History Main / TheDreadedPretendTeaParty

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'': Giggles the chipmunk enjoys having tea parties with Petunia.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls:''

* ''ComicBook/InvaderZimOni'': In Issue #40, one of Gaz's alternate-universe counterparts is a psychotically cheery girl who loves to have her friends over for tea parties. We then see that her "friend" is tied to a chair, gagged by having several candies stuffed in her mouth, and electrocuted with a cattle prod when she tries to struggle out of her bindings.
* The trope is played with, in that it's not a child, and inverted in ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': the ponies meet a scary cave troll, but Pinkie discovers he's a nice guy and is happy to have tea with him.
* The cover for ''Wolverine and [[ComicBook/PowerPack Power Pack]] #2" (from the All-ages series) depicts Katie holding one of these tea parties with her siblings and Wolverine. Alex and Julie play along but Jack and Wolverine are clearly bored. [[CoversAlwaysLie This event doesn't happen in the story itself though]].
* In the final issue of the ''ComicBook/SonicX'' comic, Sonic has joined Cream for one of her back yard tea parties at the Thorndyke Mansion. However, the tea party is interrupted when Shadow and Metal Sonic suddenly appear.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': "Party of One" has a disturbing inversion on the trope. Childlike Pinkie Pie has come to the (mistaken) conclusion that her friends don't like her anymore and want to be rid of her because they all begged off with excuses to Gummy's after-party. She throws it anyway, and populates it with pretend "friends" Madame [=LeFlour=], and "Rocky" (among others), whom she puppeteers and voices. Rainbow Dash comes to get her and take her ''away'' from the party.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E150StopoverInAQuietTown Stopover in a Quiet Town]]" features one of [[PlayedForHorror the most disturbing uses of the trope]]. A couple who were [[DrunkDriver drunk driving]] wake up to discover themselves alone in a town they can't seem to escape from. The PlotTwist is that they're in an alien child's dollhouse and surrounding toy town, and the child is just playing. After they ran off the road, the child's parents took them home to the child as playthings. Whether the child and parents are giant or there was a ShrinkRay involved is never explored. But the fear of the couple is genuine in this case given the owner of the dollhouse is at least 6 times their size.

The most common variation of the trope is frequently used in family programming with a father acquiescing to his daughter's wishes. He puts on the wig, makeup, and dress, sits at the tiny table and hopes his buddies don't see him. This is often used as shorthand for "Daddy really loves his little girl" and "is a supportive parent who doesn't stifle his child's creativity". If they're not trying for the [[AnAesop Aesop]] about [[GoodParents good parenting]], Daddy has to be bribed into it by the sweet-but-clever child.

This trope has nothing to do with parents throwing their small children genuine tea parties with real tea and cakes. Not to be confused with FantasticVoyage, despite the ShrinkRay being something both tropes have in common. Also should not be confused with the American historical event called the Boston Tea Party, nor the 21st Century American political movement calling itself the Tea Paty.

[[quoteright:334:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tea_party0.jpg]]

* Speaking of ''Loud House'' fanfics, in "Nighty-Night, Lisa" from ''Fanfic/LincolnsMemories'', Luna finds the pretend tea party she has with Lola boring.
* In contrast to the canon examples from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', the tea party in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12537462/4/Shrinkin-Lincoln Chapter 4]] of ''Fanfic/ShrinkinLincoln'' actually manages to be both clever (Lola actually manages to give some fairly in-depth characterization for her toys' personas) and adorable (since Lincoln quickly finds himself drawn into the game), even ending up being a surprisingly emotional bonding experience for Lincoln and Lola.

[[folder:Advertising and Commercials]]

* In the "Be a good parent" [=PSAs=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTIzjVxvV2U we see]] we see a manic looking guy doing a weird cheerleading routine - but then we discover that he's actually doing it so his daughter can practice (and he seems to be genuinely into it, not just going through the motions).

