tea party

How to Plan and Host a Tea Party

round wooden table with lace doilies and a runner on top. The table is set with teacups and a bouquet of tulips

Despite the fact that there is still snow here in Alberta, the calendar does say that it is now Spring! And now that Spring is finally on its way…that means it’s time for a tea party to celebrate, right? I hosted a small party last week for my mom and sister and a friend and, since I’ve hosted quite a few tea parties over the years, I thought I’d share some of my tips for how to plan one for yourself. Whether you are planning for a large or small group, here are my tips for how to plan and host a tea party!

bouquet of tulips wrapped in paper

Choose an Occasion or Theme

While you can always host a party “just because”, it is also fun to host one for an occasion. Your occasion could be something simple, like mine in honour of Spring, or something much more elaborate and involved like an Anne of Green Gables themed tea, or a Hat and Glove or Victorian tea where guests dress up in appropriate attire. The benefit of choosing a theme or occasion is that it gives you something to work around, and will make your other decisions a little bit easier.

Outdoors or Indoors?

I love hosting outdoor events- there is nothing more photogenic than a tea table set out on the lawn. However, the most beautiful of table settings can quickly turn into the most disastrous when the weather doesn’t cooperate. Any outdoor event calls for two times the amount of planning: a Plan A for if the weather cooperates, and a Plan B in case it doesn’t. If you plan for an outdoor event, you have to consider rain, sun, heat, wind, bugs….the list goes on. Make sure that you’ve thought of how to deal with those things, and whether you can move the tea party indoors if the need arises. I’ve hosted two parties before where we had to go inside last minute because of rain.

table indoors set and ready for a tea party

Small and Cosy… or Large and Social

Once you’ve chosen the occasion and location for your party, it’s time to decide how large of a group you would like to host. Both large and small gatherings have their benefits, but they also have unique considerations.

If you are thinking of hosting a larger group (and by this I mean 20+ guests) take into account the size of the room or outdoor space you are planning to host in and how much seating the space will allow. How many chairs will you need? How many teacups and plates do you have? Will you be able to borrow, rent or buy more, if your group is quite large? Also, how much advance preparation and cleanup do you want to do? Will you be able to get someone to help you?

china cabinet with stacks of teacups and plates

Large parties can be fun, because you have lots of opportunity to mingle and visit with people. When we have hosted larger parties for the ladies in my church, we’ve had between 20-30 ladies show up which is great for visiting with people I don’t know very well already. My family has a huge living room as well as outdoor space, to accommodate a lot of guests, but we did have to borrow tea cups since we didn’t have enough. There was also a lot of upheaval in the planning, baking, moving furniture around, and cleanup for this large of a group; and there were three of us sharing the workload. As well, in this day and age, people don’t always RSVP, so you have to account for surprise guests as well as guests not showing up (in which case you might have a lot of leftovers!)

If you choose to host a smaller group, many of these considerations will be negligible. A party of six can easily fit around most dining tables, or in your living room without having to bring extra chairs, and you’ll most likely have enough dishes to go around without borrowing extras. Another advantage of a small party is that you probably won’t break into smaller conversation groups, which gives you a chance to visit with all of your guests. However, you’ll want to make sure that you choose your guest list carefully so you don’t end up with a group of introverts who have no idea how to get a conversation going!

Invitations and RSVP’s

If you are having a smaller more informal gathering, you might be able to invite people on short notice, but if you are hosting a larger group, you really will need to give more time for people to schedule it in. You generally want to invite people several weeks before the event so they have time to check their schedules as well as allowing for time to RSVP. In my experience, most people won’t RSVP (so frustrating!) so you’ll probably have to follow up with them closer to the date as you begin to plan for food.

tea party invitation

A real paper invitation is always an elegant touch and is also helpful for guests, so they don’t forget the date or time. In this day and age a real invitation stands out, but it doesn’t have to be elaborate; I usually print out invitations. But, of course, if you are planning only several days in advance, then texting or phoning is fine too.  The most important thing is getting the information to the people you want to spend time with, of course!

