How to Plan a Garden Tea Party

Here are the tips for how to plan a garden tea party, with our free online guide to make sure its super fun! 

It's time to take the party outdoors!

Spring is upon us and finally we can embark upon one of the greatest ways to see in the glorious, crisp weather.

Tea parties in the spring just seem that extra bit special; they allow us to enjoy the outdoors without freezing and slipping on ice or sweltering in some extremely cake-unfriendly heat!

The conditions come together to create an ideal environment for enjoying both the weather and good company.

If you’re planning on hosting your first spring tea party, be sure to follow our top tips to ensure it goes off without a hitch and leaves your friends eagerly anticipating your next event!

Decision Time

One of the first things you need to decide is whether you are intending to host an alcoholic tea party or a teetotal tea party!

The timing of the day could play a major part, with alcohol-friendly parties much more suited to an afternoon/late evening time than the early morning/lunchtime alcohol-free versions.

Decide on who you are planning on inviting and then tailor the plans accordingly.

Alcoholic Tea Party

You could create a cocktails menu for your guests to choose from and get some mixing practice in before the big day!

Frosting the glasses with a sugar finish can make a world of difference in making the cocktails transition from simply looking homemade to professional.

Bring in some glass accessories to decorate your cocktails with a flourish; it is easy to find small umbrellas, but go crazy and experiment with whatever different decorations you wish to use!

Alcohol-Free Tea Party

Alcohol-free tea parties (shall we call them teetotal tea parties? Or perhaps even teatotal parties?

Excuse the pun!) are the perfect way to see in a crisp spring morning.

If you have a coffee machine you could put that to good work with guests enjoying a range of cappuccinos, lattes and mochas.

Don’t forget to get some practice in with a milk steamer – you could even get your guests to join in with steaming the milk as a fun and unusual activity!

The espresso-making facility could be especially useful on a warm summer’s afternoon as you could provide a range of iced coffees for your guests.

All you need is the espresso from your coffee machine, some ice, milk, sugar, and a blender. It’s incredibly simple but also incredibly refreshing.

Get in a range of different flavoured tea bags – there is far more to tea than merely the classic

English Breakfast! Provide your guests with a range of options for them to experiment with.

Food for High Tea

What are you planning on serving to your guests?

Finger foods are a tea party classic and can easily be brought together to provide an extensive range for your guests to enjoy.

A buffet set-up is ideal for most garden parties, and you could even ask your guests to bring one item each to contribute.

If you enjoy baking, a garden party can provide the ideal opportunity to try out those new recipes you have been saving up for a special occasion.

Experiment with different colour macaroon on a tray for a colourful spring treat, while larger cakes could be baked for your guests to communally enjoy and share.

By asking your guests to provide their own homebaked goods you can truly get into the sharing aspects

Now you’re ready to host your first spring tea party, get those invitations out and don’t give anyone an excuse for not coming!

Guest Writer: Jacqui Brown provided this post on hosting the perfect spring tea party. Jacqui fitted her garden with timber decking for the perfect al fresco dining experience.

Serve Iced Tea Too

Iced tea is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Many people may be under the impression that it's only popular in America, with so many stories of how hard it is to get ice in other countries.

However, there are numerous countries that enjoy this cool, refreshing beverage.

Iced tea is an extremely versatile drink and can be served in numerous ways.

It all depends on your preference and what you like.

It can be sweet or unsweet, served with your favorite flavorings like lemon, raspberry, peach, strawberry.

Some people even enjoy mixing their tea half and half with other beverages like lemonade or cranberry juice.

It's common practice to steep your tea leaves or tea bags in boiling water.

However, many people prefer making sun tea, which uses the heat of the sun to brew or even cold brewed tea by placing it in the refrigerator for about 24 hours.

These are all great ways to make tea.

If you prefer something faster and more convenient, there are plenty of machines to cater to your needs.

These iced tea brewers can brew a perfect pitcher of tea in about 10 minutes.

To sweeten or not to sweeten

This is usually a personal preference.