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* In ''Fanfic/TealovesSteamyAdventure'', Big Jim the cave troll captures the pony protagonists and treats them like they're his toys--and this includes making the ponies have a tea party. The ponies are too distracted to complain about the tea party, until Tealove flips out over how bad the tea tastes.
* In contrast to the canon examples from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', the tea party in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12537462/4/Shrinkin-Lincoln Chapter 4]] of ''Fanfic/ShrinkinLincoln'' actually manages to be both clever (Lola actually manages to give some fairly in-depth characterization for her toys' personas) and adorable (since Lincoln quickly finds himself drawn into the game), even ending up being a surprisingly emotional bonding experience for Lincoln and Lola.
* Speaking of ''Loud House'' fanfics, in "Nighty-Night, Lisa" from ''Fanfic/LincolnsMemories'', Luna finds the pretend tea party she has with Lola boring.

* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': Gru treated the girls like unwanted pets at first, and let the Minions do most of the interacting with them. A sign that Gru is beginning to warm up to the girls is that he no longer delegates playing with the girls to his Minions. He is happily clinking cups with them at a pretend tea party (even ''teaching them'' how to do a tea party) when the adoption agency comes to take them back, much to his dismay -- and surprise.
* ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'' is an inversion of the trope. Alice is the only child and finds the whole thing rather bizarre. The rest of the attendees are either adults or nonhuman and having a ball.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RaggedyAnnAndAndyAMusicalAdventure'', Raggedy Andy complains in song ("No Girl's Toy") about having to participate in girly tea parties, among other humiliations.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SnoopyComeHome'', Snoopy is captured by Clara, who gets a case of AndCallHimGeorge, [[PetDressUp puts him in a dress]], and makes him play tea party, much to Snoopy's outrage.

