Are you wanting to create the ultimate high tea party experience with your friends, but don’t know where to start? We have put together 8 easy steps for you to follow to create the most beautiful high tea party!

The correct term for “High” tea is actually “Afternoon” tea. A proper “Afternoon” tea is considered a relaxing light meal including finger sandwiches, a light selection of savories and sweets and can be enjoyed for up to 2 hours. Whereas a true high tea party is traditionally a full dinner with more robust dishes enjoyed by the working and middle classes of the time.

Whether we use the term “High” tea or “Afternoon” tea, today I will be showing you simple, practical and inspiring ideas for putting together your very own traditional English tea.

This post is all about making your very own high tea party!

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Let’s Get Started…

Listed below are the elements of what you will need in a well-planned tea. Just remember to be creative and true to the style you choose and have fun with it!

High Tea Party Table of Contents

• Theme
• Location
• Date and Time
• Invitations
• Table Menu
• Tablescape
• Foods and Recipes
• What to Wear

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Theme

The theme is the look and feel for your tea party.

Do you want to celebrate the season? -Whether celebrating Spring, Fall, or the holidays – it’s easy to style your tea around a seasonal theme. Or maybe you want a romantic theme such as a regency tea or a vintage 50’s theme. Maybe a country theme is more your style.

The possibilities are endless! This is also the time when you should pick the colors of your design and make choices about music (if any), decorations, and how many people you would like to invite.

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Location

This item on your list should be fairly easy. Do you want to hold your tea in your dining room? Maybe your backyard. Or, if it is for a group social, maybe at your local church. Just make sure that the location fits well with your theme and decor.

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Date and Time

Most proper Afternoon English Teas begin no earlier than 1 p.m. And are usually not served after 5 p.m. But, once again, this is your party. So set the time for what best suits your needs and your theme.

Perhaps you want to watch the sunset as you sip your tea, so plan on a later tea time. Maybe early works best for everyone’s schedule… then before 1 p.m. it is. You could even title your get-together “Brunch Tea”. Just remember, what makes an English Tea fun is enjoying the company of good friends, good food, and of course, good tea.

Invitations

Now that you have the first three items decided on it is time to get to work making a selection for on your invitations. What will be your style? How much you want to spend on invitations and should they be mailed out or hand delivered? When choosing your invitations it is important to remember that this is the “first look” for your guests of your tea theme. So make sure the invitation fits the theme. Here are two different styles of invitations that can be customized to say what you want. Both are available at Amazon.com. Perhaps you would rather make your own invitations..that’s OK too. However, don’t forget to include all the pertinent information when filling out your invitations. For example:

• Type of party – “Afternoon Tea” , Regency High Tea, Winter Celebration Tea, etc.
• Date
• Time – It’s good to give an estimate of how long the party will be. Such as. “Starting at 2 pm. until around 4 p.m.” This way your guests can make sure to schedule enough time to relax and enjoy the afternoon.
• Place. If the tea is not being held in your home then be precise about the location, such as: “Tea will be held in the reception hall of Mount Valley Church”. Also, if necessary, make sure to have signs or directional pointers at the site to help your guests find the correct location.
• Light Refreshments. Be sure to tell your guests that there will be light refreshments. This is vital information. You want your guests to show up hungry, but not starving.
• Attire. How to dress. Let your guests feel like they are just as immersed in the theme of the tea as your are. Is the dress formal? Costume? Casual? Sunday attire? Or maybe just semi-casual with the addition of hats and gloves. Adding this information to the invitation let’s your guests decide if they want to share in the theme.
• RSVP – This is critical if you are to know how many guests to plan for. Your guests should be asked to respond at least two weeks prior to the event, though more time is better and less stressful on the planner.

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Table Menu

The table menu helps set the mood for your tea and it let’s your guests know what to expect in the area of refreshments. A traditional menu normally is written in order of courses being served. Such as, savories, traditional scones, sweets, teas and options for tea. A sample menu could look like this:

Want to make your own menu? All you need for this look is gold doilies, card-stock paper, burgundy satin ribbon and access to a printer. Print out your menu, fold the doily around the menu and tie off with your ribbon, and voila! We HIGHLY suggest you make your menu from Canva as it is super easy to use and not to mention free. You are all set!

Tablescape

Tablescape is just a fancy way of saying how are you going to dress your table. How many tables will you need? What decorations? What colors, place settings and tea services are you planning? How will you layer your place settings?

One key to remember, the less layers you have, the less formal your setting will look. Also, it is OK to mix styles and colors, or shabby chic with elegant. It just depends on the look you are going for. This is often the case when you do not have enough cups and saucers in one color or style. If you find yourself facing this dilemma, have some fun with it. Borrow tea sets from friends and family.

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However, the easiest look, and often the most elegant, is an all white tea service. An all white tea service allows you to add any accent color you need in the form of table clothes, napkins, menus, tea pots, flowers, etc.

You can up the elegance of any design choice, and make your table shine by bringing in the look of cut-glass. Any discount dollar store usually has small serving cups and bowls that imitate the look of cut class and your guests will never know the difference!

