Dallas mom Stephanie Miller thought she’d do something a little artful with her daughter’s Girl Scout troop party. She decided she’d found the perfect way to teach the girls a bit about good manners – without them ever realizing they were learning. She arranged a tea party at Into My Garden, a local Victorian tearoom (469/360-5821, intomygarden.com).
In April, Miller’s daughter Emily, 10, and 11 other girls from Troop 1273 dressed in their Sunday bests and sat down for a fancy, frilly and educational afternoon tea. “Society is so casual that you don’t get to see your little girl all dressed up much,” Miller laments.
Each girl was served a pot of “pink tea” (pink lemonade) in her very own polka-dotted saucer, along with flower-shaped tea sandwiches and muffins. The moms, who were equally involved in the party, could order quiche or chicken salad from the lunch menu and drink tea (the real stuff) from a fine bone china set. A spread like this – all atop lacy place settings – really set the mood for practicing your “yes ma’ams” and “yes sirs.”
“The girls really seemed to enjoy the ceremony of it – the sense of occasion,” Miller shares. She adds that they also enjoyed the etiquette presentation from owner Sue Nagy because she presented it in a casual and informal way. Nagy taught the girls vital social skills, including how to be polite when you’re a guest in someone’s home and how to properly respond when someone says “thank you.”
“We don’t realize how casual manners have become,” Miller says. “So many people respond to ‘thank you’ by saying ‘no problem,’ but it’s polite to reply ‘you’re welcome.’”
For Nagy’s part, she loves to watch the guests interacting. “I’ve always enjoyed the custom of taking tea,” she says. And she laments that face-to-face interaction is on the decline in a world full of text messaging and instant messaging. “Sitting across from someone – making eye contact and having a conversation – is a lost art.”
Make it a magical occasion Monday-Saturday from 11am-2:30pm. Just walk in for lunch any day, but you’ll need to make a reservations for a specially themed afternoon tea. Tea parties start at $12.50 per person.
Updated 7/27/12
