a tea party for beginners.

My weekend was fun! my friends loved the bears i made! yay~ but after all the tea drinking at the party i feel inspired to do a post on a proper tea party! this is mostly a reference for the host of the tea party having it in their own home/yard though ^^.

The Tea Basics: Know your tea, theres many different styles but the main 4 are black, green, white and herbal. For a tea party you want to choose a tea that suits the party and is probably on the fancy side, aka a loose leaf tea. you can get nice tea from specialty stores that specialize in coffee or tea theres bound to be one in your town somewhere.

Black tea is best for a tea party because you can add milk and sugar to it and it is the most common of the teas. But there are still different blends of black tea, some more fruity, some more bitter, try to pick one that you think your guests would like. the 3 normal black teas are Orange pekoe, earl grey and english breakfast.



Set Up: the set up depends on your location, is it indoor or outdoor? what season is it? but you always want a nice table and a table cloth that reflects the season and the colours of the room or garden. I would also recommend a plastic tablecloth liner to go under the table cloth and protect the table just in case.

you will want a centrepiece for the table, like candles or a flower vase and to have a nice napkin holder and nice napkins, fabric or paper whichever you prefer. you will also want comfy chairs.


Tableware: Theres 2 ways to go about tableware for a tea party, you can have everything match or you can have a bunch of different styles that don't really match.

Either way you will want everyone to have: a teacup, a saucer, and a teaspoon.

you will also need: a sugar spoon, a sugar container, a creamer, a teapot and if you are serving food a plate/platter for that.

*note: the guests dont use their tea spoon to add sugar to their cups, that is what the sugar spoon is for. teaspoons are for stirring tea.


Etiquette and such:

-you should add all the tea and sugar BEFORE pouring the tea in the cup. if you do it in the reverse order it will have a different flavour.

-you should pour out the guests old or cold tea before pouring them a new cup.

-the host should at least pour everyones first cup of tea.

-unless your eating lots of food you can avoid extra plates and have them put their cookies and other bite sized treats on their saucer.

-ladies are always allowed to keep their hats on at the table because it is considered a part of their outfit. just like you wouldn't take bracelets off to eat because they are part of your outfit.

-always try to be in host mode unless something big happens, don't just let your guests fend for themselves.