How To Host A Tea Party? Here Are 10 Tips!

Tea Parties! Who doesn't love them? I sure do! Or shall I just say tea in general? Okay so even if it's not a tea party, don't we all just love it? Tea, tea, tea, most of us have it several times a day. It's such a great beverage for several reasons. From that wake-up cuppa in the morning that you desperately crave after a rough night, to that comforting, toning down brew in the evening; your oasis of escape conveniently presented in a steaming sweet mug of goodness.

Personally though, I love that occasional tea. Yes, and by "occasional tea" I mean the types we drink when we have visitors come over. You know, when we invite those friends we want to have a deep conversation with or just a quick girly chat with. We brew a nice cup of our best tea because it's definitely worth those few minutes of bliss enjoying it with like minded people. 

Well, whatever your reason for enjoying it, don't you find that one of the best ways to drink it is with a lovely sweet treat or two or three? With lovely people around you talking lovely things? This calls for a tea party! Call me old-fashioned but I love a good tea party. And lately, I find I have been having them more than ever. 

After I gave birth, I had quite a few visitors coming over. You know how it is, they come and see the baby, and welcome the new addition into the world. And it's such a blessing and so exciting to have so many people show they care by coming. Honestly, it makes me want to serve them really good tea and cake! 

So I had a few visitors recently which called for quite a big tea party. It involved delicious hand-made desserts and serious flat-lay! You know when the lovely Twenty Five Stars and the gorgeous ladies from Halal Heat In The Kitchen come to you for a tea-party, it's-about-to-go-down. So much talent in one room, we had to make a combination post for that particular day! From Twenty Five Stars' amazing photography skills to Halal Heat In The Kitchen's amazing desserts, we couldn't just end this at one blog post, we have made three. All speaking different aspects of the tea-party to share with you all. From Twenty Five Stars expect to read about how our day went down and for the exciting recipes of the desserts, head over to Halal Heat In The Kitchen. You surely will NOT be disappointed!

And from me? Having the girls over really got me thinking, how do you host a tea party? What do you need? Do people even do those anymore? Well amongst my culture, it's probably the most common thing to do when guests come over. And because we do it so much, I thought I'd share with you all my ten tips on how to host a tea party!

1. Good company. Right, I know no one's going to invite someone over for a tea party that they don't really like but I thought I'd make this number one and get it out of the way because seriously, good company is important! You're going to be wanting to hold up some good laughs and conversation with the people you invite!

2. Your BEST teacups. Pull out your favourite teacups and crockery. Also, present them in a nice way, you'll want them to be impressed with your presentation. We all like something that's a little easy on the eyes right?

3. Homemade desserts. Now I know those cakes from the shops are the easy option, but try baking something instead. I find it ALWAYS goes down well when people try your food. Because you put so much effort into making it, people always seem to appreciate that more! Now, at my tea party, the homemade desserts were made by my other sister and the girls from Halal Heat In The Kitchen. 

Let me talk you through them, my sister made the macaron red velvet icing cake. The other handmade desserts were made by Halal Heat In the Kitchen. Their cakes involved cupcakes with cream icing and chocolate dipped strawberry's, raspberry brownies and a raspberry filled tart sprinkled with icing sugar. 

4. Have a staple dessert. Honestly, this can range from any kind of dessert. All it need to do is be the main centrepiece that everyone looks forward to. Now for our day, our staple dessert was none other than the red velvet and macaron icing cake. It looked stunning, and tasted delicious too! 

5. Have a variety of desserts. I'm the type of person that loves to have people eat when they come to mine so for me, there's nothing worse than having people over that don't quite like what you have on offer. So, present them with options, if they don't like chocolate, maybe they'll like the victoria sponge. You get my drift?

6. A Variety of teas. This is the same as having a variety of desserts. There's no point of hosting a tea party when your guests won't drink your tea! So have a few other options in your cupboard for that time when your guest doesn't like that English cuppa.

7. Some good topics to discuss. Make good conversation, and keep it flowing. Discuss things that are important and interesting to your guests. Keep them entertained. 

8. Have a hosting buddy. This applied to me in particular because I just gave birth and handling two kids with a group of ladies was a little challenging, so I had my sister to help with the hosting. If you have that super close sister/friend to help, use them, especially if you have kids. Thanks to Twenty Five Stars, the day was surely fun and successful!

9. Keep the kids preoccupied. It's always nice to have some tea without your toddler climbing on your head! So if you have kids, keep them pre-occupied with some activities, then you'll be able to enjoy your company. 

10. And don't forget them biscuits. I know I spoke a lot about desserts, let's not forget some tasty choccy biscuits to dunk into steamy hot teas!