Proper Tea Party Planning

"Do Come in for a Cup of Tea!"

Fisher Price Magical Tea Party for Two

A tea party?  How delightful!  Will it be in the parlor or the garden; will there even be dancing? 

American Girl Kirsten

Be sure to wear your tea gown - soft, feminine and flowing - with plenty of expansion room to allow for an extra slice of cake.

Who will you invite?  As soon as a hostess decides to give a tea, she selects two friends to pour the tea and chocolate who are, in her opinion, decorative in appearance and also who, very importantly, can be counted on for gracious manners to everyone and under all circumstances.

A Victorian tea ceremony requires the proper tea-drinking accoutrements: cups, saucers, pots, jugs, spoons, tongs, strainers, and napkins – in the season’s styles and colors.

Disney Princess Tea Cart

An Afternoon Tea, served in the "low" part of the afternoon, must offer a tasty assortment of gourmet tidbits, such as cakes, scones with jam, wafer-thin crustless watercress and cucumber sandwiches, and shrimp or fish pates.

It does not matter if a guest going into the dining-room for a cup of tea or chocolate does not know the deputy hostesses who are “pouring.” It is perfectly correct for a stranger to say “May I have a cup of tea?”

And the one pouring should answer very responsively, “Certainly! How do you like it? Strong or weak?”

Emily Post Etiquette 1922