Decorations & Centrepieces

Now for the fun part: figuring out how to decorate your table(s). For a larger group, you may want to have a buffet style serving, in which case you could add your decorations to the food and drinks tables instead of the tables you’ll sit at.

Since my tea party was to celebrate the arrival of Spring, I chose a bouquet of tulips- my favourite Spring flower! Unfortunately the pink tulips didn’t last long, and you can see how they are bending downwards. I had them in a shorter vase, but they were touching the table top, so I had to change out the vase for taller one…which meant I couldn’t actually keep them in the centre of the table during the party. You should always keep your centrepieces either low or high so as not to obstruct the guests’ view across the table. Since this vase was tall it meant that the tulips were right at eye level, so once we sat down at the table I removed the flowers so we could easily pass the food around and converse.

table set with lace and pink and white floral china teacups for a spring tea party. A bouquet of pink and white tulips is in the background.

As for setting the table, the fun part is pulling out the pretty dishes and linens! I took cues from my flowers and chose a pink and white colour scheme for the dishes. I didn’t have a tablecloth the right size for this table in white, so I used a runner and two doilies as placemats, and I quite like how it turned out!

a drawer open with linens and lace doilies spilling out

Always try out your table setting in advance of the party, so you can see if you need to change your plan. I was originally going to use a different Battenberg lace runner and two placemats, but I couldn’t find the second placemat! After looking everywhere for it (except where it was, obviously…) I had to change my plan to these doilies instead. Of course, I did later find the other placemat, but I decided to use this arrangement since it was already set up to go.

If you’re hosting a themed event, this is time to bring that theme to life with your decor. For example, at the aforementioned Anne of Green Gables tea, how about using vintage books and a slate with a quote written on it as your centrepiece?

Plan Your Menu

Of course, there will be tea, at a Tea Party… but what do you want to serve alongside it? A themed tea can definitely guide your menu- for example- at the Anne of Green Gables Tea serving ice cream, raspberry cordial and carrot cake would be a perfect fit. But if you don’t have a theme, you can also do a variety of foods of your own choosing.

plate of lemon squares

I usually do sweets at tea parties, but if you are planning a high tea (so named because you sit at a “high” table, not with occasional tables) you might want to serve a variety of sweet and savoury. This time, I chose lemon squares because they seem to capture the essence of Spring; something about citrus always tastes like Spring to me. If you’d like to try my recipe, you can get it here.

It is also a good idea to ask your guests if they have any dietary restrictions you can reasonably accommodate. And if you won’t be able to bake something for everyone, you can serve fruit on the side. Fruit makes a nice palette cleanser as well as being something almost every guest can eat. Toasted nuts are also a good choice.

plate with a lemon square on it and pouring cream into a cup of tea

As well as choosing food, what varieties of tea will you serve? I love black Orange Pekoe, and drink it every day, but for a tea party it’s nice to offer some other blends, as well as having a variety of caffeinated and non caffeinated versions. I usually make a pot of one tea blend- this time we chose Lavender Earl Grey- and sit other options on the side that guests can choose to make single cup of if they’d prefer.

a plate of lemon squares with a bouquet of pink and white tulips sitting behind it

Prepare What You Can in Advance

Finally, this is my best advice: prep everything you possibly can before the day of the party. And if you are a list person, like me, you should definitely write a list of everything that needs to be done- right down to the smallest task. That way you can make sure that everything that can be prepared in advance is done beforehand. It’s fine to do some things last moment, but you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen trying to finish cutting up squares as guests are arriving. I like to have the table all set and ready, the desserts baked, and maybe even cut and plated, the day before. It really takes a lot of stress off to have as many things finished in advance as you possibly can. You don’t want to be running around like mad at the last moment, with curlers in your hair and flinging dirty dishes into the dishwasher as guests are coming up the driveway (yes I have done that!)

a pink and white floral teacup with tea in it

I love hosting tea parties, and while elaborate plans can be fun, remember that the most important thing is spending time with friends. With a bit of planning, hosting isn’t difficult at all, and even if something goes awry, it’s not the end of the world. I hope that these tips inspire you to start hosting your own tea parties…writing this post has definitely inspired me to start having them more often!

