Hand-Painted Wooden Pastries for a Tea Party

Remember when Clara proclaimed herself the queen of the jellyfish? She’s always been imaginative, and we love making little things for her to play with on birthdays and holidays. Over the years we’ve built a play kitchen, a dollhouse, a latch board, a figurine cubby, a painted doll cradle, a colorful quilt, a cuckoo clock and a beanbag pouf — so for her fourth birthday I decided to make a set of pretend pastries for her tea parties.

It might seem a little cruel to give a child wooden sweets on her birthday, but Clara has been obsessed with tea parties lately — she loves pretending to add lemon and honey, stirring, and starting over again. I wanted a set that used her favorite colors and referenced treats she actually likes, so the pieces felt personalized rather than generic.

I had seen ready-made wooden pastry sets for sale, but I also noticed some small scrap pieces of wood on the garage floor and thought I could turn them into my own versions. The materials I gathered were simple: a variety of scrap wooden rectangles, and several flat-bottomed wooden spheres from the craft store that made great shapes for truffles and bonbons.

For color and finish I used craft paints and a small brush, focusing on bold, bright shades — lots of pinks since Clara always points out the pinkest donut in the store. After painting I applied a few thin coats of Safecoat Acrylacq, a non-toxic glossy sealer, to give the toys extra durability and a subtle shine in case they go near Clara’s mouth during pretend eating.

I completed the painting during one of Clara’s naps, with our baby Teddy nearby. There was a nursing break and some rocking, but otherwise it came together quickly and felt manageable as a short “while the baby sleeps” project.

My goal wasn’t hyper-realism. Instead I embraced playful patterns: stripes, swirls, zigzags, crisscrosses and dot “sprinkles” made with the back of a brush. The result is a colorful, whimsical collection that reads as fun and stylized — perfect for imaginative play.

I also built a simple pastry stand from household items: two plastic plates (one large and one small), a small bowl turned upside down for the base, and a plastic ice cream cup holder to create tiers. Everything was glued together to form a stable display for the wooden treats.

Seeing Clara’s face when she discovered the pastries was priceless. She even shared them with Nonna, who was in town for the birthday. When Clara declared, “You did such a good job painting them, Mom… BRAVO!” I got a little emotional — new-mom hormones and the sweetness of the moment, I suppose.

The birthday also included edible treats: Clara requested four pink and purple pancakes for breakfast and insisted the purple one tasted best. It was a colorful, joyful morning that matched the handmade pastries perfectly.

Now I’m back to the day’s to-dos: feeding Teddy (who’s already ten pounds), squeezing in party prep for Clara’s weekend celebration, and attempting to get a handle on the laundry. Truthfully, I’ll probably spend more time cuddling the baby than tidying the house — and that’s fine.

Psst — if you want to know where something in our house came from or what paint color we used, click the shop image below for details.