The Maypole and our Beautiful Catholic Faith

"The May-pole is up,

Now give me the cup;

I'll drink to the garlands around it;

But first unto those

Whose hands did compose

The glory of flowers that crown'd it"

-Robert Herrick, The Maypole, 1660

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, even though we had a forecast of rain and snow the weather cooperated for our Mother-Daughter Tea and we were able to include some outdoor activities for the girls including a Maypole!

According to wikipedia, a maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, particularly on May Day, or Pentecost (Whitsun) although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer.

My creative friend, who hosted our tea party this year, made a Maypole with flowers, ribbons, and an umbrella on a stand!  How clever is that?! Even though the symbolism of the maypole has been continuously debated for centuries, and no set conclusion has ever been arrived at, Stasia explained to all the girls that she likes to think that all the individual ribbons represent the many different aspects and doctrines of our Catholic Faith, and when weaved together they create something complete and beautiful!  

We had 13 girls participating in this year's tea, so she attached 14 ribbons to the "maypole" since an even number of ribbons is needed.  (A couple of the moms took turns with the last ribbon.)  

Half of the girls encircle the pole in one direction, each holding a ribbon, and the other half face the other direction.  To start, one line of girls is to go in first, the other to go out first.  To weave the ribbons, a little song can help:

In and out, in and out,

Weave the ribbons tight;

‘Round the Maypole we will dance

To the left and to the right.

The girls alternate between going in towards the pole, and under the ribbon of person coming towards them. Then, they go out away from the pole, raising their ribbon over the person moving towards them.

The girls had so much fun with this activity and it was such a great addition to

  this year's Mother-Daughter Tea Party! 

The Game of Graces

One of the games I choose for the girls to play during this year's Mother-Daughter Tea Party was the game of Graces, as suggested by Eliana.  It was so much fun!

According to Victorian World, Graces is a game that dates back to the 1830s. It was originally intended as an indoor parlour game, but could be played outdoors as well, and due to its popularity, it often was. It was a two-player game which used two wooden throwing rings, (usually decorated with ribbons), and four catching wands. Each player held two catching wands, one in each hand. The first player would place the rings over the wands which he/she held, then toss the rings, one at a time, to the other player. The winner was the player who had caught the most tossed rings within a set amount of time. It was generally considered a "girl's game" as it was meant to encourage gracefulness--hence, the name, "Graces."

We also read the following from the section on Colonial Party Games in our out of print copy of The American Girls Party Book:   Each player has 2 sticks. (Our girls used one "stick" each so that more girls could play at the same time.)  Dowels from craft or hardware stores work well. (I used knitting needles.) The players use the sticks to toss a small hoop, such as an embroidery hoop, back and forth. For fluttery fun, wrap ribbons around the hoop and let the ends hang down as streamers. Keep wrapping ribbons until the entire hoop is covered. 

Here is the link to additional ideas for Little Flowers Girls' Club Tea Party Games.  You can find all our 2013 Mother-Daughter Tea Party Posts here and all Little Flowers themed posts here.

Beginning with Bocce Ball {and a few Group Photos!}

Despite a forecast of rain and snow the weather cooperated beautifully, even if it was cold, for our Mother-Daughter Tea Party and we were able to enjoy a few outdoor activities!  We started with a game of Bocce Ball in the backyard overlooking a beautiful golf course, as we waited for all of our guests to arrive.

"Bocce ball is a game of Italian origin that two to four people can play in the yard, on the beach or on a strip of gravel. Game balls come in two sizes and the goal, in essence, is to roll the large bocce balls closer to the small "target" ball, called the pallino, than your opponents manage to do. In each round, the player who gets closest to the pallino earns a point. It may seem easy, but the game requires precision and patience. Eye-hand coordination is your best asset for winning this game." - Ehow

In the meantime the moms stood around and chatted and the girls peeked through the windows at all the beautiful decorations... They were very excited for our tea to begin.  

Once everyone had arrived, and before letting all the girls into the house for tea, we took a few quick group photos! 

The Little Flowers

(with a few new friends this year from Irish Dancing!)