Below is a list of the basics for what you will need to develop a classy, traditional Afternoon English Tea setting:

• Tables
• Table clothes
• Table runners (if desired for laying)
• Tea pots – This can be one per guest or a couple per table
• Tea cups and saucers
• Dessert plates
• Napkins
• Napkin holders
• 2 and 3-tier serving trays
• Condiment and preserves servers
• Doilies for your tiered trays
• Cream, sugar and honey servers
• Serving tongs
• Serving spoons
• Stirring spoons for tea
• Knives and forks – most foods will be finger foods, but occasionally you will have foods that work best with a knife and fork.
• Menu
• Chair pads or covers
• Tea packets in a holder – Or you can bring individual teas upon request
• Anything else you wish to bring in to finish your look

When setting your tables your decorations should not interfere with the ability of your guests to easily see and communicate with each other. There is nothing more uncomfortable than having to stretch your neck around a vase of flowers to communicate with the person sitting across from you.

Also, keep in mind that the scent plays a large part in the enjoyment of your tea party, so try to avoid heavily scented flowers, potpourri, or candles that can compete with the scent of your teas.

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Classic Foods and Recipes

The typical English Tea serves a variety of lite foods. Majority of which is made up of finger foods and is served as courses. You may choose to offer 3 courses all the way up to 6 courses of food. These foods are served on tiered platters with each level having a lace doily placed under the food selection. The courses work from top tier down. Your food is part of your decorations, which means you want it to look as tasty and pretty as possible.

First Course

The First Course usually consists of a selection of 3 to 4 varieties of hard cheeses and seasonal fruits (If you prefer, this single course can be separated into 2 separates courses and levels.) on the top tier and is displayed in an attractive manner.

Good cheeses to consider for this course include: havarti (sliced in thin rectangles), smoked gouda (sliced like thin apple slices with the skin left on), blue cheese (Served as small wedges), muenster cheese (served as small wedges), and mild cheddar (sliced in thin squares or rectangles). Or perhaps you have some of your own favorites that you would like to add.

The fruits should also be attractively sliced and placed between the cheeses. Pretty fruits are strawberries, watermelon, grapes, figs, melon slices, or whatever favorite fruit you can find in season. Portion sizes are usually considered to be 1 slice of each cheese offering, and 1 selection from each fruit offering.

Second Course

The Second Course is considered your savory course and can take up both the second and third tier of your platter depending upon how many selections you are serving. The traditional finger sandwiches include: Cucumber and Cream Cheese, Egg Salad with Water Cress, Ham with mustard, Cheese Spread Ribbon Sandwich, and some form of Chicken Salad Sandwiches.

These sandwiches are served with the crusts cut off and sliced in a variety of shapes (Rectangles, small squares, and triangles) and displayed on top of your lace doily in an attractive manner. The best breads are soft breads, though not as soft, pumpernickel can also be a tasty choice. Sourdoughs are not suggested. Their strong flavor can overwhelm the delicate flavors of the tea sandwiches. Serving size is 2 finger sandwiches of each selection per guest.

Additional savories, such as mini quiches, or wrapped and stuffed jalapeno’s, can also be offered. This is where you will need the additional tier.

Third Course

Course Three is your scone course and is usually served on a separate 2 or 3-tier platter. The first two tiers are dedicated to the scones themselves, with the final tier dedicated to small serving jars, or bowls, of clotted cream, honey, lemon curd spread, and fruit spreads such as marmalade, strawberry and raspberry.

If your selections don’t all fit on the bottom tier, simply place the extra serving jars in strategic places on the table itself.

With scones, fresh is best, If you can’t get the scones freshly baked from your favorite bakery, then using a prepackaged scone mix is easy and will give you that fresh-baked taste. Scone mixes can be found in most grocery stores in the baking section.

Fourth Course

The Fourth Course is the sweets course. This course consists of your favorite finger food desserts. Foods such as, dainty cake slices, shortbread wedges, empire cookies, sweet breads, chocolates, mini tarts…the list could go on forever. Keep your sweets on the finger (small) size and try to pick between 4-6 dessert selections – allowing for 2 servings per guest, per sweet. Once again, these would be arranged on your lace doily in an attractive manner.

Your liquid refreshments should be served throughout all your tea courses. For the convenience of your guests, it doesn’t hurt to add water, hot chocolate, or even sodas to the menu. The table service should include room temperature creamer, sugar, honey or honey sticks, ginger, and wedges of lemon for anyone who wishes to add some extra flavor to their tea.

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What to Wear

This category is entirely optional but fun! You can have your guests dress up to match your theme, or simply dress nice as if for a fancy restaurant, or have everyone bring parasols, wears gloves, and cute “fascinator” hats.

If you decide to dress to the theme, check out your local thrift stores for outfits you can put together. You can also check costume rental outlets, or, if you are craftily inclined, sew your outfit. Also, garage sales are a great place to look for used gloves and fancy umbrellas and hats. For those who want something fresh and new, try shopping at Amazon.com, or Walmart.com.

Bonus Tip!!

A bonus tip would be to have party favors for your guests that they can take home to keep as a memory! I volunteered for a tea event a while back and they had succulents in teacups that people could buy on their way out. It was a lovely extra for the guests! You can do this same set-up on a budget by getting the succulents from the Dollar Tree!

High Tea Party Success

There you have it! 8 easy steps to making your very own high tea party! Just remember to make it your own and have jolly good fun with it!

Where To Next?

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• 21 Insanely Cute Wedding Gift Ideas For The Bride

This post was all about making your very own high tea party