| The best tea
party begins a couple of months before the big day.
Choose a day and time, say on a Saturday from 1-3 or 4-6.
List all the people you want to invite. Eight to 28 guests
is do-able. You don’t need an excuse for a tea party,
but tying it in with someone’s birthday or other milestone
can make it extra special. At one of my recent tea parties,
I chose to honor a dear friend on her birthday. Most of the
guests didn’t know my friend, so I only mentioned the
birthday to her friends on my guest list. This way people
didn’t feel obligated to buy a gift for a stranger,
and the gift-giving by her friends took place after the tea
was officially over and the other guests had gone home. During
the party, my friend was introduced as the honored guest,
other birthdays were acknowledged, and, at the end of the
tea, everyone shared a chocolate birthday cake.
Plan Ahead
When hosting a large group of people,
call a rental company early on and reserve enough banquet
chairs for everyone.  This
is especially important in the spring when wedding planners
reserve chairs weeks ahead.
Mail invitations a month before your
party. It’s not important that you make your own.
If you buy invitations, choose colors that coordinate with
your color scheme, and try to find ones with a feminine motif
such as purses, ladies shoes or tea cups. It’s best
to hand-address the envelopes for a softer, more personal
touch. Include a phone number so guests can RSVP.
 Soft
background music is always a pleasure at a party, so keep
your ears open. I chose a CD of flamenco guitar music, no
vocals. I had overheard it on a department store’s sound
system. When I inquired about it, I was very pleased to hear
they had the CD for sale.
Color Scheme and Accouterments
Early in your planning, pick up a couple
of home decorating magazines, or go on-line to view the latest
colors and looks in tableware and linens.  Then
select linens in those colors, or use a white or off-white
tablecloth that will show off the season’s colors in
your selection of quality napkins in cloth or paper, candles,
ribbons, and flowers. Always remember: your guests don’t
need to how where you bought your linens and dishes, or what
you paid for them. If you have a good eye and some artistic
flair, you can put together a gorgeous table to rival anything
you see in a magazine for a fraction of the cost.
When I need a tablecloth, I search
out bargains; a sale at the mall or maybe something vintage
at an antique or second-hand store. When using a dining table
with all its leaves, it’s hard to find the right cloth
to cover the entire length of the table, so I first lay down
a large solid white bed sheet. Then I layer on two or three
cloths in pastel pinks. Any color will work as long as all
the tablecloths are in the same shade. On top of these, I
spread out three or four old lace cloths, holes and all. I
strategically place antique doilies, trimmed in my color scheme,
over holes and faded coffee stains. If you spend time arranging
everything, the look is great! At a fabric store, I found
a long piece of off-white sheer fabric printed with pale pink
and lavender flowers. I sewed a seam all the way down the
middle of it and used it as a runner on the largest table
at the party. I tied the unfinished ends with satin ribbons
and let them fall off the ends of the table. The look was
soft, delicate and feminine and helped cover up imperfections
in the lace cloths. When a tablecloth is too long for a table,
use wide wire-edged ribbon to tie up each corner of the cloth.
This will draw up the cloth giving it an elegant look.
Second-hand stores are good places
to find pedestal plates and teapots, as well as candlesticks
and candelabras. Wash metal candle holders; polish them or
repaint them in high-gloss enamel white. Adorn them with tapered
candles in your color scheme (I chose pastel pink and mint
green); add ribbons and they will make gorgeous centerpieces.
Best of all, you can reuse them year-to-year; fresh flower
centerpieces are a costly one-time enjoyment. The only visible
reminders of my friend’s birthday were the antique post
cards with birthday greetings on them propped against pedestal
plates and candle holders. I found them at an antique show;
I selected ones in shades of pink, rose and lavender; they
were incredibly affordable and beautiful, too.
In searching out great buys, I ran
across six three-tiered plate racks for an incredible deal.
I left them their original pale gold color, washed them and
wired silk flower arrangements and bows to the tops of each.
I also bought a dozen large solid white plates for next to
nothing. They looked beautiful on the racks. They didn’t
all match, but their solid whiteness didn’t clash with
my color scheme.
I laid a white paper lace doily on
each plate and stacked on the food: finger sandwiches on the
bottom plate, savories on the middle plate and sweets on the
top plate. I made sure there were one rack of food and a
pedestal plate of scones for every five guests. Invited friends
and relatives loaned their antique cups and saucers for the
event and set them beside salad-size plates and stemmed water
glasses.