Have you ever hosted or attended a tea party? What theme would you choose if you were hosting? And is it feeling like Spring where you live?

round dining table set for a tea party with tulips and pink and white teapot and teacups

a small plate with a lemon square on it and a cup of tea in the background

A Summery Garden Tea Party

a table set for tea

Come with me into the garden; it’s time for a tea party.

a table set on the lawn for a tea party

We’ll sit on the lawn, in the dappled shade of the trees.

a bouquet of lilacs and teacups on a table with a white tablecloth

I’ve got the table ready and have picked a bouquet of lilacs. Even though the blooms were not as showy this year, they will still add a lovely touch to the table setting!

stack of teacups on a white tablecloth

Pulling out our favourite tea cups; which cup will you choose?

pouring a cup of earl grey into a teacup

I’ve made a pot of earl grey tea… which kind of tea is your favourite?

pouring milk into a cup of tea

Would you like some milk or sugar?

snickerdoodle cookies on a fancy plate

a bite taken out of a cookie on the saucer of a teacup

This time I made some snickerdoodles for us to enjoy (with this recipe). Help yourself to one…or two.

a pitcher of pink raspberry lemonade on a table beside a bouquet of lilacs

If the sun gets warm, some raspberry lemonade will be just the thing.

teacups on the top of a table in the garden

Enjoying good conversation and food in the outdoors; what a lovely way to celebrate the beginning of summer!

Do you enjoy tea parties? I try to have them often; there’s something nice about setting a proper tea table, isn’t there?

teacup with a cookie sitting on the saucer

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Attire

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Outfit, the artyologist, holding-teapot

Since the Ladies Garden Tea was supposed to be in a garden, I had originally planned to wear one of my big pouffy 1950’s style floral dresses. However, because the party was moved indoors, I decided (for the second year in a row) that crinolines and petticoats, crowds of people and fine china don’t make the best of friends. I also decided that, even though it can be incredibly fun to dress in all your vintage finery, because I was hosting, it might be a better idea to wear a simpler style for ease of movement and comfort of the guests. This floral dress, which is so bright and vibrant that it coordinates with hardly anything else in my wardrobe, and is completely contrary to anything else I own (I was planning on creating a more cohesive wardrobe, but you know how that goes . . . ) is what I decided to wear instead. I got this dress just at the end of summer last year, and hadn’t had a chance to wear it yet, so the party was the perfect place to “debut” it. Not that anyone cares about that but me. (Do you like to save new garments for the perfect occasion?)

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Outfit, the artyologist, teacup-4

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Outfit, the artyologist, floral dress

I got this dress last August, from a thrift store, which is where I get the majority of my clothing. It was originally listed for a lot of money. By “a lot” I mean, not only am I spoiled by the prices of buying the majority of my clothing second hand (“They want two whole dollars for this!? Oh right. . .”) but you actually could have bought a new dress, from a cheap fashion chain, for the same price, or less than this one was listed for. Oh, and the belt was missing. And, it was not from a very expensive or high quality brand. I obviously was not going to go and buy a new cheap dress instead, but it really bothers me that some thrift stores have raised their prices to a point where you actually can buy new clothes cheaper. This is so irrational, and it’s so frustrating as it just contributes to the entire cheap fashion cycle, and throwaway culture we live in. There are many people who won’t shop second hand if they can buy new clothes cheaper, and there are people who legitimately can’t afford the prices of even cheap new clothes, so where can they go for clothing if they can’t go to the thrift stores? I am not in this position, thankfully, but I expect to find lower prices at a second hand store. I think this is one of the unfortunate side effects of thrifting and vintage becoming “trendy” – so many thrift shops have become unattainable for the very people who need them, and have drifted from their original purposes. Is this something that is happening elsewhere in the world? I see it here in Canada (not in all of the thrift shops, mostly in the thrift store chains).

