(Updated Edition from 2008 Original) Linda recently left me the following question: I hope you will answer this message and help me! My daughters are hosting a baby shower tea party for their sister in May. I want to know the best and most appropriate way to set a...

Looking for modern day tea party ideas? Let’s explore the tradition of tea, the social revolutions it caused, and ways to celebrate the delightful, healthy treat. Tea parties have long served the purpose of being a somewhat quaint gathering during times when a dinner...

  by Jenny Wells I'm sure this problem of perfectionism does not affect all my readers, but statistically it applies to many of us. Perfectionism when planning a party is draining, indeed. Even without perfectionism, it still takes me four "days" (those are...

A beautiful table is only complete when lovely napkins are hand folded and placed on display. Have you ever wondered HOW to fold napkins? If so you will love this series of videos on the topic. Remember that open a smaller luncheon style napkin is used for afternoon...

Always be prepared!  It's time to make that your tea party motto! It's not hard to get ready for a tea party but many people don't bother because they never take time to prepare.  This classic Tea Party Girl article will give you the basics for getting ready for your...

Your guest’s invitations have arrived in the mail. On the front of the card is a black and white picture of a young girl with her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. They are all smiling, and standing next to each other. Inside the card, the announcement is...

I write a tea party-related blog, while tea and books tend to go together. It's been argued that in our digital/information age, the days of hardback books and the traditional publishing industry will become a thing of the past. Have you heard about/ordered an Amazon...

I shared this poem in May 2007 and wanted to repost it. This is still the most common misunderstanding about afternoon tea. Google sends me a daily email alert of all tea-related news stories. Community groups announce "High Tea" often. And those of you from the...

Did you know that you can host a tea party in your home with minimal work and cost through hosting a direct sales party with the company Set to a Tea? I recently had the chance to talk with Kathleen Rogers, the company's founder. In this interview you will learn: How...

Remember, I don't bake. But guess who brought the homemade cake to the bridal shower over the weekend?  

Because I must believe I'm not the only one. You see, many of you are perfectly content with and competent putting together darling, theme-appropriate, and within budget crafty items for your parties. You don't mind the time you spend scouring the dollar bins and...

Today I spent some time flipping through the Stash Tea catalog and found myself asking, "What would I recommend for my readers to purchase?" The catalog is only one example of a listing that includes some basic items the tea lover might want to have on hand. I offer...

Now that you've learned about how to find what you really like on eBay, maybe you have some older items you need to clear out. Last week, I received an email from Deborah Bonelli explaining that she was organizing a tea for wounded soldiers, their family members, and...

Instead of answering this question for you myself, I approached a fellow tea blogger, Angela McRae at Tea with Friends. As a regular reader of her blog, I know Angela finds many tea treasures through eBay. I wanted to learn more about how she does it and believed it...

"Beauty cannot be deeply appreciated until a soul has been touched by deformity." "Spring warms us because winter has chilled us." For so many, the deformity of life is denied or avoided. But like early spring weeds, if left unchecked, ugliness eventually takes over....

Mary Cassat's The Cup of Tea, 1879, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Can you BELIEVE Easter is next week? I can't either. If you are planning to prepare a special meal, be sure to see what Alice at Tea in My Cup suggests for an Easter Brunch Tea...

"Christopher Robin was home by this time, because it was the afternoon, and he was so glad to see him that they stayed there until very nearly tea-time, and then they had a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards, and hurried on to Pooh Corner, so as...

photo credit: code poet Where I live in Northern California, clumps of daffodils trumpet spring's arrival everywhere we look, walk, and drive. This morning I took two of my children to an abandoned nursery by our home filled with these flowers now growing wild. We...

In the last few weeks, I've held conversations and learned of tearooms that are closing or struggling. One closed after eight months. Another's experiencing a massive drop in numbers served since its opening five years ago. My Google tea news search leads me to...

What am I supposed to serve at a tea party? Afternoon tea is traditionally served at low tables and consists of three courses: dainty sandwiches, scones, and a selection of bite-sized desserts. A luncheon tea is more like a meal and often includes soup, salad, and or...

Many of you looking to the web for tea party ideas end up here at Tea Party Girl. The top five search terms of all time resulting in over 4200 views to TPG are: tea party tea parties Christmas tea party tea party food tea party menu Now, I find this important for a...

First, thank you for the comments! I'd love to hear from more of you. Please keep them coming, and let me know the number one struggle you have taking care of your home. Last Tuesday, Dawnya Sasse of Start a Tea Business dot com interviewed me on a live call with her...

I certainly hope not. Stereotypes of tea and the people who drink it abound. I picked up a girlfriend for tea over the holidays and her husband said good-bye to us by imitating lifting tea to his lips while sticking his pinkie out awkwardly. "Isn't that how you're...

Note to regular readers of TPG: I use the same party-planning format each time, so some of what you see below will be familiar. But I've highlighted the material I've changed to reflect the new season, including recipes, music, and decorations. Enjoy! To begin...

It's been two years since I hosted my first in-home tea party. I look back on the experience with a wry smile, remembering some of the mistakes I made and what I've learned since then. Maybe you'll be able to relate to some of these, whether planning for a tea party...

