How’s that old saying go? When life gives you lemons, make tea and cookies?
Orcutt resident Julie Young spent most of 2019 preparing to start her own business, Teacups Children’s Tea Parties, but the following year put those aspirations to rest, at least for a little while.
“While my original idea was only tea parties for birthdays, the ongoing pandemic has temporarily prevented me from offering that service,” Young said. “So I started thinking outside the box—how could kids have a tea party safely outside?”
Thinking outside the box eventually led to thinking inside a basket—specifically a picnic basket.
“Knowing that kids today need safe options to interact and socialize, a picnic-style playdate came to mind,” said Young, who currently offers customizable picnic baskets for children to enjoy with their friends or family members—and she will set up their very own mobile tea parties, whether it’s at home, or a park, you name it.
This offering is part of Young’s “Playdate” service, where patrons can book up to six rental baskets at a time (one basket per child) for their picnic. Only the non-consumable items are rented, of course, as each basket includes a teapot, a teacup with saucer, a small plate for cookies, an apron and matching headband, and a plaid picnic blanket.
When ordering a basket, customers have the option to pick either caffeine-free fruit tea or lemonade, and can choose from two kinds of homemade mini cookies (sugar cookies, chocolate brownie cookies, or a combination of both). Both types of cookies are egg-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.
While Young still plans to eventually host children’s tea parties in an on-site setting, her business is sticking to Playdate packages for the time being, and she offers complimentary basket delivery to locations throughout Orcutt and Santa Maria.
“I plan to begin offering birthday tea parties once children 4 and up have access to the COVID vaccine,” said Young, who hopes to add more dessert options down the road as well, such as cakes and scones.
Before moving to the Central Coast, Young worked as an elementary school teacher for nearly two decades. After she and her husband moved to Orcutt from Rocklin, California, in 2019, her career in education took a pause, she explained.
“Since we moved during the school year, I decided to use the break in teaching to consider other opportunities,” said Young, who taught kindergarten and first and second grade classes during her teaching career. “As I started researching business ideas online, I knew only one thing for sure—I wanted it to involve children.”
Even though Young knew it was an opportune time to experiment with a total career change, she wanted to continue working with kids, just not as a teacher.
“I spent a few months researching children’s franchise businesses online, but nothing seemed like a good fit for me and my new community,” said Young, who began brainstorming what kind of children’s businesses would feel unique and marketable in the Santa Maria Valley.
Young started to think about her own daughter and what kind of business she would have wanted readily available in this area during her childhood.
“I thought back to when my daughter, who is now 22, was really young and the activities we enjoyed together, and tea parties immediately came to mind,” Young said.
In 2004, Young and her daughter first took part in an authentic, afternoon tea party, she explained.
“My daughter was very young, and a neighbor friend invited us over for afternoon tea. We helped prepare and set up using all her beautiful tea sets, and had a great time eating and chatting,” Young said. “After that, my daughter and I continued to have afternoon tea with friends and family throughout the years, sometimes to celebrate and sometimes just for fun.”
Some of Young’s fondest tea party memories past that point involved her own mother as well, as she, her daughter, and mother would often partake in afternoon tea ceremonies on Mother’s Day each year. Central Coast-wise, Young also mentioned a memorable outing to the Tea Trolley in Atascadero.
Out of the various factors crucial to a tea party’s success, Young would rank the quality of conversations that take place during the party high on the list. That’s why with each of her tea party baskets, she decided to include a special set of photo cards, she explained.
“Each Playdate also comes with ‘chats,’ which are fun photos used to stimulate conversation—even for the youngest,” Young said.
Chat with Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 5-12, 2021.
