tea-party manners for every day

as part of national etiquette week, i'm joining in with miss janice over at http://etiquettewithmissjanice.blogspot.com/ in recognizing the art of manners.

she is an expert and is hosting a wonderful giveaway on the subject!

Lititia Balldrige's guides and how-tos on manners, etiquette and the like!

 my favorite way to teach muffy about manners is by having a fabulous tea party!

there are so many lessons in a tea party....and fancy nancy does a great job at teaching little ladies these five points

1) organization

decide who you'll invite, what you will serve, where you will have the event, 

what time you will welcome guests

2) the invitation

this is so important and what is lost on e-vites and facebook notifications

it is an honor to be invited to any event...you should make each guest feel special

3) the rsvp

the honor of an invitation should be responded to promptly by a proper rsvp

4) table setting

i have muffy set the table every evening, as i did as a child, and although we of course do not use all the above flat and glassware, 

it's a good thing to know where everything goes

5) polite manners

from the welcoming of each guest, to the pleases and thank you's to "pinky's up"

here is a great book i read to muffy over and over ... to make sure the message is sinking in! and she takes the lessons from the princesses 

a lot better than from mama!

muffy having "pretend tea" at the eloise gift shop at the plaza in new york