Our 3 year old is obsessed with all things Tiger since the book by Judith Kerr was made into a film last Christmas. I was delighted to find a tiger onesie in a local charity shop in great condition. This led to her idea that she would like to throw a Tiger Who Came to Tea party at home.

To extend the idea further we read the story then talked about what we had in our cupboards for a tea party. We didn’t go out and buy anything special, just used what we had in. Then we played ‘Hey Tiger’ by Robbie Williams while we baked.

I’m currently typing this post up during lockdown in the UK. I thought this could be a perfect time to share how we brought the book to life at home. This could be an ideal lockdown \ birthday activity for a young child who is unable to invite friends and family to celebrate their special day. For other party ideas during lockdown please see our post on how to throw a Gruffalo party . This is also a great activity to do after lockdown when you can actually invite a friend for tea.

Tiger Who Came to Tea party ideas for food

The food is a must in my mind. You could throw a party with pretend food but we decided actually feeding the children was a good idea! Here are some ideas you can make or buy for the tea party.

• A variety of sandwiches such as cucumber, jam, cheese, ham, egg and cress, cream cheese, tuna etc.
• Crisps
• Scones – with jam! – We used a BBC Good Food recipe to make some basic scones
• Any cakes will do – Victoria sponge, fairy cakes, chocolate cake etc
• Tea – A teapot will really add to the tea party but you could fill it with their favourite drink if they don’t like tea!

The big kids helped make a variety of sandwiches and the little two helped me bake some scones. I remembered just how easy scones are to make. We didn’t have time to make a cake so we just stuck with crisps, sandwiches, cake, milk and tea.

Whilst the scones were baking, I played the tv adaptation of the Tiger Who Came to Tea to keep them entertained. We set the table together and then all sat down and asked our little tiger not to eat it all and leave some tea for everyone else!