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Planning the Perfect Tea Party

Whether you're hosting a baby shower, kitchen tea, a child's birthday party or a Sweet Sixteen, a tea party is a pretty theme and suits just about any age group. Here are our top tips for a tea party:

• Host your tea party in the mid-afternoon when your guests have finished their chores for the day and have many hours to linger over a pot of exquisite tea and your decadent home-baked favourites.
• If possible, host your tea party outdoors in the prettiest garden setting possible. Make sure you have dappled shade, plenty of cushions on your furniture and blossoms blooming against plenty of green grass. Even if you can't hold your tea party outdoors, a beautiful indoor space with plenty of natural light is the perfect complement to taking tea.
• Serve light savoury sandwiches along with beautiful homemade biscuits, scones and petit fours. Minted cucumber sandwiches on delicate slices of white bread (crust off of course), madeleines, clotted cream with scones and homemade jam (if you can spare the time) and an assortment of mini cakes from your local bakery are just the ticket. Bake up and buy up big, but don't serve everything at once. This is a delicate celebration and you should serve your beautiful things in small quantities, prettily presented and replenish often.
• Serve your tea the old-fashioned way. Buy qualities leaves, brew your tea according to directions and serve your tea as if you are dining with the Queen of England. Learn the perfect etiquette for taking tea.
• Decorate with the prettiest crockery you can find. Nothing plastic. Nothing chunky. Nothing contemporary. Taking tea is all about vintage crockery (mismatched is fine), antique silver teaspoons, linen napery and pastel cake stands. Raid Great Aunt Ethel's cupboards if you must!
• Have a small guest list. Tea parties are intimate. Not for 50 of your closest friends. No more than 10 people works best, in our experience.
• Give pretty favors to your guests. Pink Frosting has some gorgeous little afternoon tea guest gifts to complete the party.

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