Hosting a Tea Party

After talking it up for ages, I am finally hosting a tea party.

In preparation I have been trying to work out the best type of cupcakes to make, and researching ideas for food, beverages and decorations. Here are a few ideas for the perfect tea party.

Refreshments
There are two main points to consider when planning food for a tea party. First, everything should be easy to eat, which is why anything bite sized is perfect. Second, everything should look wonderful!

Savoury
Club sandwiches or cheese and crackers are traditionally part of afternoon tea, but feel free to break from this convention and serve anything else that might take your fancy.

Sweet
It goes without saying that cupcakes need to be served at a tea party. Other ideas include:

Cookies - cut into interesting shapes with fancy icing
Cake - any flavour as long as it looks good
Scones - served with cream and preserves
Confectionary - chocolate, turkish delight, jelly babies etc

Fruit
Any fruit needs to be dainty and simple to eat. Grapes, strawberries and other berries are the first choice, or other fruit sliced into small pieces.

Beverages
Despite the fact that it's called a "tea" party, don't forget to have a good selection of drinks on offer.

Hot Drinks
Here are some instructions for making a good old-fashioned cup of tea. You may also like to include coffee for caffeine-addicted guests or hot chocolate if the weather is cold (but don't follow this recipe).

Cold Drinks
Iced tea, fruit juice, punch, cocktails, sparkling wine - don't forget to offer a good selection of cold drinks as well.

Decorations
It is a requirement for a tea party to be aesthetically pleasing, so keep this in mind when decorating both the room, table and food.

Room
Creating the right atmosphere is very important. You might like to consider using:

Fairy lights
Scented candles
Balloons
Fresh flowers

Having a common colour or theme can help to tie decorations, table setting and food together, but don't let that restrict you.

Table Setting
It's quite likely that you won't have a pristine tea set nestled away in a cupboard somewhere, but that doesn't matter as long as you can beg, borrow or buy the following items: