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Fine china, along with animal-themed tea pots, graced the tables at The Venue in St. Amant.

And Mrs. Potts, the teapot from "Beauty and The Beast," would have been proud of the tea party 7-year-old cancer survivor Lily Raffray hosted Sunday to raise money for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.

Lily was diagnosed with Stage 1 Hodgkin lymphoma at the start of kindergarten when she was 5 years old. She received chemotherapy from both St. Jude and its Baton Rouge affiliate, Our Lady of the Lake.

Raffrays family started Team Lily Raffray to raise funds for St. Jude. The family helped raise money last year by participating in the St. Jude Half Marathon. To date, the team has raised nearly $18,000.

Lilys treatment was short, compared to others, said Lilys mother, Juliet Raffray. Eight cycles of chemo, but we wanted to give back to St. Jude. Any parent that goes through this wants to help out.

Lilys grandmother, Vanessa Babin, said Lily helped come up with the tea party idea.

We would have our own tea parties with just Lily and myself, Babin said. Then, Lily wanted to invite family and friends to the tea parties. After her diagnosis and treatment, we thought a tea party would be a great fundraiser because Lily likes tea parties.

Each year, the tea party has been held attendance has increased, Juliet Raffray said. This years attendance sold out at 158 people.

Its fun to get dressed up, Lily said. I really like having the tea party and having lots of people come.

The event also included coloring pages for the girls in attendance, a photo booth, silent auction and a raffle for an LSU quilt.

Lisa Bonin, of Prairieville, brought her daughter 1- year-old Molly.

Its a different kind of fundraiser. Its fun to see all the dresses, Bonin said.

Linda Mayers, who represented her sorority, Beta Eta, sold raffle tickets for the quilt made by Joy Mahaffery.

I just love the fact that its a tea party, Mayers said. All the dressing up is really nice. It gives the little girls a chance to be little girls and attend a real tea party.

The menu included chicken salad sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, scones, teacakes, muffins, cupcakes and petits fours. Babin said the food and drinks were donated by local businesses.

Megan Starkey attended with 2-year-old daughter Grace.

Lily is a student at the school I teach, St. Amant Primary, Starkey said. Its wonderful to see the community come together. We have pretend tea parties at home, so a real one is a lot of fun.

Kristie Riviere, brought her daughters, Anna, 5 and Addison, 4.

We had fun picking out the bows and putting on makeup, Riviere said. We were going to wear hats, but decided to go with bows instead.

Jessie Weber, who donned a hat, had tea with daughters Kate, 4, and Abbey, 3.

Its a wonderful organization and a great opportunity to get out and spend time with our daughters, Weber said.

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St. Amant tea party raises money for cancer research - The Advocate