Vintage trendy tea party ideas make perfect birthday parties, bridal showers, baby showers, Mother’s Day events, and even a theme for a girls’ weekend. That’s right vintage and trendy tea parties, which means everything old is new again. From vintage tea cups to delicious food, fun games, and wonderful decorations, you can host a wonderful tea party for friends, family, or children.
It’s All About the Tea Cups
Your tea cups set the tone for your party. All other tea party ideas can be built around the style and colors of your tea cups, which even can serve as wonderful party favors. This is perfect if it is going to be an annual event like a Mother’s Day Tea Party or an Annual High Tea for your girlfriends. Everyone can bring their tea cup back to the event each year.
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Yes, you can order tea cups on Amazon. You can even order sets of beautiful bone China tea cups at affordable prices. Or, you can hunt for mismatched vintage tea cups at thrift stores, antique stores, and garage sales. Many thrift and antique stores display tea cups together because vintage tea parties have become so trendy. Most likely you will be able to find tea cups and saucers that match, but probably not a matching set of 20 for all of your guests.
Embrace diversity. It’s so much fun to have mismatched tea parties. If you are hosting a Mother-Daughter Tea Party have the daughter pick out the cups for themselves and her Mom from the teacups you provide as the host. Then the teacup becomes a special gift from their daughters. If it is a baby shower, you may want to hunt for teacups in shades of pink, blue or yellow to keep a color scheme.
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Once you start hunting for tea cups, you will quickly realize whether you are drawn to bone china or porcelain tea cups. You may even find yourself only buying a certain brand or pattern like Royal Doulton, Limoges, Wedgwood, or Haviland. Depending on how far in advance you are planning your tea party ideas, you can enjoy the thrill of the tea cup hunt. (This might become a weekly or monthly outing with your best friends, husband, or daughter. Antiquing can be quite fun.)
Don’t Forget the Teapots
Not only can you serve tea at your tea party in beautiful teapots, but the teapots serve as essential decorations. You can use vintage mismatched teapots as centerpieces with flower arrangements. You can even use the teapots as raffle prizes, too.
Your teapot ideas for tea parties should include the microwave-safe Teabloom Glass TeaPots, which are perfect for blooming tea flowers. The blooming tea by Teabloom is a beautiful bouquet of flowers in the glass teapot that doubles as tea. If this is your first tea party, Teabloom is a must to wow your guests. Teabloom blooming flavors include Blueberry and Acai; Pomegranate and Pineapple; Jasmine and more.
Tea Party Ideas for Lunch
Food ideas for tea parties depend on your budget and your time. If you want to keep it simple, serve tea and desserts from your favorite local bakery. The baker in your town will be happy to make beautiful cookies and pastries fit for royalty. But if you just love to cook, and part of the fun in even throwing a tea party is cooking, then let your food ideas for tea parties run wild from finger sandwiches to pastries and everything in between.
The recipe for Radish and Herb Butter Tea Sandwiches by Janette from Culinary Ginger bursts with flavorful herbs like chives and dill. The combination of parsley and radishes make the tiny finger sandwiches perfect for a tea party.
Cucumber Sandwiches are the quintessential finger sandwich for tea party ideas. The recipe by Bellyfull gives tips for quickly making sandwiches for many guests, as well as providing the steps for creating unique shapes for the finger sandwiches. It’s just so fun to eat crust-less tiny sandwiches cut into circles or triangles! The Cucumber Sandwiches taste light and airy – perfect for an elegant tea party.
Along with finger sandwiches, the other must-have on your tea party menu should be mini desserts. Just like crust-less tiny sandwiches, there is something so delicious about miniature desserts. The Mini Fruit Tarts recipe from Where’s My Spoon is a beautiful mini-dessert that is great for tea parties. You take fresh fruit and delicately balance it on sweet homemade icing and a light homemade tart. Your friends and family will be very impressed with your culinary skills.
Now every good dessert table, tea party or not, needs something chocolate. A chocolate fountain is always a crowd-pleaser. A beautiful tray of fresh fruit, marshmallows, and shortbread cookies go great dipped in chocolate. (However, although chocolate fountains are beautiful and delicious, they can be messy, especially with children. But sometimes the fun is in the mess.)
Just as delicious and definitely not as messy are the White Chocolate Covered Oreos recipe by Lisa, the Fun Money Mom. This make-ahead chocolate dessert is exactly what it says. You dip your favorite Oreos in white chocolate and drizzle dark chocolate on top. Why have we not been making White Chocolate Covered Oreos every holiday season? Where has this recipe been all of our lives? This is now our new favorite go-to recipe for desserts to bring to a party. It is perfect for a tea party for all ages.
Ideas for Tea Party Activities
From afternoon tea party ideas for children to tea party theme ideas for adults, there is just something magical about encouraging friends, family, and children to dress up for a tea party. The words, “tea party,” evoke a sense of magic and wonder since high tea is not a part of most of our daily lives. It doesn’t matter if it is a bridal shower, baby shower, or a 5-year-old princess birthday party, if it is a tea party theme guests know it should be a magical experience. It’s a time to slow down, be present and enjoy each other’s company, as well as excellent snacks.
Of course, if it is a bridal shower or baby shower tea party, then you will want to play traditional bridal and baby shower games. But no matter what kind of tea party, you might want to throw in a “Selfie Station” and a “Cake Walk.”
Selfie Station
Always encourage your guests to dress up for your tea party on the invitation, but know that not all will embrace the opportunity to wear a big hat, giant bow, or bright, chunky jewelry. However, you can have a Selfie Station so everyone can embrace the moment, be silly and snap a few fun photos. Hang a pretty blanket or drape a piece of lace for the backdrop. Then have a box or two with oversized hats, elegant hats, long necklaces, gloves, and more.
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Of course, you will want a few tea cups for the Selfie Station, too. If it is a child’s tea party, you might want to have adult-size high-heel shoes and adult-size party dresses for the kiddos to play dress up. In addition, you can find loads of paper cutouts on Amazon when you search for Tea Party Photo Booth props.
Cake Walk
A Cake Walk can be loads of fun, but you might want to just do cupcakes if you are hosting the entire party. Or you can have everyone bring a cake to donate. It’s kind of like musical chairs but walking on numbered squares. The music stops and a number is called out. The person who is standing on that number gets to pick a cake (or cupcake) to take home. It used to be a popular game at school carnivals. Carnival Savers explains all the rules and needed supplies for a Cake Walk.
We recently did a Crystal Walk at our tea party. We found beautiful crystal at a thrift store for next to nothing so the crystal serving pieces, trays, and bowls were the prizes for our Crystal Walk at our Mother-Daughter Tea Party. Be creative with your tea party ideas. Have fun. It’s a way for everyone to receive a prize, enjoy a bit of music and get up and move about rather than sit the entire time at the tea party.
Tea party ideas let you be creative with decorations, food, and activities so you can create an ideal event for friends, family, or children. Vintage tea parties with mismatched teacups and saucers make one-of-a-kind events that your guests will love. Once you add your loved ones and friends into the mix of perfect tea party ideas you can’t help but enjoy every moment.
Sources: Bellyfull, Carnival Savers, Culinary Ginger, Fun Money Mom, Teabloom, and Where’s My Spoon.
Photo Credits: Pexels, Unsplash, and Pixabay
WANT TO READ MORE?
Check out Daily Mom’s article “10 Easy Make-Ahead Summer Desserts for Parties” for more advice, tips, and tricks.
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