Still sitting out the effects of last Friday's storm. Powerful winds rocked the West Coast last weekend and knocked out power all over my beloved state of California, including my Internet. I am writing to you through Plays with Fire's fingertips while I dictate over...

If you're anything like me, your hosting-for-the-holidays anxiety might begin in August. Our reasons for anxiety might be different. Maybe yours involves family dynamics, money, other responsibilities, or just knowing you're going to have to clean-the-house-for-real...

What does tea have to do with the expectations we all face at the holidays? Remember the tea lifestyle. Taking time for tea is about stepping back and nurturing yourself and others. It's about choosing creativity and simple beauty over adrenaline and productivity. And...

The list is available at the bottom of this post. But first, I want to share with you where some of my inspiration came from. Last Thursday, I attended a class at one of my local tearooms on "How to Prepare for Your Holiday Tea". I continue my education so I can...

Want a Halloween-specific theme for a tea party? You can find it here at Double, Double, Toil and Fun. Why it's at TradingMarkets.com, I couldn't tell you. It's a little buried but if you visit the link for this description of a Literary Tea and scroll down, you will...

It's been a while since I worked on this series, but this one cannot be missed. If you're interested in the other three tea experts I profiled, here they are: Jane Pettigrew, Elizabeth Knight, and Dorothea Johnson Remember yesterday's study setting with the leather...

The Proper Tea Party "In serving tea, the table should be arranged before any visitors arrive. Its cover may be a linen tea cloth embroidered or trimmed with lace, while the cups a nd saucers, with the spoon resting in each saucer, the thin slices of lemon, the small...

Leisure by William H. Davies (1871-1940) What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare? No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No...

This morning I awoke at 6:30 am, hit the snooze button (twice) and ran out the door with the three children, lunches, backpacks, full stomachs, shod feet, and relatively clean faces by 8:30 am. Every time I do this, I am in awe of the mothers and fathers who do this...

I found a few treasures the last couple of days I wanted to be sure to share with you: Tea Guy Speaks is giving away a utiliTEA kettle by Adagio Teas. It's very ideal if you want to brew green tea in the morning without having to watch the kettle. All you have to do...

Sunday afternoon found me without a cup of tea in over twenty-four hours. Oh, the price of knowing how to properly brew tea! In the past, at the beginning of my tea love affair, I packed my tea, disposable filters, and even a small teapot. You might run into me...

Last month during the comment contest, Anonymom asked a number of very good questions. Here was one of them: "When we were in London 10 years ago, we ordered tea but I suppose it was not “high tea” time because when we also asked for a platter of finger sandwiches and...

*My apologies for the title if you are one of my international readers. If your country provides similar information to the following links I provide, please let us know in the comments! We would love to hear. If you don't know the answer to this question, you need to...

A friend told me once that coffee equaled real-life to her, while tea represented an escape from life--filled with frills, china, and hats. While I disagreed with her description of taking tea, which I addressed in "Aren't Tea Parties for Retired Ladies Wearing Red...

"When planning the tea party events what sort of ready to go inventory should one need to have on hand….ie: vases, tableclothes,dishes etc….?"--Judy Mazuren (no url) Judy, be sure to see my article, "The Secret to the Simple and Quick Tea Party". I outline the...

Last week I received comments from Rachel and Kristin (no urls for either) about how to throw a tea party on a very strict budget. In a future post, I plan to address this question specifically. This post, however, is to share about an experience of mine from the last...

How many of you can relate to the panic, guilt, worry, or fret that go along with deciding whom to invite to an event? If you are a woman over...well, come to think of it, my six-year old daughter already goes through this... "But if I don't invite her, she might not...

And Wow~ Wow, oh wow. It is great to hear from so many tea lovers and explorers! Thanks for your comments! I will get to your questions step-by-step. In the meantime, the contest runs until 1pm PST on Friday. Anyone who leaves a comment on any post this week will be...

I finally decided August's Tea Party Event at The Wellspring will be an intimate backyard afternoon tea for eight. Two friends are celebrating birthdays in August. As full-time mothers, they both relish time for uninterrupted conversations among friends. One in...

My goal at Tea Party Girl is to keep the focus on all the aspects of Afternoon Tea or The Tea Party. However, when I published the article on Steps to Creating Your Tea Party Menu, I talked about tea and food pairings. And since I believe that the tea is The Tea...

I have uploaded the article, The Steps to Creating a Tea Party Menu, to Tea Party Girl here. Most technical problems that kept me from working at home the last few days are fixed, except that I still can't send e-mail. Until this is fixed, I will respond to any...

This age of technology promises one can live anywhere and work on-line. Well, that works until the small-town Internet monopoly goes down. After over twenty-four hours of no Internet access and communicating with the no information customer service reps multiple...

  May your day be filled with touches of beauty, a little elegance, strength for hospitality, connection to traditions, a moment to slow down in the midst of celebration, and tall glasses of iced tea shared with family and friends.   And thank you, dear...

No! Not a'tall! In reality cultures around the world for thousands of years have held tea parties, or traditions surrounding the taking of tea. This is true for men and women alike. The Chinese kept tea secret for three thousand years, but once tea began to be traded,...

