Get your pinkies up – it is time to have a tea party! Lots of kids love to have tea parties, but we’re going to take it up a few notches in this blog with an awesome DIY and our hanging canopy to make it something even the English would be proud of. Tea parties are not only a great birthday party idea, but they are also a fun way to fill up a weekend afternoon with your kids and the whole family.

Kids love to play pretend and use their imaginations, so you can even take it a few steps further with a full dress-up! Why not grab some fancy gear and pretend like you’re William and Kate having afternoon tea with the Queen?

Butterfly Hanging Canopy

Immerse yourself in fluttering fashion with our Butterfly Hanging Canopy! Our 37” Diameter by 80” High (172” Circumference) hanging canopies are a fantastic tool for instantly transforming an ordinary space into an extraordinary space that children of all ages are sure to enjoy. Best of all, there’s plenty of room for two to three friends to fit comfortably inside of each hanging canopy. Can you say: Best sleepover ever?

While hanging canopies are generally thought of as an interior fixture, the Butterfly Hanging Canopy can be hung indoors and outdoors, thanks to it’s durable fabric, double-stitched seams and reinforced stress points. It is perfect for hanging out in the backyard while cutting down on all the bugs flying around. Whether it’s being used for outdoor birthday parties or indoor reading nooks, this hanging canopy can easily be hung from secure overhead surfaces by it’s heavy duty hook. After the fun wraps up, simply wipe clean with a damp cloth and fold flat for easy storage. You can also check out a similar post we did a few months back on our Fireflies Hanging Canopy. You can see that post here, where we show it both indoors and outdoors!

DIY Soda Can Cookie Cutters

These cookie cutters are perfect to start doing for the upcoming holiday season, and the best part is you can reuse them over and over again! We should note that this DIY has some sharp edges, so depending on the age of your children you might want to closely supervise this one as you see fit.

What you need

• Soda cans
  • This is a great opportunity to use some of your recycling! We did the same, and found that a huge Arizona tea can worked wonders. These are larger than regular cans, and give you a bit more room to work with. Make sure you have plenty of extras just in case of any mistakes!
• Tape
  • We used artist white tape here. It’s important to note that you don’t just use Scotch tape, find something a little thicker. The tape is used is to protect your fingers from the sharp edge when pushing down. Both sides are very sharp, so this is to avoid many finger cuts. The tape is also used to connect to separate pieces of can together.
• Utility knife
• Stapler

How you make it

1. Carefully cut the top of the can off
2. Measure 1.5 inches down the can from the top and mark it
3. Cut vertical down the can until you reach your mark
4. At the bottom of that cut, turn your scissors 90 degrees and cut all the way around the can, leaving you with a horizontal strip
5. Even out the edges, making sure the final product is at least 0.75 inches wide
6. Now the creativity begins! You can shape it free-hand, or use a template. Some fun ideas might be a heart, flower, or star.
7. Once the edges meet, staple the edges into place together
8. Put tape around one of the edges for safety
9. Start stamping!

More fun ways to use cookie cutters

We used our DIY Cookie Cutters for finger sandwiches during the tea party, which can also be a great way to make packed lunches fun and special. So we thought, why not give you a whole bunch of other fun ways to use your new cookie cutters once you have made them? Check out a few of our favorite ideas that we rounded up:

• Use on your pumpkins with a hammer to carve out awesome shapes on your pumpkin this Halloween
• Use with bakeable clay to make custom Christmas ornaments for this year’s tree – a fun project to do every year to get in the holiday spirit!
• Reshape popsicles and ice to spice up your drinks – could be fun for the adults, too!
• Use on cheese slices, fruit or cucumber slices to make an adorable fruit bowl, or just to make a packed lunch extra special for the kids
• Use while cooking eggs to make breakfast sandwiches fun on top of toast
• Put glue or tape around the edges and use as napkin rings
• Use them to shape Rice Krispies Treats, and even put a stick on the bottom of them to make adorable Rice Krispie Pops!

Let us know!

Do you love to have tea parties with your kids? Did you make the DIY Soda Can Cookie Cutters? Tell us in the comments below! Cheers!