How To Host An Afternoon Tea Party. Our simple party plan includes an easy DIY tablescape and fun craft ideas to help you host without blowing your budget!
Do you drink tea? Well, I do.
Every day, I make myself a hot cup of tea right before the kids get off the school bus. It’s a time-honored ritual that comes from our Grandparents. Every afternoon, at 2 pm sharp, they would put the tea kettle on and have a cup of Lipton tea together.
They drank their daily afternoon tea our of their well-loved matching cream-colored tea cups with an ivy border on them. They were amazing people, yet deeply rooted in their habits. Their tea cups were very important to them – so much so, that my Grandmother put a twisty tie on her handle just so they wouldn’t get them confused as they aged.
Growing up, we always knew that whenever we needed some love, we could always go to their house for tea. It was a quiet moment where you could speak if you wanted — or needed — to, but if you just wanted quiet company, that worked too. Us kids cherished these moments with them and they have spurred my own love for tea as an adult.
So when our daughters asked my sister and I if we knew how to host an afternoon tea party, we laughed. Why of course we did — we had the best teachers in town!
Growing up with Gram and Pop, we learned that Get Togethers don’t have to cost a ton of money. As long as you’re spending quality time with family, everything else is just icing on the cake. For this carefree afternoon tea party, we used simple, natural elements and lots of finger foods to keep it from getting too fussy. We even tossed in a family-friendly DIY Sugar Scrub Craft to keep our hands busy! Everything you see in our tablescape was DIY or made with simple supplies that we had lying around the house.
HOW TO HOST AN AFTERNOON TEA PARTY
DECORATING & FOOD IDEAS
For our Afternoon Tea for the Girls, we just wanted to have a fun way for us to reconnect and spend some quality time together — talking, laughing, eating, and drinking tea together. So for this carefree tea party, we kept it super simple and just used simple, natural elements — fresh flowers, my sister’s wedding china, and our favorite tea kettle!
As with all things relating to tea, our party took place in the kitchen and in the living room. We wanted our guests to be able to walk freely between the rooms so that they could chat with everyone and feel right at home.
Another great way to keep an impromptu party (or even a planned one) budget-friendly is to keep the food simple. No one wants their Host locked away in the kitchen while the party takes place without them. Over the years, we’ve learned that finger foods are the best way to go to keep a party from getting too fussy. For our brunch type parties, we’re huge fans of serving muffins, homemade jam and bread, assorted nuts, citrus water, pretzel thins, apple crisps, cheese and crackers – pretty much anything that doesn’t require a knife or fork!
Since we were hosting a tea party, it only seemed fitting to serve lots of adorable semi-homemade petite fours. In my very humble opinion, nothing goes better with a hot cup of tea like a teeny-tiny sweet treat! Grandma always used to hide boxes of baked goods in her china cabinet just in case we stopped by. These little cakes plop me right back to their dining room table.
Made with prepackaged (albeit high quality) pound cake, this gorgeous recipe idea allows you to create several different flavors by simply customizing the icing with different Lipton teas. For our petite fours, we paired Lipton Berry Hibiscus with a butter loaf and Enticing Chai with a chocolate loaf to really awaken the senses. Lipton’s new tea varieties have bold and stimulating flavors, and we wanted to create a multi-sensory tea drinking experience for our guests!
SUPER SIMPLE TEA-INFUSED PETITE FOURS RECIPES
Ingredients:
- 2 loaves of pre-made loaf cakes (we used one butter loaf and one chocolate loaf)
- 2 cans (16 ounces) white frosting
- 3 bags of Lipton Berry Hibiscus tea steeped in 1/4 cup boiling water
- 3 bags of Lipton Enticing Chai tea steeped in 1/4 cup boiling water
Directions:
Step 1: Slice the loaf cakes into approximately 20, 1 ½” cubes, and line the cubes up on a tray. Keep the butter and chocolate loaves separate.
Step 2: Remove 3-4 tablespoons of white frosting from the can and set aside for later on.
Step 3: Now add 2-4 drops of the Berry Hibiscus tea-based food coloring into the white can of frosting and swirl. Add tea-infused coloring drop-by-drop until the desired color is achieved.
Step 4: Microwave the can of frosting on high for 20 seconds. Remove from microwave, stir, and heat for another 15 seconds. Carefully remove the frosting from the microwave; it will be in a semi-liquid state and very hot!
Step 5: Pour the frosting over the butter cubes. You should only need about ½ – ¾ of the can of frosting.
Step 6: Repeat steps 4-5 with the second can of frosting, only this time, use the Enticing Chai tea-based food coloring and the chocolate loaf.
Step 7: Garnish petite fours – we used fresh berries on the butter loaf and turbinado sugar on the chocolate loaf. Refrigerate to harden the frosting before serving.
CRAFTS AND ACTIVITIES
We find that when throwing a party, it’s always a good idea to have something for people to do. Whether it’s a shower game, a birthday party water balloon toss, or even a DIY Sugar Scrub craft – having an actual activity for your guests is always a good idea. Not only does this activity keep idle hands busy, but it’s also a great way for quieter guests to participate in the main event without feeling pressured to gab away.
When it comes to hosting tea parties, our favorite activity by far is making homemade beauty products with our guests. We’re huge fans of DIY sugar scrubs, especially when they’re chock full of quality ingredients like coconut oil, Lipton tea and turbinado sugar! Homemade natural sugar scrubs make a great party favor too — we love neatly packaged them into small mason jars for guests to take home.
Lipton’s updated green teas have a light, fresh taste, bright clearer color and delightful aroma. I love drinking green tea to maintain my good health, but I also really enjoy the uplifting and refreshing scent every time I step into the shower and use my homemade sugar scrub!
GREEN TEA FACIAL SCRUB (BODY EXFOLIATOR)
Ingredients:
- 1/8 cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 Lipton tea bags (We used Green Tea with Honey Lemon)
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 2/3 cups turbinado sugar
- 1 tea bag steeped in 1/4 cup boiling water
Directions:
Step 1: Using a large bowl, combine all ingredients as listed above. Mix well to combine. Store in 4-ounce mason jars, tied with a ribbon, or an air tight container. Makes 4, 4-ounce jars.
Overall, Grandma and the kids had a blast. We did too! There’s really something to be said about finger foods…and good quality tea. The art of drinking it – connects families and friends. And without all of the stress of being locked away in the kitchen, we were able to relax and sit on the couch with our Mom catching up on everything and nothing…just the way Gram and Pop wanted us to.
Did we miss anything? What are your ideas for how to host an afternoon tea party? We would love to hear from you!
Your Mom Friends,
Denine & Daniele
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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