* In the children's book "A Cup of Orange" by Nathan Bryan, Katie entices Giggo the fox by showing off her interesting tea party acoutrements. When he is close enough, she captures him and ties him up, forcing him to participate.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E08WishfulThinking "Wishful Thinking,"]] the guys go to a town where a wishing well is making wishes come true. One of the wishes they stumble across is a little girl who wished her teddy bear to life; said teddy bear is depressive and suicidal. At one point it bemoans its existence:
-->'''Teddy bear:''' It is a terrible world! Why am I here?\\
'''Audrey:''' For tea parties!
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E150StopoverInAQuietTown Stopover in a Quiet Town]]" features one of [[PlayedForHorror the most disturbing uses of the trope]]. A couple who were [[DrunkDriver drunk driving]] wake up to discover themselves alone in a town they can't seem to escape from. The PlotTwist is that they're in an alien child's dollhouse and surrounding toy town, and the child is just playing. After they ran off the road, the child's parents took them home to the child as playthings. Whether the child and parents are giant or there was a ShrinkRay involved is never explored. But the fear of the couple is genuine in this case given the owner of the dollhouse is at least 6 times their size.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'':
** After Calvin stole Susie's doll Mr. Bun, Susie retaliated by taking Hobbes. When Calvin came to Susie's house to return Mr. Bun in exchange for Hobbes, Susie was having a tea party with Hobbes. Calvin was furious that Hobbes seemed to be enjoying himself.
** On another occasion, Susie invites both Calvin and Hobbes to a tea party, which Calvin rudely refuses. After realizing that Susie is genuinely upset at having nobody to play with, Calvin has second thoughts and [[PetTheDog goes to join her]], claiming that he never accepts invitations because it's more fun to crash a party uninvited. The fact that she had cookies may also have been a factor.
** An early strip had Susie invite Calvin to a tea party with her various plushies, which he rudely turned down (of course) due to not wanting to play with a girl and because he was looking for Hobbes, who had previously been stolen by a dog. However, when he notices Hobbes is among Susie's guests, Calvin thanks her for finding him and kisses her hand in gratitude, though not before all the cookies are stolen. Due to the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane nature of the comic, it's left ambiguous if the thief was Calvin or Hobbes.
* Hank Ketcham's ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS'' has Dennis scrupulously avoid Margaret's tea parties, unless there's plenty of cookies available. No amount of cookies, however, can compel Dennis to attend one of Margaret's piano / violin recitals.
* In ''ComicStrip/FootrotFlats'', Pongo often forces the Dog to be a participant in tea parties with her stuffed toys, usually dressing him as a baby. The Dog hates it (apart from the raspberry drop tea).
* One ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' arc saw Odie get temporarily adopted by a little girl who had him participate in a pretend tea party with her dolls, which is promptly invaded by pretend mercenary guerillas.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/ThePajanimals'':
** "Super Squacky" opens with Cowbella, Sweetpea Sue and Apollo all playing tea party, and Apollo moaning and groaning. When Cowbella asks him if "Poodlepants" wants sugar in his tea, he bemoans the name "Poodlepants" and says that what he really wants is to stop playing tea party. When she presses him, however, he asks for "two lumps of sugar, please."
** In "Mind Your Manners," Cowbella invites Apollo and Squacky to one, but neither want to play because they're busy playing a space game involving alien ducks. Then Sweetpea Sue walks in with cookies, saying that their mom made for the tea party. Suddenly both race over to join, Squacky saying that they love tea parties and asking when it starts.
--->'''Apollo''': We want cookies!
* In "It's All About You" from ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'', Treelo complains that Ojo is making him play tea party with her for third time. She says that it's not the third time, then admits that it's actually the ''fourth'' before telling him that if he's so bored with it to think of something else to play.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The "You Are Cordially Invited" questline in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' requires you to collect guests and crumpets for Tiny Tina's tea party. Her guests are Princess Fluffybutt, a hand grenade in a doll's dress, Sir Reginald, a tiny Varkid in a jar, and Flesh-Stick, [[spoiler:the bandit who sold Tina's parents to Hyperion as [[PlayingWithSyringes test subjects]]. Tina tortures and kills him.]]
-->'''Tiny Tina:''' ''<after [[spoiler:disintegrating Flesh-Stick with ridiculously high voltage]]> Best tea party ever!''
* ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'': The Joker uses one as a TruthTellingSession in Episode 4 of the ''The Enemy Within''.
* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' has Mileena's Friendship, where she holds a tea party with three teddy bears. Said teddies are dressed like herself, Kitana, and Jade.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The Monster in the Darkness in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. The guests or the tea party are a stuffed dragon, a paralyzed O-Chul and [[spoiler:Roy's corpse.]] [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0474.html Here's the first comic in which it's seen.]]
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', a [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=377 brief flashback]] is shown of Grace playing tea parties with Ellen. Note that they are ''both'' teenagers, although Grace is (or was at that point) a bit of a WomanChild. (And TheRant says it's exaggerated in this scene for comic effect.)
-->'''Ellen''': Later on, if anybody asks, we spent the day playing video games, OK?
* ''Webcomic/{{Forestdale}}'': Kyle Kendricks is blackmailed into participating in one such tea party with his little sister after she threatens to [[EmbarrassingOldPhoto post embarrassing footage of the first songs he ever wrote when he was six]], the girl even getting him into a dress and wig during the whole affair.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'': Giggles the chipmunk enjoys having tea parties with Petunia.

[[folder:Web Games]]
* There's an online game called Baby Hazel Tea Party, in which Baby Hazel has a number of tasks to perform to prepare for her tea party. According to the description text, though, everyone is happily participating, making this a subversion.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Blog/GaijinSmash'': Azrael notes that [[CutenessProximity Ultimate Sweetness]] could induce ImTakingHerHomeWithMe in him, at which point the police would find the two of them having a tea party.
* A particularly odd example in ''Podcast/FatFrenchAndFabulous'', involving a disturbed solider having a pretend tea party with the bodies of the fallen.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' subverts the trope. Tilly is happy to invite her doting, eager father to her genteel tea party. But Bill ruins it by sitting on one of Tilly's favorite dolls, flattening it. When he realizes what he's done, he gets up, and shatters the tea set in his flustered stumbling around. The coup de grace comes when he tries to make amends: he bends to pick up the broken tea set and farts. A traumatized Tilly declares the tea party over.

