B and I started reading chapter books every night before bed when she started Kindergarten, and we both fell in love with the original American Girl books. We read a few “Meet” books before she settled on Samantha - her favorite. Samantha’s Victorian tea parties, brownstone in New York City, and love for her friends had B entranced from the beginning. And I won’t lie, the Millennial nostalgia is real. After all, the historic AG dolls were wildly popular in my day. I had Josefina and Kit, but I read all the books as a kid. It was special to reread them again through B’s eyes (skipping over some of the more traumatic parts *cough cough Kirsten’s friend Marta - may she RIP.)

I put a bug in B’s ear about having a Samantha-inspired tea party for her birthday, and she immediately got on board. Her one request was a dress like Samantha’s, which was thankfully fairly easy to find thanks to the wide market of the Internet. If you look at American Girl’s website today, you’ll find Samantha is still being sold (minus the original outfits and accessories, sadly.) Since I am a nostalgic Millennial mom, I wanted the old school Samantha with her 1980’s Pleasant Company influence. We needed preppy plaid, ruffles, bows, muted pinks and deep maroons.

PRESH ict did the balloon installation for the party, and absolutely nailed the color scheme perfectly. I thought the little dusty rose bows were the perfect detail to put it over the edge. The day she came to install, I decided we needed something to balance out the garland. I pulled my easel over from the window to the party area, and grabbed a blank canvas from my stash to write the tea menu on. We had three different options of tea for the kids to choose from.

September Moon Cupcakery did the cake and cookies, and yes they tasted as good as they looked! I love a fun mixy-matchy kid table set-up, so I went into Love of Character to pick the paper goods out in person. They also have a fantastic Set the Party app to help you put a tablescape together online. The plaid runner took it from fancy tea party to full on Pleasant Company circa 1990. The little porcelain tea cups were borrowed from my mom, and none were broken, miraculously! I also purchased plastic tea cups with lids and straws from Oriental Trading Co. for the kids to fill with water or lemonade, and those they could safely run around with.

In Samantha’s birthday book, she hosts a tea party for her friends with trendy for the time desserts like molded ice cream (that Eddie Ryland ruins, of course) and petit fours. I noticed recently that Whole Foods had petit fours that looked very similar to the book illustrations, so Jackson and I got a few of those (and some yummy fruit tarts!) for the table. It’s not a tea party without little handheld desserts! Target also happened to have these gold bar carts that perfectly fit an 18” doll scale, and they were a cute way to display some of the cookies and treats.

B had so much fun at her party. We had a special guest come visit because B is convinced that birthdays are the perfect excuse for princesses to appear, and we have very few birthdays left to really embrace that magic. Alice in Wonderland came for tea from the land of Happily Ever After Parties, and she did a wonderful job entertaining the kids with ribbon dances, games and a story.

I would honestly love to curate a version of this party for every AG character. The nostalgia runs deep. But it was a dream to go deep into the world of pinafores, tea cups, and flower wreaths. B’s little mini me doll looked darling in her matching dress (the originals are usually floating around on resale websites, but I found this look-a-like made by a seamstress on Etsy.)