The Very First Heartland Doll Tea Party!

Greeting and Salutations Doll Friends,

This past weekend was the very first Heartland Doll Tea Party! It was sort of a 'dress rehearsal' so we would have an idea of how long things took to set up and how things went, timing wise, during the tea. It was a great success with the two girlies we hosted!!

The guests were the grandaughters of my wonderful friend Patti. Patti is the owner of the The Treasure Trove which is where the Tea Parties are held. 

They had so much fun! The older girlie brought her American Girl Doll Molly which was her mom's doll when she was a girl. How sweet!! I love that! The younger girlie brought Dolly, a doll her great-grands had given her knowing she was attending a Doll Tea Party! Isn't that sweet?!

The girls were so excited to have a fancy tea party and loved that the Dolls had a special seat just for them at the table!

Here they are seeing the fancy food come out of the kitchen!

They really enjoyed the fancy finger foods and desserts! Soon enough they were done eating and it was time to head downstairs to play in the Heartland Doll House!

Here is the Heartland Doll House all set up! It was the first time I'd set the whole thing up anywhere besides my house and I was delighted to find that my idea of how to set it all up went beautifully. It took me about 45mins to set up but I think now that I've done it, I'll learn quicker ways of going about it as I do it more...

As you can see, I set up four rooms for the dress rehearsal party. There is a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom. I also brought a small cast of doll players for them to play with as 'friends' to the their own dolls.

They each picked out a friend immediately and got to playing! I noted that they both went for a doll with 'rainbow' type hair so I made a mental note to myself that for future parties I would need to bring as many as I can. Luckily I have quite a few dolls with fancy hair now. Haha.

I found it so interesting to see what the girls wanted to play with first. I've never had actual kids play with the Doll House before. Sadly my own daughter is in that time period of life where she thinks she is 'too old play with dolls'. I am sure she'll grow out of it again... Haha. I did, eh? So it was first time many of my dollies had even been played with by kids. So much fun to see!

The girlies loved all the small doll accessories in each room!

And set about the buisiness of playing...

I'll have to let the photos tell the story mostly because I am almost out of time this morning to write... Why does 'fun time' pass so much more quickly than other kinds of time?!

They each played in all of the rooms at least a little bit...

The younger girlies favorite was definately the kitchen though. Before the end of the party she had an entire buffet of food set up on that table.

The older girlie gave her dollies baths and had them change into fancy dresses for a party.

I love this photo of Patti watching... See? Dolls make everyone happy! So I think the party was a smashing success!! If you'd like to see a video tour, here is one on YouTube!! To book a seat at a Heartland Doll Tea Party, visit Syracuse Tea Time. Hope to see you there!

Till Next Time!

XXOO

Heather

Tour Of Heartland Doll House!

Greetings and Salutastions Doll Friends!

As you may have read in my blog post about my upcoming Heartland Doll Tea Parties I've been working on putting together a mobile doll house. What do I mean 'mobile doll house'? Well, exactly that. A Doll House I can box up and bring, in its entirety, to different venues. The first venues I am planning to bring it to are the upcoming Heartland Doll Tea Parties. Depending on how they go, I hope to bring it to other events or parties in the future. 

I've finally got the house complete for the most part. I might add a few more accessories to rooms here and there but this is generally what girls and their dollies will find when they come to play at the Heartland Doll House. 

Here Prism showing you the kitchen. She is making breakfast for herself and Frann. 

All the accessories and furniutre you see here will be in the kitchen as well as an additional container of doll food for you to serve or cook for your dollies.

There is milk and eggs in the fridge along with a lot of fresh fruit and veg... Not to mention cupcakes!

Prism Doll made Frann Doll a breakfast of eggs and bacon served with cofee and orange juice! YummO!

Sitting down to eat...

Bon' Appetit!

Here are Calla Doll and Radel Doll in the living room of the Doll House. It is mostly the My Life As Doll living room set I got as a gift from my husband recently. I thought a more 'modern' living room than my normal one (you can see in this post) was in order. My regular one has much more 'grown up' looking furniture, a lot of which is breakable. So this one is much more 'fun' in that you can fully play in it with no one getting hurt. I plan to add more accessories to this room as time goes by.