** In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E7LisasDateWithDensity "Lisa's Date with Destiny"]] Lisa shows her crush Nelson around and tries to put Snowball the cat into a baby carriage for play. As the cat resists, she claims that Snowball usually loves to do it, but it's clear that Snowball hates it.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'': Played with in the original movie. Buzz Lightyear, despondent over having found out that he is ''not'' a Star Command space explorer but a mere toy, ends up grabbed by Sid's little sister and put in a frilly apron and hat for her tea party. Woody rescues him.

* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Gru treated the girls like unwanted pets at first, and let the Minions do most of the interacting with them. A sign that Gru is beginning to warm up to the girls is that he no longer delegates playing with the girls to his Minions. He is happily clinking cups with them at a pretend tea party (even ''teaching them'' how to do a tea party) when the adoption agency comes to take them back, much to his dismay -- and surprise.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In the penultimate episode of season 1, Hooty does this, forcing the coven scouts he just roughed up into a tea party with him, with one of them struggling to get away.

* ''Film/ConAir'' plays with the trope. One of the serial killers joins a little girl at her pretend tea party willingly. But he's fascinated by her innocence, and a little taken aback by her compassion, so he actually leaves with the jet and does her no harm at all.

[[folder: {{Advertising}} and {{Commercials}}]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Fanfiction]]

[[folder: {{Film}} -- Animated]]

[[folder: {{Film}} -- Live Action]]

[[folder: {{Literature}} ]]

[[folder: LiveActionTV]]

-->'''Teddy bear:''' It is a terrible world! Why am I here?
-->'''Audrey:''' For tea parties!

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' makes use of this trope [[PlayedForHorror in a disturbing way.]] In the episode "The Uncanny Valley," a woman was sexually abused as a child by her father who bought her dolls as an apology. Decades later, he took her dolls and gave them to other girls whom he abused. His daughter, desperate to have her dolls back, abducted women who happened to look like her dolls, sedated and force-fed them, dressed them up, ''sewed a wig into a poor woman's scalp'' and forced them to attend a tea party. [[PsychopathicManChild All while acting like a well-meaning little girl.]]

-->'''Turner''': I could drink some tea. Yeah.

[[folder: NewspaperComics]]

[[folder: WebComics]]
* The Monster In The Darkness in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. The guests or the tea party are a stuffed dragon, a paralyzed O-Chul and [[spoiler:Roy's corpse.]] [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0474.html Here's the first comic in which it's seen.]]

[[folder: Web Games]]

[[folder: WesternAnimation]]

* ''Literature/InCryptid'' series: In the short story "Snakes and Ladders", a child is abducted to be sacrificed to what the cult believes is a god. He turns out not to be. The little girl, after being very freaked out, ends up making friends with the would-be god, teaches him a few human customs, and presses him into playing tea party. When her mother finally finds her, she recognizes the would-be god's expression as one her husband often wears when their daughter presses ''him'' into playing tea party against his will.

Resistant or willing participant aside, at the core, the kid hosting the tea party really just wants someone to play with, no matter how cruelly or sneakily or viciously they go about making that happen. The "dread" of any older kid, adult or creature at participating is the idea that adults should not ever do anything childish, even for children they love; and if they do, they should only do it with a sense of embarrassment and humiliation. UnfortunateImplications ensue because the dread in teen boys and men comes from the idea that it's awful and terrible to participate in anything girly or feminine, and that such awfulness goes UpToEleven if their male peers should also see them doing such a thing, no matter how vehemently they protest having been forced into it somehow.

* ''ComicBook/InvaderZimOni'': In Issue #40, one of Gaz's alternate-universe counterparts is a psychotically cheery girl who forces her friend Janice to stay over for a tea party by tying her to a chair, stuffing her mouth with candy, forcing her to wear a frilly princess outfit and shocking her with a cattle prod when she tries to struggle out of her bindings.

* In ''Fanfic/TealovesSteamyAdventure'', Big Jim the cave troll captures the pony protagonists and treats them like they're his toys--and this includes making the ponies have a tea party. The ponies are too distracted to complain about the tea party, until Tealove [[RantInducingSlight flips out over how bad the tea tastes]].