The holidays have come and gone. After all the frenzy of shopping, cooking, entertaining, wrapping, giving, hugging, and enjoying, I gave a sigh of relief and totally relaxed the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. That week was filled with sun, spa, hiking, reading, and total relaxation. While the holidays are all about family and friends, I also enjoy the slower pace of January.
January is the perfect time to enjoy a tea party with friends. I have always loved tea parties, and I have a wonderful collection of tea cups and saucers. Some were engagement gifts (did you know it is an Italian tradition to give a gift of a tea cup for an engagement gift? Supposedly it is good luck.) And some were passed down to me from both of my grandmothers. For many years I would fit in a Holiday Tea with my girls and my mom during the Christmas season. Then one year I decided that January is the best month for a tea!
Really, it is the dead of winter and the holiday hustle and bustle is over. Tea is a relaxing time to get together and enjoy good company.
Since this was a ladies’ tea, I served champagne to start. This is a great way to greet guests at the door and enjoy a little something while everyone arrives. While my friends enjoyed their champagne, I had the time to get the tea ready.
The food was ready to go before everyone arrived. The wonderful thing about tea sandwiches is that the fillings can be made a day ahead. This makes putting the sandwiches together super easy!
I served four different tea sandwiches:
- Cucumber, Salmon and Watercress
- Egg Salad
- Ham and Gouda
- Waldorf Salad
And I also served a variety of scones and pastries:
- Berry Scones
- Fruit and Custard Tarts
- Peppermint and Red Velvet Macarons
- Mini Carrot Cupcakes
- Chocolate Dipped Madeleines
To ready teas, boil distilled water in a tea kettle. Place tea bags into tea pots and add boiling water. Allow to steep for 3 − 4 minutes. I served a choice of three teas and had additional varieties of tea bags available. Our group of six went through five pots of tea! Everyone enjoyed all three varieties.
I made little fancy butter pats. That was so easy and fast! I simply put softened butter into a disposable pipping bag and just pipped away piling the butter up. I served both jam and honey in tea cups; filled the sugar and creamer; and sliced fresh lemons from my lemon tree. I also love to give my guest a little favor. I think everyone likes party favors no matter what their age. Since this was a friendship tea party, each guest received a little bag filled with two tea bags and two cookies. This way they can share a cup of tea with another friend.
Passing around plates of sandwiches, pouring tea, and enjoying great conversation is what a tea party is all about!
Like Evite, I believe that “Life’s Better Together.” It really is easy to gather your friends and share some good times together. It is especially easy to get the word out, whether your event is big or small, with Evite. I love that they have so many invitations to choose from. No matter the occasion, I can always find an Evite that fits the bill.
Thank you to my friends for bringing sunshine to my life no matter the season!
How do you celebrate friendship?
This post is in collaboration with Evite.com and their Evite Influencer Program. #LifesBetterTogether #Evite
Love this post, the ideas, the pics, the menu, it’s awesome! I don’t want to be that girl, but those gorgeous red velvet and peppermint cookies are macaron, not macaroon. Maybe it was a typo, maybe you didn’t know there are both macaron and macaroon cookies, or maybe I’m being a snob? tomayto/tomahto, lol? Macaroons are made from shredded coconut and are common in Jewish homes, macaron are the divine almond meringue puffs of heaven you had for tea. Please delete this if I’m making an ass of myself, lol. You’re awesome, Stacey!
You are so right! And thank you for pointing out my typo. My Grandma used to make the most scrumptious moist macaroons ever! I miss her most but miss her yummy baking as well. As for macrons, the best that I have ever had was from a bakery in Santa Barbara. Some colorful pics of those macrons can be found in my post Taste Santa Barbara Food Tours. mouthwatering! Well, now I have cookies on the brain 🙂 Enjoy your gathering! Fixing the typo now.
This is a fabulous idea. Thanks for sharing. As I’m typing I have a pencil and paper and am putting together my invitation list and picking a date. I’m going to do one!!
Oh, that sounds wonderful! The weather here is so wet and blustery – a tea with friends would be perfect right now. Enjoy!
I love this post – what a nice idea. I love getting together with my female friends with no holiday pressures, etc., but only to enjoy each other’s company. Thank you for adding thenphotos. It makes it much easier to imagine how the tea party went, and to see what the decor and food looked like.
Hi Carolyn! My friends and I had a wonderful time together with this tea party. Like you said – it was time together to enjoy each other’s company. I totally recommend it! I hope you are able to have a low pressure gathering with your girlfriends soon 🙂
I adore this idea! I have a huge box of tea cups that I haven’t opened in years- totally doing this!
I hope you have a wonderful time! We sure did!
Cute ideas! I love the idea of a winter tea party!
Thank you!
Ah, this is so fun!!! I am definitely going to be putting “tea party” on my bucket list for the year!
I hope you do!
Oh cool…I had no idea it was an Italian tradition to give a tea cup for an engagement gift. The tea cups and saucer set shown above is very pretty. The cookie spread is tantalizing…I love desserts with tea!
It was a surprise to me as well! The cookies were divine!
I kind of have to have a tea party in the next month or so. Thanks for the ideas!
I hope you do!
What a beautiful table setup. These are wonderful ideas. Thanks for sharing.
It was so much fun to host. I love getting out my tea cups – many of them handed down from my grandmothers.
What an awesome get together with friends. I love how you attended to every detail!
We had such a great time!
What a fun idea! Stacey I love the vibe of your blog. Is that weird haha!
No, that’s a great thing!
What a darling tea party! This would be such a fun get together to pull together for friends!
Yes! It was easy and such an fun way to get together.
What a stunning party setup! I would love to be invited to a winter tea party!! Gosh, I think I don’t want to wait until I get invited–I think I just want to go ahead and host one myself! Thanks for the inspiration!!
Yes! Host one yourself! It really is easy and Evite has so many cute invitations. Enjoy!
It looks like such a fun and elegant party.I especially love the champagne with the strawberry garnish. Such a nice touch!
Thank you! The champagne was a fun way to start.
What a fun idea! I am planning on having a tea party for my friends and their daughters pretty soon! All of those pastries look so yummy!
Oh, how fun! I’ve enjoyed many tea parties with my daughters. I bought the pastries to save on time and boy they were yummy!
What a fun idea. Looks lovely. I’ve never hosted a tea party before, sounds like a lovely idea.
A tea party is a great way to get together and enjoy conversation!
Ok, this tea party is seriously so cute!! I love the vintage tea set decor that you had…and the food looks divine! Thanks for sharing!
xoxo
Lauren
http://www.dressingdallas.com
@dressingdallas
We had a wonderful time!
I love the idea of having a winter tea party I have only had ones in the summer. I would need to bring some blankets and hot choc as it is very cold outside!
It’s the perfect way to warm up! Hot chocolate sounds good, too!
I love a tea party, your menu sounds absolutely delicious and your photos are amazing. I hope my invite is in the post 😉 x
If you only lived close enough!
Tea parties are always so fun to host. I love making all kinds of goodies for the party. It looks like you guys had an awesome time!
Yes! The perfect reason to enjoy yummy sandwiches and pastries!
What a great way to celebrate friendship, this looks like so much fun!
We had a wonderful time together!
This is something I’ve had on my list of things to do for quite a while. Everything looks great!
Thanks! I hope you have one soon!
This is absolutely so lovely and gorgeous! I would have loved attending your tea party. I would love to arrange to do this with my friends and family, as well!
Thank you! I hope you have a tea party with your family and friends – it was so relaxing and fun!
Oh this is adorable! That champagne looks so delicious too. I wish I lived in a space to host a party like this!
Thanks! Don’t let space stop you! I started entertaining in very small apartment spaces in college.
How elegant your table is! This is so awesome, the stuff memories are made of – creating an event where everyone is enjoying themselves, the table is beautiful and a chance to catch up after the madness of the holiday season. I’m like you, I love the January down time, it’s restorative. Love your gathering!
Thanks, Monica! Like you I love a great gathering with friends and food!