MAKE YOUR OWN “TEA”-SHIRT For this one, each girl must bring a plain white T-shirt with her to the party. Brew tea like you normally would, and then let it cool. Put tea into squirt type water bottles, and have each girl spray and decorate the shirt however she pleases. Any tea is fine, but different kinds of tea produce different colors. Try green tea or raspberry tea. Lay the shirts out in the sun to dry, and by the time the party is over, everyone will have a new “Tea-shirt” to take home!
I have four “TEA-Shirts” already, but I always love making a new one. Try a nice bright red rooibos tea.
BEAU-TEA-FUL REMEDIES When you are done brewing the tea, don’t throw away the tea bags. Instead, let them sit and cool on a plate. Once they’ve cooled, put on relaxing music and have each girl lie down with tea bags over her eyes. Do this for ten minutes.
Give each other tea facials! Mix cornmeal, milk, and chamomile tea to create a facial mask.
Have every girl apply the mask to her face, let the masks dry, leave on for ten minutes, and then rinse off. Your skin will feel so healthy!
genna swears by the tea facials. Use these tea tricks at your party and every girl will leave feeling like a goddess!
TEA BINGO Make a BINGO board that’s five squares wide by five squares high. Mark the middle square as the free space. Or you can print out blank copies of the BINGO board on teashopgirls.com. Be sure to make enough copies of your board for everyone at the party. At the beginning of the party, give each girl a board. Using the word bank below, have every girl put one word or phrase in each of the squares on her BINGO board. Throughout the party, the girls should cross off a word or phrase whenever it is mentioned.
For example, if someone says, “This scone is delicious!” each girl would cross off the box on her BINGO board with the word “scone” in it. To get BINGO and win the game, a girl must cross off five consecutive boxes (one horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row).
If you’d like to give a prize out to the winner, a good idea would be a tea basket. Before the party, buy some tea items (such as a mug, different kinds of tea, sugar, wafers, etc.) and put them into a basket. Give the basket to the girl who gets BINGO first!
Note: It is important that every girl fills in her board in a different order. If everyone had the same order, everyone would get BINGO at the same time!
BINGO word bank: tea, scone, cupcake, sugar, milk, teapot, iced tea, Teashop Girls, cake, party, Annie, Genna, Zoe, goddess, chamomile, friends, tea shop, beauty, book, facial, games, teaspoon, mug, teacup
Tea bingo is most fun with a lot of people, so you might want to let your younger brother or sister play too. The more the merrier!
The longer I work at the Steeping Leaf, the better I’m getting at baking! I’m also getting good at inventing new recipes. I hope you like them….
Apple Cream Cheese Cupcakes
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INGREDIENTS
8 tablespoons butter, divided
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 large tart apple, cored and diced
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
* * *
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare a cupcake pan with paper liners.
Cream 5 tablespoons butter and 1 cup sugar. Add egg and milk and beat well. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and apples. Batter will be stiff. Spoon into prepared cupcake pan. Bake about 25 minutes.
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and remaining butter. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar. Frost the cupcakes after they’ve cooled. Makes 12 cupcakes.
The first time I made these, we didn’t have any baking powder in the house, so they turned out like little bowls. I’m sure you’ll do better though! Either way, they are sooooo good.
Scrumptious Oatmeal Chip Cookies
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INGREDIENTS
¾ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup oatmeal
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar 1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup shortening
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
* * *
Preheat oven to 375degrees F. Grease baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
Cream together sugars, egg, vanilla, and shortening.
Add in dry ingredients, oatmeal last, mixing until well combined.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 12 cookies.
This is my great-grandmother’s recipe. Enjoy!
Summer Tea Drink
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INGREDIENTS
2 cups iced green tea
2 cups cranberry juice
2 cups lemonade
2 cups ice
1 lemon cut into 6 wedges
* * *
In large pitcher, combine all three ingredients over ice. Serve with a lemon wedge. Makes 6 servings.
Spicy Peach Iced Tea
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INGREDIENTS
3 cups of peach tea, cooled
2 peaches, peeled with the pits removed
2 cups of ice
¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of allspice
½ cup sugar
* * *
Place all ingredients in large blender. Blend for thirty seconds, or until smooth. Serve in large plastic cups. Makes 4 servings.
This one is perfect for poolside tea.
Fancy Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches
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INGREDIENTS
6 large eggs
¼ cup mayo
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 minced garlic clove
1 tsp minced white onion
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 slices of rye bread, cut into fourths
* * *
Hard boil eggs and cut up in a medium bowl. Add mayo, mustard, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and parmesan. Stir. Spread egg salad onto small pieces of rye bread and serve. Makes 24 tea sandwiches.
I’ve always loved egg salad, ever since I was little. My secret ingredient? Parmesan cheese!!!
Talk about the Teashop girls!
Use these questions to discuss the book with your friends.
1. In the book, Annie, Zoe, and Genna work together to save something that’s really important to them—the tea shop. Do you have anything that’s very important to you?
Take turns talking about something that means a lot to you.
2. Of the three main characters, who are you the most like? Who do you identify with the least?
3. Annie is so excited to work in the teashop. What was your first job like? If you haven’t had a job yet, what do you picture as your first job? Is there somewhere special you’d like to work?
4. Discuss what part of the book stands out in your mind the most. How did this part make you feel? Why did this part specifically stay with you?
5. Were you happy with the ending of the book? If you could rewrite it, would you? If so, how would your ending unfold?
6. The story is told from Annie’s point of view. How do you think it would be different if it were Genna or Zoe who told the story?
7. Annie has a very close relationship with her grandmother Louisa. Do you have an older person in your life that you are close to? What can you learn from an older friend or relative? What can they learn from you?
8. Annie agrees to Jonathan’s plan to update and change the Steeping Leaf, even though she isn’t sure it’s a good idea.
Have you ever been in a similar situation? What did you do?
The Teashop Girls Page 16