Why did I host the Afternoon Tea party?

Recently I have had my 35th birthday and although I hardly ever celebrate them I thought this time round it would be a good idea to have a few of my friends over. As my husband always works on the weekends I thought it might be better to invite just ladies as opposed to couples. I have recently received a beautiful teacup and saucers set and this just sparked an idea for an afternoon tea party that I love the concept of.

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The planning of the party

Every good party needs planning ahead to ensure all the details are thought of in advance and nothing get’s missed.

First thing I have come up with the list of my guests and created an invitation using PicCollage App on my phone and sent it on a WhatsApp group. This has given me an idea of how many people are potentially able to attend the party which in turn allowed me to plan the number of dishes/ drinks etc. It is probably best to give people enough notice of at least 4 weeks also to allow them to prepare for the party i.e. get some present, or arrange childcare etc.

Second thing is to create the list of the dishes I wanted to create. An Afternoon Tea’s menu supposed to contain a selection of sandwiches, some homemade cakes (traditional scones is the most common one) and some nice tea. Some places serve some champagne, prosecco or wine to accompany the food. I have looked up online at the restaurants and venues that serve the Afternoon Tea for the ideas on what I would like to put in my sandwiches and cakes to bake. Below I have listed the dishes I have come up with followed by the actual pictures of my own version and a link to recipes.

Next is the list of the ingredients needed to prepare the food and other items needed such as drinks, napkins, etc. If you have time to shop around that’s where you can make some real savings. Costco wholesaler has some really good deals on bulk shopping but the membership is needed and you will end up spending lots of money unless you are focused on what you want to buy. I always end up buying many Off The List items that I didn’t intend to buy that day.

Lidl, Aldi are great on fruit and veg but it’s important to look at ‘sell by’ date as they might go off sooner than expected. I got most of my stuff from there and in total, I spent less than £100.00 including drinks.

It’s also a good idea to get some serving tiers and I have got mine off Amazon for a very reasonable price. I have used my own china plates which are gold plated which added a beautiful touch to it, but normal plates would do just fine.

The other tier I have used was also bought earlier off Amazon.

Although I have used my own cups and saucers I have seen similar ones like these or the whole set like this beautiful set

Afternoon tea party table all set.

In total, I’ve had 10 ladies joining me and the party was a great success.

The list of the food served

1. 1. 1. 1. Sandwich 1: Coronation chicken on 7 seeds bread
         2. Sandwich 2: Cream cheese with reddish and cucumber on brown bread
         3. Canapes – Salmon with sour cream and cream cheese dressing with dill served on white baguette
         4. Wraps- Tuna, mayo, sweetcorn and spring onions with salat wrapped in wholegrain tortilla wraps
         5. Guacamole served with lightly salted corn tortilla crisps (avocado, onions, tomatoes, lemon juice, olive oil, and parsley)
         6. Eggs stuffed with fried mushroom and onions mixed with mayo and egg yolk (onion and mushroom fried separately mixed with boiled egg yolk and mayo)
         7. Cocktail sticks snacks with sausage, cheese, gherkins, peppers and cheese

The list of homebaked cakes

1. 1. Traditional scones served with strawberry preserve, clotted cream and lemon curd
   2. Lemon drizzle cake
   3. Banana bread (I have made mine in a cupcakes cases as could not find a mini loaf tin)
   4. Carrot cake with maple frosting
   5. Homemade trifle
   6. Mini meringues

      

      

      

      

      

       

Although it seems like a lot of dishes to make, planning ahead did help in making sure I have everything I need to prepare the food. Also working full time meant I had to allow one full day of just-food preparation (mainly baking). The party was hosted on Sunday which gave me enough time to make everything on time, even cleaning my house, getting my kids party-ready and obviously myself too.

I hope this was informative enough. I have linked the recipes whenever I used any, else I have listed the ingredients used in the dishes that I knew of my heart. The pictures were taken on an actual day with my iPhone so they are not professional but hopefully good enough to show my efforts.

Have you ever hosted an afternoon party? Share it with us, please.

Thanks for reading