Diva Days

Every February, my daughter and I end up attending multiple tea parties, brunches, and other very "fancy" events.   It just works out that way.

For one thing, it is black history month and that is marked at our library in a very special way.  Several years ago, some very creative people (men, if you can believe it) published a book called Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats.  I know, it sounds silly but it really is exactly that, a beautiful book with beautiful pictures that is a true celebration of womanhood and the tradition of bringing out your "Sunday best" for church.  For the record, I know that God does not care what you are wearing when you come to His house, but you have to admit, there is something special and reverent about putting on your best for this special day.  It really brings back the celebratory nature of Sundays as being truly days devoted to church and family.  Goodness gracious, I can get on a tangent.

So back to my point, there are several wonderful libraries in my area (and I'm completely objective, don't you know) and two of them do absolutely amazing events based on this lovely little book.  The first is the Gospel Brunch at the Moore Public Library.  It's a celebration of the gospel tradition capped by an amazing performance by Christopher Jones, a man who is a beautiful singer and an encyclopedia on the tradition of black gospel music.  And of course, it is full of lovely ladies in lovely church attire.  I've been taking my daughter since she was in a carrier and she has always enjoyed it.  It is a happy, clappin' and amen-ing type of occasion.  Who doesn't enjoy a fancy brunch every once in a while?

Next week we will attend my favorite library event of the entire year, the Crown's Tea.  Again, it is inspired by the book.  Have you ever looked at those crazy hat pictures of mine and wondered "What is with that woman and that big purple hat?"  Well, this is it.  The Crown's Tea.  It is a sea of lovely ladies dressed to the nines.  I mean, you've gotta go at least once just to see all those hats.  Big hats and small hats, sparkly hats and flowery hats, feathers, veils, brims, hats that are like nothing you've ever seen or imagined before.  You think those Royal Wedding gals have some crazy hats?  You haven't seen anything until you attend the Crown's Tea.  Seriously, it should be on every woman's bucket list.  Yes, I am a bit evangelical about this event.  But so are a lot of other people, judging from how hard it is to get a ticket to this thing sometimes.

So, add to these two amazing programs, the Daddy Daughter Dance, and the Fancy Nancy Tea Party and you can believe that by March 1 my daughter is going to be one spoiled little diva.  I think we are going to have to spend Spring Break dragging her back to reality!  Maybe a laundry tutorial?

Fancy Nancy Dinosaur Dig!

Grammie created Fancy Nancy!

Nope, that is NOT a typo!  This is what happens when you ask a 4 year old what kind of birthday party she wants.  Well, let's see...she's part girly-girl princess, part rough and tumble adventure girl.  Sooo, I should not at all be surprised when she asked for a Fancy Nancy dinosaur dig party.  Surprisingly, it came together fairly easily thanks to the help of some great friends and a lot of luck.

The first thing we needed were dinosaur bones.  You know, for the dig.  Our wonderful neighbor happens to work at the local Natural History Museum and was more than happy to start sending us a steady stream of not-quite-perfect museum replica bones.  We had vertebra, jawbones, and a lot of other miscellaneous bones courtesy of the upcoming baby apatosaur exhibit.  Just for extra fun, I bought the dollar store out of small plastic dinosaur skeletons as well.  I mean, I really thought the museum bones were a superb find, but I figured those tricky pre-schoolers might be more impressed with a dinosaur they could actually see.  Next up, we poured several bags of sand into an already-blank spot in our landscaping, buried the bones and waited a few days for them to develop a "weathered" look.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (ranch house that is), we had to work on the Fancy Nancy aspect of the party.  I sent out eVites this year with an image from Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire and lots of extra fancy language (one of my daughter's favorite parts of the books).

