“Good Manners” Tea Party (Developing Talents)

For this activity we had a script that Sister Thomas put together (she used books and other sources and didn't want me to post it on this blog in case of copyright) however I will try to re-create much of what we talked about:

Greeting we let the girls practive proper introduction
-it's important to introduce people to each other. If a friend comes over to your house, introduce them to your parents.
-use proper names like Mr. and Mrs., Sister and Brother. Only use first names of adults when given permission.
-when being introduced to someone, its nice for you to say thier name back to them, it also may help you remember thier name.


Phone Etiquette
-say "may I please speak to..."
-never scream into the phone, go get the person the call is for
-never tell strangers you are home alone, tell them your parent is "unavailible"

Hygiene
-brush your teeth at least twice daily
-shower daily
-use deoderant
-wash your hands often, espeically after using the restroom and before eating

Eating Dinner at friends house
-its okay to say "no-thank-you" to foods you don't like
-always thank the hostess
-if possible, try to help prepare and clean up

Table Manners
This was the majority of the activity. We had the girls sit at the kitchen table and set the place setting correctly. While we did teach them about salad plates and dessert spoons (cuttlery you don't see as often) I asked that if the girls will at least remember that the fork goes on the left and the knife and spoon go on the right. I think the girls LOVED feeling so fancy. If you wanted to make this acvitity a little funner, you can tell the girls they can dress up for it. We served dinner rolls (so they could practice the bread and butter rule) and cupcakes.



My dad is a huge into manners. Here are some of the things he has taught me that we talked with the girls about:

-cutterly guideline: work out to in.
-never put your elbows on the table, sit up straight
-wait to start eating until instructed or the hostess has started eating
-when eating soup, spoon outwards
-put your napkin on your lap. If you need to leave during dinner to use the restroom, excuse yourself and put your napkin on your chair
-never reach over anyone for anything. Always ask "will you please pass..."
-bread and butter: you are supposed to take the amount of butter you will use for your whole roll and put it on your plate. Then you piece off a bite of bread and butter just what you are going to put in your mouth. Never butter your whole roll.
-if you need to take something out of your mouth (like a bone), it goes in the same way it came out... on your fork then to your plate
-when done eating, put your cutlery pointing to 5 o'clock. I told them that when my husband I were on a cruise, my husband liked this rule cause that was his way of telling the waiter he was ready for more food ;)

Made this into an activity that you can find here: