My Tips and Tricks for Throwing the Perfect Tea Party

I recently threw a tea party for my daughter, when I do parties let's just say I go all out. But just like any other parent out there I stay on a budget and try to do the most I can while staying in under budget. This tea party was a success, it was a hit with my daughter and all of her friends and I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself too. So in this blog post I am going to break it all down for you with what I did for decorations and of course all the food and recipes. 

How I did the decorations. Decorating was so much fun and surprisingly easy and inexpensive. So many pieces I was able to pull from my own kitchen and also local thrift stores. Let's start out with my favorite piece, my center piece the tea cup tower. 

To start, I went to our local thrift store on the hunt for non matching tea cups, saucers, and plates. For the tower I needed different sized plates (small, medium, and large) and of course tea cups. The best part I was able to pick these pieces up for 50 cents a piece! To make the tower layer the plates starting with the large plate on the bottom, stick the tea cups in between. Play around with it until you get it just perfect. Once you are ready hot glue the pieces together. Let me tell you that hot glue works wonders! Tea pot and tea cup flower holders.

Use a tea pot and tea cups as flower holders. They add a cute twist to fresh flowers for decorating the table.

Don't forget the plates!

Use a cute place setting, I even did names and stuck then in each fork. 

Now time for the food!

My menu for the party

- cucumber tea sandwiches and blueberry tea sandwiches 

- mini vanilla cupcakes with a buttercream frosting

- chocolate dipped graham crackers 

- tea cookies

- fruit and cheese kabobs

- tomato and cheese kabobs

- cucumber and ham kabobs

- mint candies 

Let's start with these delicious cucumber  tea sandwiches and blueberry tea sandwiches.

Cut the bread in fun shapes. For the cucumber tea sandwiches I spread mayonnaise, sprinkled with dried dill, and layered thin slices of cucumber.

For the blueberry tea sandwiches I simply used blueberry jam.

Mini vanilla cupcakes with a buttercream frosting.

2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt 

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tbs vanilla extract 

2 eggs

1 cup water

In a medium bowl add all the dry ingredients.

To a mixing bowl add all the wet ingredients minus the water.

Add the dry to the wet mixing on low speed. Then slowly add the water.

Line a mini cupcake tin with liners fill about a third full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

For the frosting

1 bag of powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 cup white Crisco

3 to 5 tsp of milk

Beat together all the ingredients, add more or less milk according to the thickness of the frosting. Color the frosting and frost the cupcakes. Top with some rainbow sprinkles. 

Chocolate dipped graham crackers 

Melt a bag of White chocolate chips, dip the graham crackers about half way in the melted chocolate. Lay on a piece of wax paper and top with rainbow sprinkles.

To serve them I put each one in a pink cupcake liner and set on a serving platter.

Fruit and cheese kabobs/tomatoes and cheese kabobs.

So easy and fancy looking, cut up blocks of Swiss cheese and I used blackberries, stick them on a toothpick and it's good to go. Same thing with the tomato kabob, use cherry tomatoes and blocks of Swiss cheese.

Cucumber and ham kabobs 

Here is another easy kabob, take a slice of cucumber and a piece of ham and skewer it on the toothpick.

Tea cup and tea pot cookies 

These were so much fun, I picked up these cookies from one of my local bakeries. They do a beautiful job making iced sugar cookies and these were perfect. I set them on my cake stand to add a little height on our table.

Lastly these cute little chocolate mints added some fun to our table.

What did I serve to drink you say? Well since I had a party full of little girls, many arnt fond of tea. So I used mason jars and fun straws and served lemonade and pink lemonade. 

I hope this inspires you to create something magical. I had a blast putting this together and can't wait to plan another.