Tea Heaven for Little Girls
Story
by Rachel Harris
Photos
by Alex Boerner
“Little girls today – they
need to be little girls.”
Liz
Hancock says it so simply it seems futile to argue with her. And maybe she’s right; maybe little girls
today grow up too quickly. Maybe they
lack icons whose shirts cover midriffs.
Maybe the solution really is as simple as a tea party.
“It’s
just so special and pretty,” explains Hancock, 58. “Everybody wants to be a princess.”
Since
July, Hancock and daughter Becky Springsteen have set out to offer every little
girl’s supposed fantasy – a “magical tea party” with themes like “Princess for
a Day,” “Royal Tea Party,” and “Glamour Girl.”
“It’s
such a memorable occasion,” says Springsteen, 26, co-founder of Vero
Beach-based office Once Upon a Tea Party.
“(Girls will) go to tons of birthday parties, but this one they’ll
always remember, because they got to be someone else.”
On
a late October Saturday, Hayley Sinclair of
Dressed
in a red sequined top, clip-on earrings, and horn-rimmed shades that rest atop
her blonde mop, Hayley commands the table of elementary-aged socialites, each
dressed in her own ensemble of boas, beads, and caps.
“They
get to choose their own outfits,” Springsteen explains, pointing out a fashion
rack of dangling getups. “It just makes
their personality really come out. You
can always see who the ham of the bunch is.”
Starting
at $200, each tea party package is planned for eight girls, complete with fine
china, silverware, and table linens.
“All
the mom provides is the table and chairs,” Hancock says. “She doesn’t even have to send out the
invitations.”
That’s
because weeks before the appointed date, Hancock and Springsteen take care of
that themselves. Clients need only
supply names of those to be invited.
At
Hayley’s soiree, the girls nibble on teapot-shaped cookies embellished with
their names and suck on sugar cubes as Hancock offers more tea – pretend tea.
“The
little girls always seem to want pink lemonade,” Hancock explains.
She
smiles as she pours more of the “magic tea,” then offers ice cream cake, to
which the girls enthusiastically rejoice.
Lady-like, of course.
“They
usually behave themselves very well,” Hancock says of the young patrons.
As
she ducks into the kitchen to help Hayley’s mom with the cake, the girls sit
quietly, clanking tea spoons as conversation drifts to Halloween costumes,
school, and fashion.
“I
can balance my hat on my head!” shrieks one.
A slight, brown-haired girl will not be outdone, balancing her name tag
on her head and grinning, eliciting gleeful giggles from the table. Springsteen enters the room with plates of
cake, a mock frown alighting her lips.
“We need to act like ladies with our princess glamour tea,” she reminds
the girls. Hayley’s mom, Sarah Sinclair,
takes in the scene with a smile. “It’s
been a lot of fun for these little girls,” she says of the party. With a laugh, she adds, “This lets me take
the easy way out.”
Before sitting down to tea, the little ladies paraded in a fashion show. Now they abandon the table for bingo and a tea-pot game reminiscent of musical chairs. “Everything is productive,” whispers Zoanne Merrill, whose daughter, Ella, is among the guests. “At other parties, mothers are forcing kids to play games they can’t do and they get frustrated. (Springsteen’s) really able to keep them together.”
It
might help that Springsteen has a degree in elementary education. For now, the tea party business is limited to
weekends, with Springsteen working full time at an education foundation and
Hancock working as a legal assistant.
The
games turn out to be a hit among the girls, as well. So, they say, are the lollipops and the
pretty dresses and the fun fashion show.
Before the two-hour party ends, they’ll get a goodie bag and a photo of
themselves, to put in a frame they decorate individually.
“We
also provide thank you notes at the end of the party, which I think is a nice
touch,” Hancock says. “There’s a little
bit of etiquette and manners that goes into this, too.”
After
two hours, the party ends. The girls
retire their dresses and glittery high heels and await their parents as
Springsteen melts into a chair, smiling.
“It’s
a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun,” she says thoughtfully. “My fun part is getting a charge out of them
being happy and silly and goofy and just being little girls.”