Anyways, that was a bit of an aside . . .  so how did the dress end up in my wardrobe after all? Well, it just so happened that the day after I saw this dress, tried it on and fell in love with it, there was a 1/2 price sale. I put the dress back on the rack, fully aware that it might not be there when I returned the next day- but it was! A couple other pieces I had put back were gone, but this was was still waiting for me 🙂 And I’m so glad. It was a lovely thing to wear on a grey and dreary day, and it does have a very garden feel about it. Because it literally has flowers on it.

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Outfit, the artyologist, drinking tea and bouquet

I would have paired it with my white shoes (the only thing in my wardrobe that matches the dress) and a straw hat (I guess that straw also matches) if we’d had it outside, but as it was held inside I was stocking-foot and hatless (scandalous!). However, for the benefit of these photos, which we took outside half an hour after the party ended, because it stopped raining (of course), I did wear the shoes. 😉

Have you ever put something back at a thrift store, and gotten it later, or did it end up being the one that got away? What would you wear to a tea party?

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Outfit, the artyologist, tea-table-3

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Outfit, the artyologist, tasting desserts

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Outfit, the artyologist, floral dress 1

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Outfit, the artyologist, teacup-3

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): My Outfit, the artyologist, pouring tea

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, tea table, the artyologist

I am beginning to think that the second weekend of June is marked for rain. For the second year in a row now, I have planned to host a Ladies Garden Tea, in our backyard, and though we have had sun in the days leading up to, and sun in the hours and days that follow, during the hours of the party itself, it has rained. We have decided that it will now be called simply, “The Ladies Tea”, and have given up on hoping that gardens will have anything to do with it at all!

I’m not too worried about it though, because this year we planned to host it indoors, and made our preparations accordingly, so there was no last minute scramble to move the party indoors when the day dawned with grey clouds. An added benefit of holding the party indoors, is that even if it doesn’t rain, you sometimes must contend with wind, sun in your eyes, sunburn, flies in the lemonade and mosquitoes that refuse to leave you alone. By setting up the party indoors, you avoid all these problems, and you can always open the windows to let the fresh air in (and the bugs out) 🙂

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, teapot, the artyologist

We changed things around this year, (because we were thinking ahead for once) and set up the sideboard and a table along the side of the living room, so the food and drinks would be close at hand. It worked so much better, rather than having the food in the kitchen like we did last year, as people didn’t have to break up the party in order to go in search of sweets. Last year we had so many leftovers of desserts that hardly even got touched, and this year we had very few leftovers. On second thought, maybe we should have the food in the kitchen again next year; I wouldn’t have minded a few leftovers. . . 😉

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, food table

Since the party was supposed to be a Garden Tea, it had to have a summery and “gardeny” feeling to it. So, the morning of the party we went in search of flowers for bouquets. Last year we had peonies, but this year the season is late and so the peonies had not started to bloom. However, we managed to catch the very last of the dark purple lilacs. Two days before the party, I thought to myself, “The lilacs are still in bloom, and should stay so until the party”, but the very next day when I looked at them again, they had started to wilt, turn brown and fall off the hedges. Only one day before the party!!! We thought that we wouldn’t be able to get any for a bouquet, but fortunately the dark purple ones still had flowers. They were falling fast though, and if you even looked at the bouquet, I think that petals were dropping off. We got two lovely bouquets though, and paired the purple flowers with Caragana branches. Caragana is a rather strange bouquet material, but I love how sculptural and fluid the bouquets turned out to be, and yellow and purple is such a lovely colour combination. For the rest of the smaller bouquets, which we placed on the tables, we gathered wildflowers and weeds, and came up with enough material to make several miniature bouquets. All in all, the room did have a rather summery and festive feeling to it, despite the rain.

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, lilac bouquet and menu

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, teacup and table

And of course, the rain didn’t dampen the spirits of those who attended the party! There were sixteen of us, some of whom were new acquaintances who came with friends, and we all had a lovely afternoon of tea and sweets and conversation. I can’t wait for next year!

Do you enjoy tea parties? Have you ever hosted an event? And have you ever been rained out?

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, teacups

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, tea-table-2

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, food

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, lemons

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, tablescape

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, teacups and bouquet

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, desserts

The Ladies Garden Tea (Which is not in a Garden): The Decor, teacup-collection