Host a Ladies Tea Party

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Finally the holidays are behind us. Today, we start back to our regular routines and life has returned to some semblance of normal, whatever that may look like at your house. At our house, it means back to work and childcare and school. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about the return to normal... I kind of like the out of the ordinary for a little while, but it is exhausting. The shopping, the wrapping, the get-togethers and parties galore! They are fun and we love a good celebration, but this year it seemed like my head was spinning and I don't remember actually having too many conversations at these events with friends or family. I remember the excitement of the gifts, some good laughs, and the magic of christmas being reflected in the faces of the little ones, but valuable girl time was no where to be found. Although, my sisters and I did sneak off into my king sized bed for a viewing of the movie New Year's Eve on New Year's Eve as we waited for the ball and the children to drop. We were soon joined by several little sleepy heads though and Mom I need some milk requests. So, the idea of a Ladies only Tea Party sounds like a fabulous idea right about now! What a perfect time to talk resolutions, goals, plans and celebrations we are planning for in 2016.

So today, I actually want to invite you to throw your own gals only tea party for you and yours. I hope you are inspired to reflect on the past year, while sipping a little I Love Lemon, and be excited about the year to come! Here are a few tips and recipes to get you started. Of course, you should always make it your own, but today we are keeping our tea party simple.

CHOOSE A COLOR SCHEME

I chose a white and sparkly gold theme with hints of color thrown in because I still wanted to keep it simple, so I didn't have to go out a buy a lot of supplies specifically for the party. I find it best to just use some of my favorite pieces and make it work! 

CHOOSE THE DECOR

For a Tea Party, just for the gals, I wanted to keep is really feminine. I picked up one pack of multi-sized paper doilies and used them as a backdrop for the tablescape as well on the table as a runner and on the dishes. There are 24 doilies in the pack and the cost is under $2.50 at Walmart. I decided to use all cups and mugs I already owned. I pulled all my white cups and used my wedding china for tea cups and saucers. When do you get a chance to use your china really? At an all ladies party of course. My china has some detail on it but because it was mostly white it blends well with the rest of the decor. To add a little more sparkle and "wow" factor, I decided to remove the Bigelow tea labels from some of the tea bags and use gold washi tape and gold glitter envelop seals to differentiate the types of Bigelow Tea I am serving. To know which tea is which, I made this framed menu, with one small doily cute in half. I used a dry erase pen to write on the glass but could have used a sharpie on the brown craft paper I framed in this white 8x10 frame. This project took about 20 minutes total for the tea bags as well as the framed menu. 

CHOOSE THE FOOD

For a Tea Party, you always want the food to fit the occasion, we are planning for a mid-afternoon tea, so light dainty foods will be best, but you still want to offer both sweet and savory. For today's party, I chose a BLTC Salad on a Stick. You could easily add small round pieces of bread to these skewers to make it more like a sandwich, but I decided the cheese made it hearty enough for post-lunch/pre-dinner.

Ingredients

• Small Roma Tomatos
• Sharp Chedder Cheese, thickly sliced
• Hearts of Romaine
• Oven-Baked Bacon 
• Honey Mustard (optional)

Directions

Using a small skewer add ingredients in preferred order, however I found it best to have lettuce on each end. Choose the crispier pieces of lettuce for support. Drizzle honey mustard or dressing of you choosing over complete skewers. 

To prepare bacon - Line a pan with tin foil, place bacon on foil, cook at 400 for 12-15 minutes, place bacon a paper towel and pat to absorb grease. 

For the sweet, we of course had to have scones, I chose Cranberry Orange, they were grocery store bakery bought, and delicious! Don't over buy, remember it's just you and the girls. 

 

I also wanted a little touch of whimsy and something light, so I decided to try my hand at Meringues. This was my first time making them and it was pretty easy. 

Ingredients

• 3 Egg Whites

• 2 Cups Confectioners Sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

• 1 teaspoon vinegar or a pinch of cream of tartar for stability

• Optional: food coloring or fruit, such as raspberries

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, line a 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites, vanilla, and vinegar or cream of tartar until egg whites become fluffy and white. At a medium to high speed continue to whip while adding in the sugar. When all the sugar is in and the mixture is stiff, stop mixing.
3. Optional: Add in food coloring or pureed raspberries and continue mixing until blended. 
4. Add mixture to a piping bag the tip of your choice and pipe onto you parchment paper.
5. Bake for 3 hours, or until the merges are dry and can be easily removed from the pan.

Tip: after reading through several directions, I saw a tip for propping the oven door open with a wooden spoon. My meringues browned a bit and I wonder if this would prevent that or if my oven was too hot prior to cooking the meringues. It's worth a try.

I chose to do both the plain meringues as well as raspberry. I also added the left over raspberries for a little pop of color and yummy fruit! 

CHOOSE THE TEA

I chose 3 varieties of Bigelow Tea from Walmart, I Love Lemon (my favorite), Green Tea, and Lemon Ginger for a mix of flavor. 

Like I said before I replaced the tags and placed the tea bags in cups for display, but I also added a few bags still in their packages to the table as well. For convince and ease of use, I decided to forgot a hot tea pot or kettle and use our Keurig on the tea cup size setting for our hot water. It's right there and people can go back for more as many times as they want without having to wait too long for the water to heat. 

The tea was the best part! Bigelow teas are so flavorful. I did add milk and sweeteners to the table just incase! 

ENJOY EACH OTHER'S COMPANY

You could add a game or a theme or craft, but really this time of year, just take a minute to reflect and set goals for the new year. Maybe include some more girl time as you make those resolutions. Make a resolution to celebrate yourselves, your accomplishments, and your friendship!