Tea sets for little girls: an investment for the future?

Spoiler alert! If you invited me to a pink baby shower this month and you want to be surprised by what’s in store for your little girl, look away now.

For everyone else, I have to share my latest tea shopping indulgence – tea sets for little girls! Since my “baby” is almost 23, it’s been awhile since I have been fully immersed in tea accessories for the younger set. However, after receiving two pink baby shower invitations for this month, I was given the excuse – I mean the opportunity - to check out what’s new in tea fashions for children.

Tea Set times two for baby showers in August

Now, I know some may think baby showers are a little early to start bringing on the tea sets, but I can go you one better. Before I was married – in fact, I don’t even think I was seriously dating anyone at the time – my Mom and I were browsing through stores at our favorite mall. We happened upon a boutique toy store’s window display which featured a creamed-colored china teapot trimmed in pink, complete with matching creamer and sugar bowl. It was so adorable, we stood there just staring at it for several minutes. My Mom, never one to second-guess or hesitate, said, “I’m buying that for you for when you have a daughter. It’s too pretty to pass up.”

Elegant, yet adorable, tea set purchased for the future

Of course, my Mom never doubted it wasn’t the right thing to buy, even when it sat in my bedroom closet for a few years, unopened, but never forgotten.

Interestingly enough, my Mom was not a heavy tea drinker or frivolous at all. She was generous to a fault, but far more practical than I could ever aspire to be. So, that  tea set purchase surprised me,  but as you come to learn the older you get, more often than not, your Mom knows things you best not question.

That tea set sat in Rachel’s room when she was a baby, put away when she could potentially break it, and brought back out when she was in elementary school for real use. Along the way from preschool to junior high, we had tea sets for Barbie’s, Muffy VandeBears and, the ultimate in tea sophistication, Samantha, American Girl’s Victorian doll.

And after all that, one day, you’re making pink “tea” to serve in a multi-colored plastic tea set and the next day, your little girl is standing next to you, (taller, she’ll have you know), and expertly preparing tea for a twenty-five person tea tasting. Your little girl is now your tea business partner. (I swear, there was no ulterior motive in all this.)

So, really, is it ever too young to start with the tea sets?

Which brings me back to my shopping excuse . . .I mean excursion. I found a fun tea set from Fisher-Price for this month's baby showers. It talks and sings songs and repeats “please and thank you” to reinforce proper etiquette. I think I could play with this one for a long time, so imagine the good times a baby could have with it.

Adorable tea cart: is there room in Rachel's closet?

But, while I was toddler tea set shopping on-line, I found a real treasure at Pottery Barn Kids. They not only have tea sets and kettles for little ones, but - (oh my) – a tea cart, too. A sassy, white, wood tea cart for $129.00. It’s adorable. I love it! I’m suppressing the urge, but, well. . . I’m just thinking. . . is there room for a tiny tea cart in  Rachel’s closet?