My niece Lauren gave me the perfect opportunity to host a tea party when she became engaged to be married last year. I’ve hosted a tea party once before for my daughter’s 10th birthday. As elegant as that one was (with little girl guests arriving with their own handmade posies and their American Girls dolls), the one for Lauren was so much more!
On the tables, I used the china from three generations: my husband’s grandmother, my husband’s mother, and me. We ended up needing three tables, so I also used an old tablecloth handed down to me from my husband’s other grandmother, whom I knew well and loved so much. I used monogramed napkins, designed and created by my mother’s sister.
I was running low on the vintage china for the second table in the library, so I alternated place settings with the Imperial Blue china by Mikasa from my wedding.
Lauren has been our family’s librarian since she was very young and a lover of all things Jane Austen, so I purchased Pride and Prejudice heart punches from etsy to sprinkle down the center of the table. A golden wrapped Roche Ferrero chocolate sat beside each place setting and a glittering tiara crowned the guest of honor’s place. The roses and rosemary came from my yard.
It was October, the most beautiful time of the year, so the menu was easy to set using all the flavors of autumn.
First Course:
Three Cheese Ball Bites (delish.com)
Chicken Salad on Croissant (my recipe)
Turkey Pinwheels with Spinach and Basil Aioli
Cucumber & Dill on Baguette
Deviled Eggs
Second Course:
Mrs. Field’s Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins
Scones (real ones made by a friend), Clotted Cream, Red Wine Jam & Chapple Butter (Apple Butter from Chapel of the Cross, another true Southern delight)
Fresh strawberries
Third Course:
Pumpkin Pie Shooters (sugarspunrun.com)
Assorted French Macaroons (Sam’s Club)
Pear Custard Bars (Taste of Home)
Hot tea, Iced tea, Coffee, and Lemon water were served as well.
While I enjoyed every minute of planning, cleaning, setting up, and preparing so many little delightful things to eat, I had to laugh out loud when a guest declared we should repeat the tea party every month!