Mothers and Daughters

Our whole group with our five handsome servers! 

Here is the link to additional ideas for Little Flowers Girls' Club Tea Party Games, 

and you can find links to all my past Little Flowers Posts here.  

Little Flowers "Maypole" Tea Party Favors and Prizes

We had such a lovely time at our our annual Mother-Daughter Tea Party yesterday afternoon!  I have so many pictures to share that I hardly know where to begin...  It is going to be a very busy week, so it may take me a little time to get to it all, but I think I will start with the party favors and then move on to the games before I finish with the pictures from the actual tea.

As always, I created little party favors for the girls.  Back in 2009, for our first tea,  I gave the girls little St. Therese plaques.  The next year I hand-painted little St. Therese dolls for each of the girls.  For our 3rd tea I filled white paper "Tea bags" with treats along with Tea Pot Lollipops.  And last year I repeated the "Tea Bags" once again along with Pretzel Rods dipped in white chocolate and pink sprinkles.

This year I decided to do create favors similar to the ones I made for the Baby Shower of Roses.   I headed to the dollar store to look for favor boxes and after discovering some "marshmallow poles" decided to try and incorporate a "Maypole" theme as well, since we were hoping to have a Maypole activity this year (more on that later).

Originally I planned to make my own chocolates again, but my husband said he'd rather pay for chocolates than wash my candy molds, which I have a habit of leaving in the sink! it was easier to just pick up some at the store.  ;)

Favor Supplies:

Pink Favor Boxes with Ribbon (Dollar Store/Baby Shower Section)

Marshmallow Poles (Dollar Store/Candy Section) 

Dove Raspberry Chocolates (Pink)

Hershey Nuggets (Silver)

Bubbles (Wedding Supplies)

The Little Flower Holy Card (free download)

They were very easy to assemble and turned out very cute!  

I also filled a basket with Bingo prizes...

... and picked up a little rose plant and box of cookies as a very small* thank you for our hostess. 

*I feel like I can't thank her enough for sharing her home with us and saving me so much work!

Once again I am fighting a cold/cough and I need to get back to my ever growing "to-do" list, but I'll be back with more pictures from our tea party soon!

7 Quick Takes :: A Birthday Party and Pony Rides!

— 1 —

Last Saturday my niece turned three years old!  I still haven't gotten around to posting the pictures I took at our fun trip to the pumpkin patch last fall during "C" week, but my sweet little niece fell in love with riding the ponies so my brother surprised her, and all the kiddos, with pony rides on her birthday!  She loved the pony rides just as much as she did last year.  

— 2 —

Bud, however, was not at all sure what to think of the pony... 

... he wasn't sure what to think of the lady leading the pony either.  I don't think he trusted either one.

Note:  Since a friend asked on facebook, I thought I'd share the link to my new favorite denim skirt, which I'm wearing in the above picture.  I purchased it during a 30% off sale with an extra 20% off coupon, so it was only $27.  It is so comfortable!   *Update:  All sizes were available last night when I posted the link, but now it looks like they only have one size left. 

— 3 —

The girls and Snuggles all loved taking turns riding...

And the big boys?  Well, they had no intention of riding the poor little pony until Aunt Meagan told them that they could either ride the pony, or clean the driveway after the party!  They choose to ride the pony.  Captain later told me, while laughing, that when he got on the lady said, "I don't need to buckle you, if you don't want me to."

— 4 —

Party Cowboy hats!  The kids loved getting to wear their daddy's old hats from his college days. 

— 5 —

We had a hard time deciding on a gift for my niece, but after the suggestion from a friend we decided on a Lady Bug Nightlight.  Our children have these in their bedrooms and were excited to give one to their cousin too! 

— 6 —

  It rained on and off all afternoon, but every time it stopped the kids headed back outside to play.


— 7 —

The party ended with a few very loud fireworks and sparklers, much to the delight of the birthday girl...

... but once again Bud was very concerned! 

He was very thankful to his big brother for keeping him safe during all that noise! :)

 For additional Quick Takes this week, visit Camp Patton.