I ended up needing 56 stemmed glasses
for 28 guests. Purchasing them second-hand meant they cost
pennies on the dollar over buying them new. They were in perfect
condition and, of course, they are reusable. Ribbons and charms
looked pretty tied to each stem, and edible flowers or circles
of lime floating in the water made an elegant statement (no
ice, please).
|
The Food
A small white doily was laid in the
center of each salad plate, and a martini glass filled with
fresh fruit was set on the doily. I served strawberries, blueberries
and fresh pineapple. Garnish with mint leaves and/or real
whipped cream (skip the canned kind).
Because I needed every available table
in the house and on the patio for my party, I set up the ironing
board in the kitchen and draped it with a large plastic tablecloth.
It worked very well as a table.
When guests offered to help in the
kitchen, I let them. They spread up sandwiches, arranged food
on serving plates and compotes and poured up water glasses.
Other guests mingled in the living room and got to know one
another. My Shih-Tzu provided the entertainment.
Sandwiches
I try to keep foods simple:  small
sandwiches spread with canned meats mixed with mayo and pickle
relish; tomato slices with mayo; thinly-sliced cucumbers with
cream cheese; and thinly sliced deli roast beef with just
a little horseradish and mayo spread. Figure on making one
whole sandwich per guest then cut the sandwiches in quarters.
Savories
Savories are appetizers: pop-open crescent
rolls filled with deli corned beef and sauerkraut (grind these
up finely in the food processor) and a little spicy mustard
(open the crescent rolls, fill, seal into triangles, bake
 in
oven at 350 degrees until crescent rolls are lightly browned);
heat-and-serve mini quiches; and ready-made mini fillo shells
filled with a teaspoonful of your homemade chicken salad with
dried cranberries and slivered almonds. Plan on providing
two of each savory for each guest.
Desserts
 Desserts
can be anything you like: small homemade cookies and brownies,
special-order petit fours, bite-size éclairs and canolies
(ready-made in the freezer aisle), small scones and lemon
tarts. Figure on one of each dessert for each guest.
Tea
To keep the tea flowing, I used a large
kettle with a lid to boil water. I left it bubbling slowly
on the stove, so when guests ran out of tea, someone from
her table or at her end of the table went into the kitchen
and simply ladled more water into her teapot. It’s okay
to use tea bags instead of loose tea.
It’s much easier to use tea bags when you’re entertaining
large groups Just be sure to add a couple of fresh tea bags
to a teapot each time the pot is refilled with hot water.
Also, have a small plate or two on the tables for guests to
set the used bags. These can be hustled off to the kitchen
and into the trash when more hot water is called for.
Tea Cozies are a Must
Of course, a tea cozy on every pot
is a must. Cozies are as practical as they are attractive.
Cozies keep the tea warm and your guests cool.  A
hot pot radiating among a group of warm bodies can help raise
the temperature at the table, and anyone brushing a hand against
the pot can get a mild burn. When hot water accidentally splashes
while being ladled into a teapot, the cloth cozy will quickly
absorb the water and keep it from running onto your or your
guests’ hands.
Help the Conversation
While guests eat, ask each of them
to share their most amazing life moment with the four or five
people around them. Amazing moments cover everything from
romantic to embarrassing to frightening. Later, ask guests
to decide among themselves which of their groups’ stories
was the best, and ask the storytellers to stand up and share
with everyone. There were a couple of jaw-dropping stories
at my party, and everyone really enjoyed this. I had a small
selection of little gifts that storytellers got to select
from after their story: desk calendars, rubber stamps, and
fancy note pads. Before we all shared in the birthday cake,
I asked several older women to share memories of what they
were doing when they were the birthday girl’s age and
of what she gets to look forward to. That was a lot of fun!
Make Memories
Giving a successful, memorable tea
party takes planning, but every effort is well worth it! Remember,
a great tea party is about your friends, not the food; about
the people, not the props or being proper. Relax and enjoy
yourself and your guests will too! Take plenty of pictures
at your party. Later, frame three or four in a single frame
and hang it on your dining room wall. Frame and hang some
thank-you notes, too. Year-after-year add to the collection.
Friends will love looking back on these very special times
in your home.
|