Calla is doing her homework while Radel practices her guitar. What a nice comforable room to sit in!

Next we have Lilly Doll in the bedroom. It's got bunk beds with lots of pillows and stuffed animals. It's got a locker at the end of the bed to store various items for the dolls. The vanity is stocked with all manner of lotions and other beauty supplies.

Here we have Sasha Doll and Lilly Doll getting ready for bed.

Time for bed!

Before she went to bed, of course she had to brush her teeth. This is Sasha in the bathroom of the Doll House. There is a toilet, a bathtub with hand held shower, a vanity with a sink and mirror and pretty plants and rugs in this room. A perfect room for a Dolly to freshen up!

So that is the Heartland Doll House! If you'd like a 'video tour' you can check here. At the Tea Parties at the Treasure Trove I plan to also bring along four full size horses and four ponies and set up a small Sweet Shoppe and Vet Clinic but I'll have to give you a tour of those last two rooms in an upcoming post!

Better run for now!
XXOO
Heather

Announcing Heartland Doll Tea Parties!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

As I mentioned in my posting yesterday, I've been feeling like 'too little butter spread over too much bread' lately. It was for a myriad of reasons but one of them is that I've been working on a huge project in the Doll House. That's right, I am making the Doll House mobile! I have just planned my first 'event' with the Doll House. I've long felt it was silly to have such an amazing Doll House but to never share it in any way with real live children. I wasn't sure how to go about ever having any in because, lets get real, my Doll Room is much too small for a gaggle of girls to play in. So what to do? I finally decided on the idea of making a 'mobile' doll house and to hit the road with it but how? My first inception was to do Birthday Parties for girls but... I wasn't sure how to make that happen? Then one of my very best friends and I were talking about her dream to change her Antique Store into a Tea Room and Antique Store. I said how neat it would be to make a Doll Tea Party because American Girl Doll Cafe's are something girls love to go to but not everyone can make a trip there for it. So my idea was to make a similar experience here in the heartland of America... And Heartland Doll Tea Parties was born! 

Much like the AG Cafe, each doll will get her own special seat right next to her girl and Mom (Grandmom, Auntie, Friend) at the table. Each doll will get her own cup, plate and spoon to take home with her just like AG Cafe. Only, unlike the AG Cafe, where there is only shopping after the fun time eating, at Heartland Doll Tea Parties, there will be an actual Doll House to play with your doll in! See the description below from the Treasure Trove Syracuse Tea Time website.

Formal Tea Parties are an experience every little girl should have at least once. When you bring a long a Dolly Friend, it is even more fun. Come and have a cup of tea with the special little girl in your life and her doll and create memories she will tell her own daughter about one day.

Party includes:

• Tea Sandwiches and petit fours served on beautifully set table of elegant tea plates
• Chairs for Doll Guests so Dolly can enjoy tea with her special friends
• Fun questions on each table to help create amazing conversations
• Fancy Photo Booth available to capture the moment forever
• A gift for each Doll to take home
• A visit to Heartland Doll House! An hour of time to play in the Doll House with your doll

The Doll House includes:

• Doll sized kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom and laundry room
• A wardrobe of clothes for your doll to play dress up
• Doll sized Sweet Shoppe and Vet Clinic
• A stable of horses and ponies
• A cast of 10-12 dolls, including boy dolls, to borrow as friends or siblings for your doll in Doll House

*Recommended age is girls between seven and twelve due to small parts and fragile items in Doll House.

Obviously the Doll House I am setting up for the Doll House visit will be a bit more 'child friendly' than my actual Doll House. There won't be any breakable dishes and such. It will still be super fun. I am nearly done getting all the components together and will set up what the 'Traveling' Doll House soon and take photos so you'll know exactly what it'll be like. 

I am super excited about this new venture! There are three Tea's scheduled in August.  If you're close to Nebraska, I'd love to see you there! To book a time, visit here!

Better run!
Till Next Time!
XXOO
Heather