How To Plan A Top-Notch Afternoon Tea Party

An afternoon tea party is an opportunity to raise our pinkies high and drink delicious tea with great company. You can make it as casual or fancy as you want it to be.

It can be a fun excuse to have a much-needed girls day, but it’s also a great way to celebrate a special occasion. Either way, you’ll want to impress you friends and family by hosting the best afternoon tea party possible.

Having planned quite a few afternoon tea parties, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. To plan the perfect afternoon tea party, it’s all about the details. You want to create an inviting atmosphere, choose unbeatable teas, but it’s really about the unique personal touches you can add!

I’ll go over the basics to planning an afternoon tea party to what you can do to really take it to the next level!

Psst! This blog post contains affiliate links in it which sends me a bit of extra money if you use them… at no extra cost to you!

Starting With The Basics: Kitchenware You Need

Some of these kitchenware items might seem like no-brainers for a high tea party, nut sometimes the most obvious item can be overlooked if you’re worrying about everything else.

I’ll go over some basic kitchenware items you’ll want to have and give some suggestions for what I use.

The Most Important Item: Choosing A Kettle For Your Tea Party

Without a doubt, the number one item you need when hosting a tea party is a kettle. Otherwise how are you going to make the tea (please don’t heat up everyone’s cup in the microwave).

It doesn’t have to be a fancy kettle but you need something that boils water. Depending on how many people are going to be at your hight tea party, you might even want more than one kettle.

I really like our Black + Decker electric kettle for the look but if you’re all about the tea then you’ll want a temperature controlled kettle. I love the Cuisinart CPK-17C Programmable Kettle, it’s built for tea and will keep the water warm for your next refill.  

If you’re looking for a stovetop kettle, I’ve also used Le Creuset Whistling Kettle. Although it runs on the pricier side, you can’t beat the quality and classic design. 

What To Serve On?

An easy way to step up your afternoon tea party game is with good serving platters. These add a beautiful element to your table, and tend to make your food look even better! Now everything you’re serving will also have their own place.

If you really want a traditional afternoon tea, make sure to include a tiered plate (you can get either two or three-tiered plates).

Don’t forget it isn’t just about the serving plates, but your guests also need plates to put the food on. My trick for this is to buy fancy paper plates. You’re already to have a lot of dishes to wash after the party, so this just makes the clean up a lot easier.

What To Serve With

Just as serving dish ware is important, so is serving utensils. All the food should be bite sized pieces so your guests shouldn’t need cutlery to eat, but you do need a way for guests to pick up the food to bring it to their plate.

This can include serving forks and spoons or even tongs. You’ll also want stirring spoons for their tea to mix in milk and sugar.

Step It Up: Extras Items To Think About!

Now that you have your kettle and main serving trays out of the way, there are a few other kitchen items that you may want for your afternoon tea party. 

Although this is a tea party, you also want to have regular cups out if people want water. You can also have a pitcher with a fancy water to serve (I like to make a nice lemon and orange water). I used plastic cups for this, it makes it a lot easier to clean up.

If you’re putting out milk and sugar it’s a cute idea to get specific milk and sugar bowls. 

How To Choose Teacups & Teapots For Your High Tea Party

Is it even afternoon or high tea if you don’t serve your tea out of a tea pot and drinking from an afternoon tea set?

Having teapot and delicate tea cups are what set an afternoon tea party a part from drinking tea any other day.

Here are my recommendations for choosing the ultimate set.

Finding The Perfect Teacups

I shouldn’t even need to say this, but, make sure you have a teacup for every guest! The highest of high teas would only serve in matching fine bone china teacup and teapot sets. But that’s very expensive and unnecessary to have all your teacups match.

My favourite place to buy teacups is actually at antique shops and flea markets. This way, you end up with a beautiful collection of mismatched teacups. I also noticed my guests always love choosing which teacup they want to use. Plus as an added bonus, you’ll always know which teacup is yours!

You can also find some exquisite mismatched sets online. I love this beautiful set of 6 teacups, or this set of 4 teacups. A more cost effective option is this incredible paper teacup and saucer set (also makes for a lot easier clean up afterwards!).

Choosing The Best Teapot For Your Party

You may need more than one teapot at your party. The number of teapots you’ll have are directly related to the number of teas you want to serve. I always like serving a minimum of two teas (a caffeinated and non caffeinated option), which means I need two teapots. If you are a larger group, you will most likely want more teapots though, even if some are steeping the same tea.

The size of the teapot will also dictate how many teapots you’ll need. You can find teapots that serve anywhere form one to eight cups of tea. You’ll most likely want a larger rather than a smaller teapot, this means you won’t have to refill it as often. Keep in mind that teacups are a lot smaller than normal cups. So the teapots will end up serving a lot more cups.

One of my bigger teapots is the Bodum Chambord Teapot. It’s larger size is perfect when you’re a lot of people, but has some faults.

If you have different sized teapots, ask your guests which tea they want to try. The most popular tea should be brewed in the largest pot you have.

T2 has a great selection of beautifully crafted and designed teapots.

Choosing Which Teas To Serve At Afternoon Tea?

Now that you have your teapots and teacups, you have to decide what teas you’re going to serve. This is the most important part of planning an afternoon tea party (and my favourite!).

No matter how many people you are, I always like to have minimum two tea options at any tea party. One tea will be a caffeinated tea and the second is an herbal tisane. I always choose them beforehand so my guests don’t have too many options to decide between.

