How to have a Valentine’s Tea Party

This is a special time of year and having a Valentine’s Tea Party can show your friends just how much they mean to you. In this post I will outline the steps that I use in putting a Valentine’s Tea Party together and just what it looks like when put it altogether. Included are some free planning tools for you to use. These are hints, helps and steps that I have developed. You will find them helpful for your Valentine’s tea and any afternoon tea that you hold.

How to begin the planning

Once you have decided that you want to have a Valentine’s Tea Party, there are some simple questions you will want to ask to determine how the party will go. These are guidelines and considerations for you. Most importantly, you want to make your Valentine’s Tea party special for both you and your guests.

• Pick the day and time of day you want to have your tea party. If you are having an afternoon tea, this will include savories, scones and sweets. So your guests will want to come prepared to enjoy a full serving of treats. The time of day helps to determine your tea choices. Frequently, late teas include decaffeinated teas.
• Determine how long your tea party will be. My tea parties are generally 2 hours long. This gives each course about 30 minutes to enjoy and then some time for guests to settle in and service to begin.
• Determine how many guests will be coming to your party. This will impact your location and your menu development. I will address the menu development later in the post. Afternoon teas are generally fancy but you can make the menu to reflect your style. You will want to make sure you understand your guests’ food needs – are there any allergies or food preferences that you need to address?
• Pick out your invitations. Will you use email? Text? General mail? I generally use either email or text and there are many vendors that can provide you with easy electronic invitations such as Smile Box http://www.smilebox.com or Evite http://www.evite.com. You will want to send out your invitations 2-3 weeks ahead of the party. This is not only for your guests but also for your planning. Make sure to have an RSVP and ask if there are any food allergies or food preferences (gluten free for example).
• Outline if you are going to have any activities. There are several tea party games that you can use. My guests generally are just full of conversation and we don’t have games. But I have attended many teas that do, so choose what works for you and your guests.

Menu Development

I like to do a traditional afternoon tea. This includes 3 courses – savories, scones and sweets. The courses are presented in that order.

The savory course consists of individual servings or “finger food”. I like to have 4-5 savories during this course. The savories can be cold or hot. I usually have a combination of both. I love to serve a Spinach Ball with Marinara Sauce. This recipe can be made well in advance, easy to put together and freezes well. The link to this recipe is at the end of this post.

I will frequently offer a champagne cocktail with my special teas. So check with your guests if this would be acceptable. I like to serve this with the savory course.

Here you can see that I chose to dip the edge of the champagne flute with red crystal sugar – just an added touch of specialness!

The scone course consists of breads or scones. You can serve one scone or two. I like to serve 2 and have one reflect the season or event. For the Valentine Tea Party, I serve a Strawberry Cream Scone. I also serve a Currant Scone at all my teas (just a little tradition I like to have). Its during this course that you would serve a curd and cream. I like to serve Lemon Curd and Devonshire Cream. The scone and curd recipes are listed below.

The sweet or dessert course is the final course. I like to have 4 items for this course and similar to the savories, are small servings.

Part of my menu development is also the tea pairing. What teas will go best with what course? There are guidelines that help you select appropriate teas but to me, bottom line is what tastes best and what you and your guests like. But no tea bags – only use loose leaf tea in tea pots.

Valentine’s Tea Party Menu

Here is the menu. You can see all the items listed along with the tea that has been chosen for the course.

Preparing Ahead

Critical for your tea party is to plan ahead. I develop the menu with this in mind. A lot of the items on the menu can be prepared in advance and put in the freezer (one of my favorite kitchen tools). For example, all my scones are prepared and frozen unbaked, just waiting to be baked the day of the tea. In this particular Valentine’s Tea Party menu, 8 of these items can be made ahead and in the freezer just waiting to be baked or reheated for service. That’s a huge time saver. So planning out your schedule is critical.

Getting the other tea party items together can also be done ahead of time. Menus printed off, teapots and teacups pulled. I even make up tea bags ahead of time so I can steep the pot and not make my guests wait.

This can seem overwhelming and that’s why using planning tools is so important. Download my Teas The Season Tea Party Planning Toolkit .

Setting the Stage

Setting the stage for you Valentine’s Tea Party is part of the experience. It makes your guests feel pampered and very special. Valentine’s provides the perfect venue for this. You can go all in from an expense perspective or on a budget as well. With little effort and resources,, you and your guests will feel special. Just let your creative talents flow!

Putting it Altogether

I recently had the opportunity to host a Valentine’s Tea Party for 6 ladies. It was delightful. Here is what it looked like when put altogether.

Entering and Greeting the Guests

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You can make your guests feel special by having little vignettes around your home. I like to have something at the entrance to my home that highlights the theme. I will find quotes on-line and incorporate them into frames. These frames were simple Dollar Store frames that I burnished with gold to give a vintage look. I will use inexpensive tulle to help embellish the tables and LED lights to help set the stage.

Place Setting

Each place setting has a plate, silverware, napkin and cup. For this Valentine’s Tea Party, I used a red napkin and a ceramic bow napkin holder (a gift from one of my sisters). Instead of going with red cups, I went with floral and pink cups for the table setting.

For the silverware, I used a small demitasse spoon for the tea, a small cocktail fork and then a small butter knife. Both the spoons and folks can be purchased in many places. World Market carries both the spoons and forks for a reasonable price. You can also find them at your local restaurant supply store. I have listed these in the product selections at the end of this post. These particular knives I have collected over the years from different vintage stores. Each place setting has a menu. The menu becomes a nice keepsake for your guests to remember how you gifted them with such a great tea party.

Table Setting

This is a setting for 6 people. I have carried the theme in through the table using the same tulle and lights. You can see the different cups and the food tiers. Each chair is adorned with a red ribbon to add to the flair. I like to have a center runner of color for the table. Here I have used red for that Valentine’s theme along with tulle, little lights, and fabric rose petals. The flowers, lights and rose petals I purchased at my local Dollar Store. I have the food tiers on the table and test how they sit in line with the decorations, but nothing else higher so that my guests can have great conversation.

You can see that I like to use the black metal tiers but you can use whatever presentation you like and what fits your guests. I also make sure to have plenty of creamers and sugars available. For the lemon curd and the Devonshire cream, I am using Moonstone vintage china – an inheritance from my mom. Always a sweet memory.

Finishing up…..

The party was a success! The hostess and guests were pleased with their Valentine’ Tea Party. They were able to step back from the stress of life and enjoy each other’s company. Along with their empty plates and cups, the ooohs and aaahs intermixed with their constant conversation were the measurements of my success. They felt lavished and refreshed….and I was blessed! Cleanup was done, I finished the champagne and put my feet up!

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Tools and Recipes

Here again are the FREE tools for you to download. These are guidelines to help you have a successful tea party and can be used for really any function. I have used these for simple 4-6 people as well as upwards of over 20 guests, so they have been well tested.

Here are some of the recipes listed on the Valentine’s Tea Party menu. These have been published in my previous posts. There will be several additional recipes in future posts highlighting other items off this menu.

Lemon Curd https://teastheseason3.com/lemon-curd-its-all-about-the-curd/

Spinach Balls with Marinara Sauce https://teastheseason3.com/spinach-balls-an-easy-savory-treat/

Strawberry Cream Scones https://teastheseason3.com/strawberry-cream-scones/

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