How to Serve an Easy Spring Afternoon Tea Party

If you haven’t hosted a tea, you may wonder how easy or difficult it might be. Who better to glean ideas from than the British? From the BBC, we’ve gathered some easy and simple ideas on how to serve an easy afternoon tea party.

At the foot of this post are some more inspirational tea party ideas you won’t want to miss.

RELATED: Easy Make Ahead Tea Sandwiches

Enjoying afternoon tea while perched on a gilded hotel armchair is a fine British tradition but hardly sustainable as a regular pursuit. Throwing an afternoon tea party means you can stick to your own budget, and select your favorite finger food. We have some suggestions for throwing a soiree in style.

The Basics for an Easy Spring Afternoon Tea Party

If you own a tiered cake stand, dust it off and use it as the centerpiece of your table. Otherwise, use your best china or dinnerware and make it a little more special with lace-like doilies, folded napkins, and name cards.

If you want to go all out, charity and secondhand shops are good sources for reasonable Chinaware—and don’t worry if the patterns are mismatched. Remember your teapot, teacups, cutlery, and cake slices for serving.

Setting the Scene for an Easy Afternoon Tea Party

Extend your table and throw on a tablecloth—if you don’t have one handy, fabric shops sell inexpensive spotted, floral, and striped material by the meter or yard.

While at it, you could make some place-name cookies and ice them with your guests’ names. Pop them in paper bags so your guests have a little present to take away – or snaffle them as an entrée.

• Coconut & Cinnamon Place-Name Cookies
• Sugar Cookie Namecard Recipe

Arrival Drinks

Make sure the sugar and milk are set on the table and ready to pour your guests a cuppa as they sit down. Try to provide a variety of teas – Earl Grey is always a favorite but herbal teas like peppermint and camomile are nice choices too. And, of course, any breakfast tea is always appreciated.

Spring Tea Party Food

There aren’t any rules when it comes to the food, but a standard afternoon tea comprises tea sandwiches, scones or tea cakes, and even full-size cakes for a showy table. You could also throw in pastries, petits fours, or biscuits.

Don’t wear yourself out by taking on too many ambitious bites.

Tea Sandwiches:

These require minimal effort, but it’s helpful to prepare your fillings in advance and assemble them just before proceedings begin to avoid the dreaded soggy sarnie. For more than 60 recipes and pro tips, be sure to bookmark or save Easy Make Ahead Tea Sandwiches!

Here are some more recipe ideas:

• Selection of summer sandwiches
• Carrot & raisin sandwiches
• Salmon club sandwich
• Best-ever crab sandwiches
• Smoked salmon & avocado open sandwich on rye bread

Scones

Scones are best eaten on the day and don’t take long to whip up, but if you want to get ahead, freeze a batch and defrost them in a low oven. Serve warm with lashings of jam – decant a pot of homemade preserve into a pretty bowl.

Scones: 

• Classic scones with jam and clotted cream
• Lemon drizzle scones
• Walnut scones
• Cherry scones

Jam:

• Strawberry jam
• Jumbleberry jam
• Rhubarb & ginger jam
• Cinnamon-scented plum jam
• Fragrant strawberry conserve

Teacakes and buns

These should be served split and buttered – try glazing with some apricot jam to give them a professional finish.

Keep it simple:

• Toasted teacakes with apricot compote
• Easy iced buns

A little effort:

• Earl Grey teacakes
• Stollen buns
• St Lucia saffron buns

Biscuits

Shortbreads, cookies, ginger nuts… take inspiration from your childhood biscuit tin. These recipes all take less than an hour, so you can make them in the morning.

• Sugared flower shortbreads
• Carrot cake cookies
• Ginger cookie sandwiches with lemon mascarpone
• Coconut nice
• Strawberry & cream roly polys

Pâtisserie

Just the mere mention of Parisian-standard pastry is enough to send shivers down the spine of your average home cook. If you’re willing to take them on, prepare the pastry or biscuits the night before.

• Raspberry millefeuilles
• Mini eclairs
• Chinon apple tarts
• Salted caramel & popcorn crumble choux buns
• Creme brulee tartlets

Cakes

Individual portions are the key here, so avoid making a large cake and bake up something dinky.

• Coffee & walnut flapjacks
• Blood orange & poppy drizzle muffins
• Little pistachio cakes
• Coconut chai traybake
• Strawberry & polenta cupcakes

Showstoppers

Pull out all the stops and serve up something really special.

• Blood orange & dark chocolate madeleines
• Star anise meringues with mango coulis
• Apple rose tart
• Raspberry, lemon and frangipane tart
• Iced vanilla & caramel profiteroles