Dadcademy Awards

We have held several Father Daughter tea parties in the past, and while they take a lot of time to prepare for, they are one of my favorite events. I didn't like leaving the boys out, though, so this year we changed the theme slightly and made sure everyone could come! As always, we encouraged kids to bring their special grown-up guy - Dad, Grandpa, Big Brother, Friend, Uncle; whoever they wanted to celebrate!

To set the stage, I got this background online...then discovered when I went to put it up that it wasn't high enough. I had to compensate with black material at the bottom.

Red carpet, of course, sample award at the podium, microphone and speakers.

For the table settings, I raided the dollar store just before graduation - plenty of black and gold!

We had two crafts: an Oscar award with metallic pens, so you could write what your Big Guy was best at, and these cute boxes. Kids were to decorate them to look like their Daddy, then use them at home to leave him notes or pictures.

 

Finger food type snacks - fancy cookies, fruit, and cupcakes that looked a lot prettier on the box...lesson learned! Red punch or apple juice (looks like champagne!) to drink.

And shiny star dealies hanging from the ceiling.

I chose This is the Van That Dad Cleaned as our one read-aloud, then everyone unrolled the scrolls at their tables to find a list of how-well-do-you-know-me questions. What is Dad's favorite food? What is Kid's favorite outfit? It was fun listening to some of the answers!

I'm just here for the sugar.

 Then on to the crafts.

Artist concentrates while subject poses.

It looks just like him!

And, finally, the awards! This young lady couldn't wait to be first, she was so excited to tell us about her Dad!

Unfortunately, my batteries were running down, and it looks like the picture of them together didn't get saved :(

Next year: a platform - or a whole flight of stairs - behind the podium!

 Some of the kids were happy to speak into the microphone, while others just went with pictures.

Some did not want to give the microphone up!

I am pretty bummed, because several other pictures didn't save, and many of these are blurry. Another note to self - start every program with fresh batteries!! In general I think everyone had fun - I am just sad that I don't have pictures to send to everyone who came.

Here's to the dads and dad-type figures everywhere! Wishing you many other photo-worthy moments this weekend, and plenty of special memories!

Re-Post: Fancy Nancy Father Daughter Tea Party, Summer 2010

***Many moons ago, I had another blog titled "Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian". This was one of the most popular posts there, and since I have recently reminisced with two of the families pictures below about how much their kids have grown, I thought it would be fun to re-post it here!***

Fathers often get the shaft, holiday-wise. Mother's Day falls nicely at the end of the school year, when teachers and librarians are looking for nice fun crafts to keep the kiddos busy until school lets out. Father's Day? Beginning of June. No school, and librarians are often too thick in the middle of Summer Reading to add an extra event. We weren't too sure how this would go over ourselves, until we started getting sweetly formal voicemails like, "Janey will be attending the tea Saturday, escorted by her grandfather." Two little girls informed us that they were hoping their new dresses would be ready in time. We decided to buy more cookies...

We ended up with 24 daddies and daughters, just the right number for our room. We had a plethora (that's a fancy word for lots) of pink:

Our planned backdrop never arrived, but at the last minute we remembered the castle tucked away in the storeroom:

This young princess was escorted by her big brother.

We invited our guests to come in their fanciest attire, and they certainly did not disappoint.

The hats! The gloves!

And the Daddies! The one who just got in from Okinawa last night, but who made sure he got his girls to the tea party. The Grandpa who not only brought his granddaughter, but let her plaster stickers on his face. The Daddy who, when another Daddy couldn't make it at the last minute, added an extra princess to his family for the afternoon (a little girl he had never met! He is our hero for the week!)

All our Daddies were very special, and it was so much fun to watch them glueing sequins and stringing jewelry with their princesses. We made tiaras and picture frames together, and took pictures at the castle to go in the frames. Daddies and Grandpas wrote the stories of when they first met their princesses. More sweetness!

Some more pictures we just have to share:

 

Them're some good cupcakes!

Tooooooooooooo cute!

In short, we completely overdosed on cuteness today, and are already looking forward to doing this again next year. We would like to thank all our Daddies and Princesses for coming today, and wish them all the very best of Father's Days!

Father Daughter Tea Party 2013

Fathers always seem to get the short end of the stick. Mother's Day is at the end of the school year, when teachers are using art projects to keep some semblance of order and interest going in those last few days. We get all the cute little handprint poems, the tissue paper flowers, the stinky bath salts. What do Dads get? Handed the barbecue tongs.

 

Even the sermons in church are different. Mothers are praised as shining examples who need to be appreciated and pampered (all true, of course). Father's Day, on the other hand? All we hear about is how shiftless fathers have become, how their absence has caused all the world's evils, and how they need to step up to the plate. (As I've said before; Pastors? If a Dad is there to hear the sermon, he's probably not the Dad you need to be telling this to.)

 

It is certainly true that many fathers aren't around - by choice or otherwise. Some people steer away from celebrating Father's Day at all for that reason. To me, though, that's all the more reason we should celebrate the fathers who are there, doing a great job - and the men who have stepped in for the fathers who can't be there.

 

So, (stepping off my soapbox), we started holding Father Daughter Tea Parties each summer, on the Saturday before Father's Day. I'm thinking of making it a Father/Son/Daughter event next year, but there's just something so sweet about these little girls in their prettiest dresses, proudly escorted by their big tall Daddies!

 

 

Decor is very important for this one - no plain old styrofoam cups for us!

 

 

The glasses and heart wreaths (day-after-Valentine's-clearance sale) were theirs to take home. Tre chic!

 

Lots of fancy tea cakes and frosted cookies, punch with sherbet and individual cups of ice cream - and, in case Mom asked later, veggies and fruit, too.

 

I started off reading two books - one sweet, one silly - to the group, then there were books about Daddies at each table, if they wanted to read more together. There were also four activities to choose from:

 

Sticker scenes and paper to write a corresponding story (with the daughter in the starring role, of course)

 

 

The object is to fit every single sticker into your scene!

 

Picture frames to decorate:

 

The more sequins, the better!

 

 

A collage card:

 

 

And tie for Dad:

 

A quick poll showed many fathers in the room did not own a single tie. Of course, we had to rectify that:

 

 

Everybody loves sequins, it doesn't matter your age.

I have to admit, this is my favorite part - watching the young ladies direct their fathers in the proper methods of coloring and sequin placement.

 

The blue one goes right HERE, Daddy!

 

And, of course, we had to take some Father-Daughter portraits.

So sweet!

Floor-length - very elegant!

Yeah for Grandpas, too!

Three lovely ladies - and I love the smiles!

 

Turning into quite the young lady!

 

A. Dorable.



Okay, I'm biased, but you can't end with anything sweeter than this.

Happy Father's Day to everyone who fills that role!