Hosting a Tea Party

A tea party is certainly a wonderful way to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, baby showers, anniversaries, or bridal showers, with your family and friends. Brew some tea, make some snacks, and get the party started with music, food, laughter and fun. It is essential to prepare beforehand.

The food items should be set out before your guests arrive, so that you can mingle with your friends at the party.

If you are eager to organize a formal affair, then you ought to follow some etiquette to let the invitees feel special on the occasion. Hosting such parties on birthdays, baby showers, anniversaries, and bridal showers, is a very good idea.

Hosting such a party need not be an expensive affair.It can be quite gracious, enjoyable, and fun if it's organized in the right way.

• First of all, make a list of people you wish to invite. Remember, it's a tea party, so select a small group of people.

• If you want to invite them formally, make some homemade invitation pamphlets. Decorating them with embellishments, flowers, ribbons, and colorful calligraphy will definitely make the invitation cards look good.

• Mention the date, time, place (RSVP address and phone number), purpose, and the theme of tea party.
• Mail or post the invitation to the guests at least four weeks in advance, so that they can make the necessary preparations to attend the event.

• Make all the preparations from your side, at least a day before the arrival of the guests.
• Select an area in the house, where you want to organize the party. When hosting it for kids, the garden is the best place. If it's a formal affair,you can always host it inside your house.

• Select a color scheme; preferably go for bright colors to express your pleasure and happiness.
• Set up tables for buffet, dining, and relaxing. Arrange adequate chairs for your guests.

• Cover the tables with tablecloths with colorful patterns to give it a luxurious look. Keep the cutlery, tissues, dishes, and glasses on the table beforehand.
• Place flower vases on the tables.
• Arrange games and music for the entertainment of your guests.
• Perform everything in an organized way to be appreciated by your guests.

Apart from music and chats, engage in some additional activities, especially when you are hosting it for adults wherein they come along with their kids. Here are some games and activities that one can organize at such a party.

For Kids
Kids are always fond of energetic games. They enjoy themselves in their own childish gestures. You can organize teapot relay race, chocolate race, and passing the parcel. Kids are also interested in craft work.

So arrange an art or painting competition for them. Quizzes can also be entertaining for them. A fancy dress competition is also a good game for kids. You should also arrange for small prizes, as a token of appreciation for the kids.

For Adults
It's not just the kids, even adults like some form of entertainment at such parties. It can be either intellectual or purely disporting. Musical chair, truth and dare, gaze and relic, and charades are enjoyable games for adults.

For people who love games that are mentally stimulating--chess, puzzles, scrabbles and sudoku are the right choices. You can also play some good movie at your home theater, after the party is over.

A party without good food is just as distasteful as a cake without sugar. So, along with cups of tea, you need to arrange a variety of party food, like cookies, snacks, fries, and starters.

A bite of sugar and spice always enhances the flavor of the party. Sandwiches, pizzas, finger fries, and French fries serve as good side dishes for tea. Cream cheese salad, pudding, and salads are good delicacies for tea parties. Children would surely relish chicken pies, apple pies, cakes, and chocolates.

You can also arrange for muffins, scones, cookies, and fruit tarts for your guests. Do serve different varieties of tea to your guests. Black, Oolong, green and white will be the ideal cuppa for your guests. You can also brew some spicy herbal tea or flavored tea. You can serve lemon wedges, cream, honey, milk, and lumps of sugar for kids.

A tea party is not only a good way of socializing, but it also establishes a good camaraderie between your friends and family. In case of children, it's a welcome change from their monotonous school schedule.