Teatime is the best time of day

The assignment:

a homemade tea party for eight

The goal:

keep it vibrant and make everything from scratch

Tricks to pulling off the look:

1. Avoid matching

2. Don’t be afraid to mix it up

3.  Florals, florals, florals

Avoiding a match

We needed something fun to do during the height of the pandemic, so we decided to throw ourselves a tea party (something we’d never done before).  At first, I was hesitant to mix and match the napkin colors, serving trays, and serveware, but we decided that we weren’t going to buy anything and just used items that we all already owned.  Once we started blending everything together, it created an uplifting, colorful look that was perfect for a tea party. So much so, that we declared all future tea parties would be an opportunity to showcase as many different china patterns as possible.

Mixing it up 

There really isn’t a color palette here, and I loved the opportunity to just see where the final look landed.  We made everything from scratch, so I seized the opportunity to experiment with macaron colors and create treats that we felt like eating without thinking about how it would all look together. The black caviar, the brown pecan pie bars, the scones, the treat holders, and even the sunflowers came together to create a table that is fun to look at.

Florals, florals, florals

It doesn’t feel like a tea party without flowers. Once the decision was made to just use what we already owned, it became fun to see how many different types of flowers we could incorporate into the look.  The patterns on the china, the napkin rings, and the actual flowers provided several ways to mix it up against the lavender backdrop of the tablecloth and the grey tones of the napkins.  And finally, encouraging our guests to wear floral prints provided the finishing touch for our colorful tea party.