I did some research and found lots of wonderful ideas for activities like decorating your own purses or hats and other very "girly" things.  Problem was, half of our guests would be boys.  So instead of girly accessories, we made "explorer boxes."  Basically, they were cigar boxes (again, provided by my neighbor) painted with gold metallic paint.  Inside there was a paintbrush (for dusting bones), a magnifying glass, and a pack of flash cards for dinosaur identification.  I bought Hobby Lobby out of clearance stickers and each child decorated their own explorer boxes.  Then it was on to the dig!  What fun the kids had rummaging around in the sand pit and unearthing the bones.  My son spent pretty much the whole party in the sand, digging and re-burying the bones.

If the kids got tired of the dino dig, we had the handy bounce house running at full throttle.  Truly, there is nothing better for entertaining kids than a bounce house.  Next it was time for "refreshments" as Fancy Nancy would say.  Pink and purple cupcakes, with sprinkles of course.  Fancy Nancy would never dream of a cupcake without sprinkles!  We also had fruit salad, PB&J dinosaurs, and Fancy Nancy's extra pink, extra fancy pink lemonade (recipe to follow), with bendy flower straws of course.

Overall, it was a great time.  The activities went over very well and my daughter had a blast.  Plus, the entire thing probably cost less than $100.  Like I said, luck was on my side with the dinosaur bones and the free bounce house.  But it did take some creativity and tips from helpful friends on pulling off an extra fancy, girly-girl yet boy-friendly party!  I guess now I can rest easy for another year.

Extra Fancy, Extra Pink Lemonade (From Fancy Nancy, Explorer Extraodinaire):

1 Concentrated can pink lemonade
1 can water *
1 bottle cranberry juice
1 Cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Mix and sip, daintily, with pinkie up if you please!
* This recipe really needs more than one can of water.  I diluted it a little and it was much better that way.   The kids loved it both ways though!

Merci to everyone involved, my Fancy Nancy loves you all!

Fancy Fun!

Last night our local library hosted a Fancy Nancy Tea Party.  For the occasion, my daughter donned her Fancy Nancy dress, her pink feather boa, her tiara, her "magic" wand, and about a dozen butterfly clips.  We clearly were not going to miss an opportunity to over-accessorize!  Oh, and did I mention Frenchy the dog?  And the ruffly socks?  And the sparkly shoes?  So, or course, the first thing we had to do when we arrived was hit the dress-up area, just to make sure we had enough "stuff" draped over us!

Then, it was time to sample some delectable (that's a fancy word for yummy), tea sandwiches.  A little coloring, a sip of juice in a princess cup (pinky raised of course), and it was time for dancing with a REAL ballerina!

I'm not sure if she's having a good time, what do you think?  Finally, it was off to make a ribbon tiara and a ring.  'Cuz we didn't have enough accessories, don't you know!  Overall, I think she would rate the event spectacular (that's a fancy word for really, really, really good)/

I love my library!

For the girls...

Our local library hosts a "Crowns Tea" every year as part of its Black History Month programming. This is a beautiful girls-only event featuring women of all sizes, shapes and colors wearing their "Sunday best" and the most elaborate hats ever seen. I have taken my daughter since she was six months old and am always amazed by the music, the food, and of course, the hats. Oh my, the hats, hats, hats, hats! What an amazing site, truly breathtaking to see.

Now I know that not every library has an amazing (and did I mention free) program like this, but a good many of them do something of the sort. Fancy Nancy or American Girl tea parties are pretty popular and common. Call your local library and ask about tea parties! Or, take a trip to the local tea house and be sure to dress in high style. Not only is this just a fun outing, but it lays the foundation for table etiquette and the importance of dressing up for special occasions, like church or a holiday dinner. Just because we don't live in a world where people "dress for dinner" anymore doesn't mean that there are not important lessons to be learned from those simple values: dressing up shows reverence for the occasion, sitting quietly and listing to a program or speaker is an important life skill, saying please and thank you and eating politely will always be an important way of showing respect for the host and yourself. All of these things can be learned the fun way at a proper tea party. So, gather up your girls and your best frocks, and get thee to a tea! Oh, and when you get home, put on her rain boots and play clothes and go in the back yard for a whole different kind of fun. I mean, you want a polite kid, not a mannequin!