh (and then she’d wave her hand, purse her lips, and turn her head to the side) don’t buy a doll just to sit on a shelf on my account. If you have the money for a doll, you should spend it on a child.” 

I’d still like to have the Ruthie doll, but this day was about Abby, so instead we picked out a My American Girl doll that looked just like her. Abby named her doll Ava.

Abby loves Ava. There is something very special to a little girl about having a doll that looks like her.

We also checked out a few more stores in Tyson’s corner and took Abby to the play area.

On the way home we asked Abby what her favorite part was and she said, “I had a great day. I don’t know my favorite part!”