Theme: For my daughter's 6 year old birthday we chose to do a tea party with a live music performance.   My daughter loves music and is learning to play the violin. I approached her violin teacher with the idea of performing for the event. The teacher was very excited about the proposal and put together a quintet with some of her middle school (girl) students. The teacher played the cello, one girl played the viola and 3 others played the violin.  The teacher chose 6 pieces appropriate to the occasion. Invitation: I took one of my daughter's pictures taken at my brother's wedding, cropped it and made my own invitation using Photoshop. The color of the invite, the font was carefully chosen to work with the event. The invite read - Come dressed your best for tea with ________(my daughter's name rhymes with tea).  There will be food galore and a quintet playing the score."  Venue date time and RSVP information was also provided. Venue: The party was set up in our large sunroom. We installed a curtain rod against one of the window/walls and used colorful silk saris as drapes.  This provided an excellent backdrop for the quintet to perform.  Our coffee table is a long Japanese style table which was covered in tablecloth.  I used 2 exercise mats (covered in matching fabric) to provide cushion for the girls seated at the table. I used our fine bone china for the event which worked out just fine.  I had made out menu and program cards for each of the girls using Photoshop (same color font and image as the invitation) and used these as part of the place setting.   Food: The menu comprised of 2 types of tea sandwiches (goat cheese mint and cucumber and boursin cheese and apple) cut in different geometric shapes. I also served scones and Devon cream madeleine cookies and fresh strawberries.  For the tea I served a warm apple/lemon/ginger juice.  The cake was a vanilla cake soaked in citrus juice with a citrus cream and strawberries.  I also had some chocolate cup cakes for the chocolate lovers.  Chai tea was served for the adults. Activity: As the girls came in I had a table set up with colorful S shaped (inexpensive) flower vases (from IKEA) that they could decorate with foam stick-ons and fresh flowers that they could make into an arrangement for themselves.  For each birthday (as I did so this year) I make a collage of pictures from the previous year and ask each of the guests to endorse it.  Once all the invitees had arrived the girls were seated at the table. As the first part of the music played I served them the tea and savories.  The girls enjoyed the food during break time which was also time for the performers to partake some of the snacks.  After the second half of the performance was complete the quintet played happy birthday for my daughter as I brought the cake to the table. We all sang and wished her a happy birthday. After the cake was served my daughter gave away small spa gifts for the girls (and the teacher) who had taken the time and effort to perform for this occassion. It was soon time for the guests to leave - the invitees each got to take home a small flower arrangement and a personalized program of the event.   Everyone including the performers had a wonderful time. "