Tea parties at home are the best. I remember having them when I was a little kid; my mom would occasionally want to make something sweet (or just create a special occasion for us), and then she’d spruce up an ordinary day by surprising us with something like this. Being homeschooled has a lot of perks, but tea parties in the middle of the day, as a mid-morning or afternoon break, is a really great one. 

As you can see by my outdated watermark, which I’m not going to change because the name is still current, these pictures were taken a while ago- but I love them, and they are associated with a sweet memory, so I wanted to share them. I have occasionally decided to host tea parties at home for a few ladies outside of our home as well as inside of it – And well, this one included my future mother-in-law (who is now my actual mother-in-law), so I feel like it was especially special. It also included a dear lady whom I’ve known for a while through the wedding industry (back in the day when I made wedding cakes), and she loves tea – and she is lovely. I’m so glad I have pictures of the table that day!

For this party I made:
 – Scones with Cranberry Apple Butter and Devonshire Cream. 
 – Gluten-free Madeleines (I’m still working on that recipe!)
 – A gluten free lemon cake with lemon buttercream… which I am also still wanting to perfect, but I’ll tell you what I did in case you’re curious: I just made a simple basic Genoise Sponge Cake with very little flour (they are easy to find), and substituted the flour for cornstarch. The cake turned out delicious, but I think I want to find another way to do it that holds it’s shape better… so I’m still working on the gluten-free version, which I’ll hopefully share here once it’s perfected.
 – Cinnamon Pie Pastry strips (SO GOOD)
 – Rhubarb Apple Pie 
– Tea! 2 kinds is usually nice – I like to make one black tea, and one herbal tea. Served with milk and sugar on the side.

Tea parties are great because the only thing you have to plan is the food and who’s invited. Beyond that, conversation usually just comes – and usually, it starts with the food! So make something yummy, and people will start chatting… and it’s always a lovely time. 

I’m thankful that I was brought up in a family who enjoyed hunting at thrift shops for British bone china, so it wasn’t hard to make the table look pretty, either — just a tablecloth, a candle, plates, forks, china tea cups, and some napkins. The rest is all the food. 

When I was a teenager, we used to have coffee-table tea parties in the living room (me, my mom and my sisters), while we watched Pride and Prejudice or some other Jane Austen film. Those were good times, and I’m thinking I need to host another one of them soon!

The best tea parties, however, are simple and don’t require the most beautiful place settings or even the best looking food. A table that’s set for people to come together and mutually enjoy each other’s company and something to eat and drink is a place of home and hospitality that I love to be a part of, and I love to share. Some of the best tea parties in the world might not even be the kinds worth “showing” on a blog, Instagram, or Pinterest…  Maybe in your life they look like chatting with a friend on the couch, a big mug full of tea for each of you, and a little box of cookies to share. 

Have you ever hosted a tea party? In your words, what describes the best tea parties you’ve had? And if you’ve never had one… well, I recommend you try it out. There’s something sweet about the simplicity of tea and conversation shared with another.

Thanks for stopping in! Back soon.

–Naomi