Choosing The Perfect Caffeinated Tea To Serve

There are a lot of caffeinated tea options to choose from. It can be a simple black or green tea or you can even serve a white or oolong teas.  

For me, a classic high tea is Earl Grey. A real favourite at my tea parties is French Earl Grey from T2 Tea. Earl Grey is a black tea blend refreshing bergamot. French Earl Grey blend mixes in sweet fruits, rose, sunflower and hibiscus as well.

I also find green tea is a bit trickier tea to serve because a lot of people can find it to be bitter. If you’re serving a green tea, this is where the temperature controlled kettle will help as you don’t want to use boiling water. I also often chose a blended green to, Jasmine Dragon Pearls for example, for a more floral green tea option.

Choosing An Herbal Tea To Serve

You can choose anything for your herbal option. A safe bet is serving a chamomile or mint tea (or mix both!). 

Tea Extras To Serve

Depending on the type of tea that you’re serving, you may need some tea extras. For example, milk, sugar (or honey), and slices of lemon. These are all popular additions to have with black tea.

Step It Up: Make It About The Tea!

If you’re looking for an activity to do at your tea party, print out tea tasting sheets for everyone. Make your tea party about the tea itself. Encourage a discussion about the different flavour profiles of the tea.

You can even do it for each tea you serve to compare the different and unique flavours!

P.S. If you need a guide for tasting tea, get the bundle with tea tasting notes here.

Menu For Afternoon Tea Party: What Food To Serve?

Now that the teas are out of the way, it’s time to decide on the menu for your afternoon tea party.

The number one rule of high tea is no utensils required! So everything should be small bite-sized pieces. Afternoon tea is typically served in the mid afternoon as a light snack whereas high tea is served in the early evening before dinner (so it tends to be a bit heavier with food). But in either case, neither are meant to be a meal. A simple snack meant to get you from lunch to supper.

There are three main categories of food served at an afternoon tea party. The first course is traditionally savoury sandwiches, followed by scones and clotted cream, and finally sweet pastries.

The courses are displayed by the three tiered plates, each course being presented on a different level.

Afternoon Tea Savoury Course: Sandwiches

Classic high tea sandwiches are eggs with cucumber, cream cheese with radish or smoked salmon. You can follow a recipe or make up your own sandwiches.

Afternoon tea party sandwiches are also typically crustless. Did you know you can actually buy bread that doesn’t have a crust!? It’s called Tramezzino. This makes it super easy to make those tiny sandwiches. But if you can’t find it, you can also buy thin white bread and cut off the crust.

The Most Important Course: Scones

The most important pastry to serve at any afternoon tea party are of course scones. Check out this amazing scone recipe. It’s simple and quick so you can even make them fresh the day of the party.

The recipe is for lemon poppy seed scones but you can also make them plain (just don’t use lemon or poppy seeds!).

Of course a scone course isn’t complete without jam, clotted cream, butter, or even lemon curd (my favourite!).

Afternoon Tea Sweet Treats Course

And now for the final ‘course’: pastries! These will be pretty much any other desserts you want to include at your high tea party.

It can be anything from a light and fluffy cakes to intricate macarons. You can buy desserts at your local pastry shop or try your hand at making your own.

Although this isn’t typical, I also like to serve some fruit on the side. I buy the pre-cut fruit bowl to make it a little bit easier to prepare everything. It can take a long time to cut up all that fruit.

How To Set Up Your Table?

After all the tea and food has been decided, it’s time to think about how to showcase it all on your table. I used my kitchen table to put everything on. To upgrade your table, use a table cloth.

A tablecloth helps you out in several ways. First, it makes your table look more put together. I went with a white tablecloth because I already had so many colours with all my serving platters.

But! You can also hide some boxes underneath the tablecloth which will add some extra height to your table. No one knows that I have a box of cheerios and Uncle Ben’s rice underneath my platters! 

You want to put these on the sides to frame everything else. Or you can put the taller items in the back of your table.

Decorations Around Your House

Keep the decoration simple! This is a classy event after all. 

Placing flowers in mason jars add some life (and colour) to the table. You can also place the arrangement throughout your house to tie everything together! To be cost effective the best flowers to get are hydrangeas. 

You may want to also add some potpourri to freshen up your bathroom. See how to make your own. 

Create The Perfect Afternoon Tea Party Atmosphere

The perfect afternoon tea is all about creating the right atmosphere. This includes everything from the serving platters, the tea you choose, the conversation, and music!

So to play music or not to play music?

Your music choice can make or break the party, so be sure to choose an appropriate soundtrack. It’s important to have at any party to add some background sound and can break any awkward silences.

I had found an afternoon tea party playlist on Spotify but it was awful. Find an artist that has a slower tempo, maybe plays piano to keep it light and in the background. Some of my favourites are The Paper Kites, The National Parks, or even Diana Krall.

Try to base it based on what your guests like or if you have a theme for the party!

Afternoon Tea Party Basics To Buy

More Tea Guides Please!

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• Is It Safe To Put Honey In Tea?
• How To Switch From Tea Bags To Loose Leaf Tea
• The Tea Basics: The Different Types of Tea
• 5 Tea To Drink & Avoid on Your Period

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Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any suggestions! I want to hear them. 

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Last update on 2024-05-02 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API