Hosting a Tea Party

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I recently held an annual girls tea party at my house. Hosting a tea party is exactly what I’m going to show you how to do today. This is a tradition started by my mother-in-law years ago. She have all the girls in the family over for a tea party.

Everyone brings their own tea cup and saucer to the party. Hats and gloves are strongly encouraged, but not necessary. It is a fun tradition. Once my father-in-law retired, he and my mother-in-law moved about 4 hours away from all the family.

So in order to keep the tradition going, the daughters and daughter-in-laws take turns hosting the annual tea party. We plan it at a time when my in-laws are going to be in town. This year was my turn and I couldn’t host a tea party without sharing with all of you too.

The Decor

Now, my decorations are simple. You want it to be bright and spring looking. You don’t need too much because the food is also part of the decor.

A white table cloth was the base for my table. Then, I got a bunch of mini carnations from Costco for $9.99 and filled one tall and 2 shorter vases that I got from the dollar store with the flowers. I used these vases a few years ago when I hosted Thanksgiving. Finally, I used some sheer white ribbon I had bought at Walmart for $1 to tie around the vases.

I found the cutest flowered plates and napkin from the dollar store to use for the place settings. Not only do they serve as decor but they are also make for easy clean up.

Last, I needed a favor for my guests which was also part of the decor. I ordered these mini cupcake lip glosses
from Amazon. I wrapped them with a square of clear cellophane and tied them up with a pink ribbon (another roll of ribbon I got a Walmart for $1). So that was my decor.

Now for the menu

My daughter helped plan it with me. You want everything to be bite size and not to require the use of utensils.

After planning, I did notice I had a lot of cheese in my menu, but I thought oh well, it will be tasty. I did a lot of what I could for the party the day before. You can see what I did ahead of time down below in the menu.

Also, we aren’t tea drinkers so for our “tea” we use pink lemonade, more specifically, Crystal Light raspberry lemonade. This allow works well for my diabetic guest at the party.

Then we had:

• Herbed Cucumber Bites (I made the filling the day before)
• Deviled Eggs (I just add about 1/4 Miracle Whip to the yolks of 6 egg yolks to make these – simple and tasty)
• Candied Tomato Bruschetta
• Chicken Salad Wraps with Strawberries (I made half a recipe and slice the wraps into pinwheels. I made filling the day before)
• Cubes of sharp cheese (at the request of my daughter – I cut these the day before)
• Mini Eclairs (I purchased the Private Selection brand from my local Kroger store from the freezer section – Smith’s)
• Mini Cupcakes (I purchased these on clearance at Walmart after Valentines – I just wrapped the package well in saran wrap and froze then until the party)
• Cheesecake Filled Strawberries (I made the filling the day before)

As you can see, I did purchase some pre-made items for the party. If I wanted to, I could have made it all from scratch but I didn’t want to be too stressed out. I think it is great to use a few short cuts when hosting a party.

The Table

I set my table the night before my party. Another great way to not be stressed the day of the party. We just our meals at my kitchen bar that night and the following morning.

Also, I laid out all the platters at the table that I wanted to serve my food on. Then I placed post its on the platters labeling what item from my menu was being served on it. I like to use at least 3 cake stands to give dimension to the table. I lined the clear glass cake stands with some white paper doilies. It makes for easy clean up and adds to the decor.

To finish our girls tea we usually have a story. The younger girls really like this. I chose to read Fancy Nancy: Tea for Two.

You can host a tea party like I did or plan a tea party menu for a baby or bridal shower. It would also be great to do for Mother’s Day. Watch for those remaining recipes still to come to be posted the rest of the week.