When you host a tea party or similar event, do you think about where your guests will sit? Some hostesses believe place cards/name cards are presumptuous. In reality, a gracious hostess helps their guests with this decision. A guest who finds a place card feels a...

When I host an event, I'm inevitably asked by one or more of my guests, "Is there anything I can bring?" Often, these are the very guests who did not RSVP in a timely manner and we're holding this conversation only a few days or hours before the event. I understand...

Tea Party Girl married Plays with Fire Boy. This means he knows what it is like to be the only man at afternoon tea and I pack life into the woods every now and again. Now that the baby is six-years old, I expect family camping to happen with even more frequency than...

Karen formerly of Sweet-Necessi-Teas started a Conversation about Tea today. She writes of sometimes being questioned about her choice of pursuit~devoting her shop to tea clothing and accoutrements. After all, there aren't clothing and accessories shops for just for...

The more you learn about tea, the more products you will find that call themselves a tea. However, all true teas come from the tea plant, the camellia senensis plant. It only grows in one part of the United States at the Charleston Tea Plantation, but almost all tea...

This week brings the longest day of the year. Where I live, the weather-people predict it will reach the mid-90s. Does this mean it is not the season for the tea party? On the contrary! "Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors," Alice Walker said. The spirit of...

Most of us who are involved with tea have a passion for all-things-tea. There are lots of blogs and websites about tea the beverage. A lot of people compare tea to coffee when it is more accurate to compare it to wine. (The reason for this involves another post). Tea...

Where do you spend the majority of your days? Is it a place of beauty? Where, even in an office cubicle, can you set aside a corner of beauty for a spot of tea? Mine depends on the season. Currently, I take my cup of tea to the back deck in the quiet of the warm...

I thought of entering, but they obviously want you to use their tea. Don't have a lot of experience with any tea that can be purchased at the grocery store. HOWEVER, Bigelow tea deserves great kudos~they are doing a lot of things to upgrade from the tea bag. After...

Eighty-five percent of the tea drank in the US is of the iced variety, commercialized since 1904 when a tea business man iced it at the World's Fair in Saint Louis in order to sell it in the hot weather. Many different recipes for iced tea exist~here's Tea Party...

Now I can't claim this is the most flattering picture of me, but I posted it none-the-less. Look past my beach hair quickly stuffed under the hat to attend afternoon tea and notice the chair I am sitting on. Vintage Tea Leaf of Long Beach ~your chairs are the most...

I write, I'm not a great or even a good photographer. But tea at the Ritz needed to be remembered and I wanted you to see something! Halfway through our afternoon tea, Plays with Fire, as I affectionately call my main squeeze, snapped a picture. Now, it is my belief...

Americans tend to grab and go in a culture where productivity is valued often even above our own health and well-being. However, other cultures take time to nurture themselves and one another, often through taking time for tea. England’s ritual began in the early...

Ooooh~I am so tempted to steal some bandwidth this morning and show you why I am traveling 500 miles for afternoon tea! Instead you'll have to stop by yourself to the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel on the coast of Southern CA and take the dining photo tour. They serve...

This weekend finds me exploring the City by the Bay and of course, all things tea it offers. While the Asian theme of afternoon tea is not my personal decorating style, visiting the Samovar Tea Lounge and reading their menu proved an education. With two locations,...

Are you prepared to serve tea to yourself, a friend, or guests at a moment's notice? On a consistent basis? Is it only a box of teabags from the cupboard or break room that you can't serve with confidence?Tuesday's Simple Tea Tip is to find a loose-leaf tea you love...

When our family chose to begin home-schooling full-time four years ago, my number one concern over curriculum choices, legal concerns, or character education was preventing burn-out. Burn-out was something I became intimately acquainted with during my 20s, culminating...

In California, cherries come into season during the month of May. This is the month my favorite local orchard, Machados, opens its doors through November, the season for mandarin oranges. In between we'll dine on drippy, juicy peaches, white nectarines, mouth-staining...

When I visited my first afternoon tea room I realized as a 36-year old, I had never before experienced the beauty of a true afternoon tea. Despite tea parties as a child and with children of my own, I knew nothing about how to host an afternoon tea. I set out to learn...

I recently read the auto-biography of Starbucks' CEO, Howard Schultz. While the flavors and nuances of the tea leaf are closer to the culture of wine than coffee, I continue to mull over one theme of the book.Starbucks began in Seattle by the same current owners, I...

Here in California, the children asked for iced tea last weekend. Our spring in Northern California enters in fits and starts, but seventy-degree days have already arrived. Their vivid memories of last year's pitchers of peach- and cherry-iced tea excite me to...

Friday, my best tea friend and I served tea to sixteen children, ten boys and six girls ranging in age from five to fourteen. Some of them definitely dressed for the occasion. The handsome Mr. Darcy on the left served as host, sitting at the head of the table and...

Yesterday, Valentine's Day being only a coincidence, my husband and I visited the dentist. Because of insurance changes, etc. our appointments were delayed a number of months. Both of us walked away with excellent check-ups. If your dentist measures your gums, as...