Remember when Clara was the queen of the jellyfish? Good times. She loves pretend play, and we enjoy making things for her for birthdays and holidays—like a play kitchen, a dollhouse, a latch board, a figurine cubby, a patterned doll cradle, a colorful quilt, a cuckoo clock, and a beanbag pouf—so for her fourth birthday I decided to make some pretend pastries for her tea parties.
It might sound like a tease—“Happy birthday! Here’s candy you can’t eat because it’s wood!”—but Clara has been into tea parties lately. She enjoys adding pretend lemon and honey to her cup, stirring, and repeating the ritual again and again. That made me want to create a set of little teatime treats she could play with for hours.
I liked making these because I could use her favorite colors and add references to the real treats she loves, so the set would feel personalized. I’d seen a few pre-made wooden pastry sets online, but after spotting some scrap wood on the garage floor I thought I could try making my own.
For materials I used a mix of scrap wood pieces from the garage and some small wooden spheres with flat bottoms I found in the craft section. The spheres read as little truffles or bonbons, which was exactly the look I wanted.
I painted each piece with craft paint and a small brush, then applied several thin coats of a glossy, non-toxic sealer for durability—important in case any pieces end up in Clara’s mouth during pretend eating. The whole painting process fit into one of Clara’s naps; I worked alongside my little guy Teddy, with a nursing break and some burping in between. Maybe he’ll grow up to be a painter—or a professional pastry taster.
Laid out together, the pastries show the playful, handmade quality I was going for. They aren’t hyper-realistic, but they capture plenty of bright pink (Clara always points out the pinkest donut or bonbon in the store) and a variety of patterns—stripes, swirls, zigzags, crisscrosses, and sprinkles, which I made by dotting the paintbrush handle.
I also made a tiered stand to display the treats using two plastic plates (one large, one smaller), a small bowl, and an ice cream cup holder—everything from Target. I turned the bowl upside down for the base, glued it to the larger plate, attached the cup holder in the center, and then glued the smaller plate on top to create the tiers.
It was a delightful little while-the-baby-sleeps project, and Clara loved her new pastries. She even enjoyed a tea party with Nonna while she was in town for the birthday. When Clara said, “You did such a good job painting them, Mom… BRAVO!” I cried—those hormones are wild.
Her birthday also included real treats—she requested four pink and purple pancakes for breakfast, and declared the purple one tasted the best.
Now I’m off to feed the baby (he’s ten pounds already!) and try to squeeze in some party prep for Clara’s celebration this weekend. I have laundry and a house to tackle, but honestly I’ll probably end up cuddling the baby instead.
Psst— If you want to know where something in our house came from or what paint color we used, click the button below:
