Host a Delightful English Tea Party

If you’re wistfully remembering your last visit to the UK, or dreaming of going there, what better way to indulge the idea than to host a delightful English Tea Party?!

I found myself missing England recently, so I started researching ideas for throwing my own tea party. Not that I’ve ever been to a tea party in England come to think of it, though I have consumed lots of tea there. Why does tea taste better in England?

Anyway, I thought I’d share what I came up with to maybe provide you with some inspiration.

When

In my research I discovered that “High Tea” is actually a working class family meal served after work around 5PM. The food (i.e. Steak and Kidney pie) is typically more substantial than Afternoon Tea.

“Afternoon Tea”, aka Low Tea, is what most Americans imagine when thinking of a Tea Party. It is typically served mid afternoon and features light, dainty foods like finger sandwiches, mini quiche, and scones.

Who

An Afternoon Tea can be a perfect theme for a baby shower, bridal shower, or a birthday party (especially for little girls). Since this was just a random day that I felt like doing a tea party I rounded up a few of my friends who are game for such things.

We talked about coming up with a dress code, but no one really felt like going to the trouble 😀 The final plan was to “wear a lot of jewelry”. Then everyone forgot.

So basically just invite people who would appreciate a tea party, or at least not be annoyed by it.

How

How do you decorate and set things up for the ultimate Tea Party feel? If you have them I think lots of lace, flowery tea cups with saucers and a tiered tray work perfectly. Other delightful additions would be fresh flowers, silver platters and milk and sugar containers, place cards, and individual tea strainers.

I am lucky to have a lovely Royal Worcester California Poppy adorned tea set from my good friends in England (whom I visited here.)

I also broke out white lace placemats and napkins from Bruge Belgium.

The blue floral table runner is a steal from Amazon.

Plain ol’ white plates from Ikea 😀

What

I am not a fan of cooking, so I kept things pretty easy as far as the food I served. I went to Cost Plus World Market to browse their British food section and was able to get cookies/buscuits, chocolates shaped like flowers and a Cadbury Orange.

I was also able to find clotted cream and strawberry preserves at World Market, plus some French sugar cubes.

I picked up one new tea, Whittard English Rose. A guest brought a delicious Celestial Madagascar Vanilla tea. Then I just pulled out the random assortemt of teas I had on hand.

I’m not cool enough to do loose tea, so everyone had to just make do with tea bags!

I bought Wonder Bread for the tea sandwiches. Here are the sandwiches I made. No real recipe, just threw them together till they tasted good.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

• Hard boiled eggs
• Mayonaise
• Garlic Powder
• Black Pepper
• Smoked Bacon Salt
• Fresh Dill

Cucumber Sandwiches

• Thinly sliced English Cucumber
• Philadelphia Whipped Chive Cream Cheese
• Garlic Salt
• Black Pepper

A tip I tried was to assemble the sandwiches and then place them in the freezer for a little while before cutting the crusts off and cutting the sandwiches in pieces. I think it helped a little, the bread didn’t completely smash down when I cut it with a serated knife. Next time I will leave them in the freezer for @15 minutes.

I used fresh dill, which I’d included in the egg salad, to decorate this plate.

Finally for the scones I bought a simple mix at the grocery store. I just needed to add water! I made the recommended glaze topping with powdered sugar, vanilla and milk.

A splendid time was had by all! I hope this helped inspire you. Please let me know in the comments if you have any great tea party ideas!

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