Monday, March 11, 2019

Afternoon Tea at Home

We had afternoon Tea in England, and loved it so much, that we were so excited to do it here at home. There were a few things that are different about Tea in England, compared to the US. 


 A Tea is actually a meal. Actual tea that you drink, is only part of it. In a traditional English Tea, each person gets their own tea stand, that houses their entire meal. It’s all about the presentation, and sitting with good company, having a memorable time.


The meal is composed of three S’s. Bottom - Savory, Middle - Scones, Top - Sweets. 



Savory on the bottom - tea sandwiches. We did cucumber with cream cheese and freshly cut dill. These are always served open face. We also did ham, cheese and butter.  Other traditional tea sandwiches are smoked salmon and egg salad sandwiches. Don’t forget to cut off the crust! 


Scones in the middle. Every true English tea will have English scones, clotted cream, and strawberry jam. The scones are like biscuits, but better. You can find recipes online. My friend brought these for me from England. You can’t get clotted cream in America, because they don’t sell what you need to make it here. We made this knock off version, which is pretty close. It’s made of 1/2 cup heavy whipped cream, 8oz mascarpone cheese, and a table spoon of powdered sugar, whipped together. It’s slightly sweet, with an amazing texture. It’s like a cross between butter and cream, and slightly sweet and light. Put the clotted cream and jam in their own small containers. Do this the day before. 


Sweets on top. The sweets are anything small. This level will always have a macaroon, and mini pastries or tarts. These small cakes are called Petits Fours, pronounced like, “petifours.” My friend brought these straight from England. You can find the exact same thing on Amazon or anything mini in the bakery will do. I also saw on Pinterest that you can cut a cake that is short down, and cover with melted white chocolate or icing. 


Afternoon Tea is all about presentation!

When we were in England, they brought each of us our own teapot of water. Here, we used a teapot that we got from Walmart. It heats the water in 4 minutes. Much easier, and less to store. My awesome friend also brought us the teacup sets from England. What would I do without her? If you don’t have a friend who lives in England ;) I have seen beautiful sets at Homegoods. You can find them in many stores, including second hand.

We did strictly herbal tea for this party,  no caffeine. We used loose tea and teabags. I got beautiful strainers online. 

The favor bag was really sweet. It was a package of a tea bag, a teaspoon, honey sticks and mini honey dipper.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a Happy & Creative Day!

Risa

Fascinator DIY

For the QUEEN BEE TEA, we also made fascinators.  They made these at the beginning of the party, so they could wear them during afternoon tea. It was so fun to see the different styles and personalities come out as they created their fascinators.


I had a table of supplies all ready for the girls when they arrived.


Our guests got right to work, and laughed the whole time!


They were all so creative!


To make a fascinator, use a disposable plastic lid as a base, and hot glue to attach everything. Wrap felt around the lid, and then top with flowers, ribbon tulle, butterflies, birds, and whatever you can think of is great! Our favorite was to add Russian tulle, also called birdcage tulle or millinery tulle. This is the tulle that hangs over they eye on a real fascinator. Regular thick skirt lining tulle works too!

The girls were so creative!



They worked on their fascinators for two hours!


Be sure and glue felt to the bottom, and then cut out a felt circle. Glue it to the bottom so that you can slide a headband in and have it be held in place by the felt circle. Decide where you wan tot wear it on you head, and have fun! The girls liked wearing their fascinators to the side.




Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Happy & Creative Day!

Risa

Queen Bee Tea Party


This summer when we visited England, we had Afternoon Tea It was so much fun, and we were looking forward to doing it back at home. A Queen Bee Tea Birthday Party was the perfect excuse!


The backdrop was made with popsicle sticks glued together in a honeycomb shape, and then decorated with this clipart kit I created, and sell in my Etsy shop, Risa Design


The backdrop came together easily. If you are going to do this, glue the popsicle sticks together first, and then cut out the floral elements. Layer them and create depth with cotton balls. Hot glue to the honeycomb popsicle sticks. Be sure and fold the bees wings up and legs down, and put a cotton ball under them to get them to stand out. 


It's the perfect backdrop!


Pretty from every angle!


The Etsy pack comes with signs for multiple party themes.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa



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