The old-fashioned tea party is definitely not a lost art in Carrollton.

From the wreath made of a tea set on the front door of her Dixie Street home to the six dozen pink and red long-stemmed roses, Jerry Eady went all out on Aug. 8 in throwing her only grandchild, Emma Jane Eady, a surprise tea party she’ll never forget for her sixth birthday. Emma Jane, daughter of Brock and Lisa Eady of Carrollton, was joined by friends Elizabeth Anthony, Morgan Parrish, Lily Rush, Sadie Rush, Zowi Reeves and Autumn Scott.

“They all had a ball,” Jerry Eady said. “I thought she was going to cry when she came into the day room. She said, ‘I am surprised, I am surprised.’”

After pedicures, bracelet and necklace making, and straw hat decorating, the girls all dressed in lovely, long dresses, jewelry, gloves, hats and high heels. They dined at an elegant table decorated in pink and lime green, enjoying pink lemonade, tea cakes and fluted cucumber sandwiches. The birthday cake was quite a confection, shaped like a straw hat and topped with festive sparklers instead of candles.

After a romp around a maypole in Grandmother Eady’s back yard, all the girls departed with prizes and party favors. The girls all enjoyed the royal treatment, and Emma Jane declared it was the best birthday ever.

“Everyone was really kidding me,” Eady said. “They were all mad, saying they can’t give a party for their girls now because they’ll want a party like Emma Jane had. One of the little girls starting crying because she didn’t want to go home, she was having such a good time.”

Inspiration for the party came from Jerry Eady’s mother, Jewell McGuire, the 1955 Homemaker of Georgia, who always gave her daughters little tea parties.

“My momma was a very creative lady,” Eady said. “Even though we lived out in the country, there was always something going on. Our place was like the gathering place out in the country; everybody came because there was always a lot of children there.”