Many people like their tea so sweet that it could be considered syrup, while others prefer theirs unsweetened.

You also have to take health issues into account.

With diabetes on the rise it's best to enjoy your tea unsweetened.

Even using sugar substitutes come with their own drawbacks.

Tea is reported to be healthier than coffee and it contains less caffeine.

This is the reason that so many have switched to drinking tea over coffee, whether it's hot tea or iced tea.

Icing tea down does cause it to lose some of its antioxidants so you may want to try having a cup of hot tea in the morning before switching to iced.

Should you buy an iced tea maker?

If you love the traditional way of steeping your tea in boiled water, then a machine may not be right for you.

If you want to save time and make things easier on yourself, an iced tea maker will be a dream come true for you.

Two of the most popular iced tea machines are the Hamilton Beach Iced Tea Maker and the Teavana PerfecTea Tea Maker

These are relatively inexpensive, less than $30 and offer years of tea brewing pleasure.

Don't forget you can also buy electric pots for making the perfect cup of hot tea too.

The Cuisinart Stainless Steel Electric Kettle is a great machine for this purpose.

It's also extremely versatile if you enjoy different varieties of tea.

It offers 6 temperature settings so you always have the perfect cup of tea.

Adagio Teas Ingenuitea TeapotCHECK PRICE

Teavana PerfecTea Tea MakerCHECK PRICE

Cuisinart PerfecTemp Programmable Steeper CHECK PRICE

Comparison Review of Tea Makers

The type of tea maker you purchase will depend on your purpose for the machine, as in brewing hot tea or making iced tea or if you want a machine that can do both.

Another factor to consider is price.

Some devices come with a hefty price tag but offer many features and more benefits over the lower priced machines.

On the high priced end is The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker.

It offers a unique brewing cycle which raises and lowers the tea basket for perfect steeping of tea varietals.

It will also keep the tea warm for an hour before shutting off the warmer.

The Breville is also great for those who like to brew loose leaf, although, you can use tea bags if that's your preference.

Breville BTM800XL One-Touch Tea MakerCHECK PRICE

The Cuisinart Electric Kettle is a mid-range priced item, but it offers a lot of great features.

It has 6 temperature settings so you can brew perfect tea no matter which variety of tea you're using.

It's sleek and stylish design will look great on your countertop.

If you consider yourself a true tea enthusiast, you may want to invest in this product.

If brewing iced tea is your thing and you don't care about having hot tea, then you may consider buying the iced tea makers that come complete with a pitcher and can go straight into the fridge after brewing.

Cuisinart CPK-17 PerfecTemp 1.7-Liter Stainless Steel Cordless Electric KettleCHECK PRICE

Mr. Coffee has been making iced tea makers for quite a few years.

These machines are easy to use and generally come with a simple push button to start the brewing process.

This maker has a 3 quart capacity and easily allows you to adjust the brewing time for the strength of tea you desire.

If you love iced tea and want it fast, in less than 10 minutes, and don't want to spend a lot of time getting ready to brew tea, these types of makers are a great choice.

Mr. Coffee Fresh Iced Tea Maker, 3-QuartCHECK PRICE

Another great iced tea maker is the Hamilton Beach Iced Tea Maker.

It offers the same push button style as Mr. Coffee but is a bit higher priced.

With this tea maker you can use tea bags or loose leaf tea.

Another great feature is the sleek design of the pitcher which allows you to store it in the door of your fridge to save shelf space.

Whether you are shopping for the quick and convenient iced tea makers or looking for something that's more versatile and allows you to enjoy hot brewed tea or iced tea.

There are plenty of machines on the market to cater to your needs.

Hamilton Beach 40911 2-Quart Electric Iced Tea MakerCHECK PRICE

Continue to Research

If you are nervous about hosting or hostessing you just need to learn how to plan a garden tea party and present it with flair to your happy guests.

There are many online party planning tips to help you be the host with the most - and I hope this page has been of some help to you.

Gracie China Vintage Porcelain 11-Piece Tea SetCHECK PRICE

More Resources

I'm in the process of publishing some guides to help you even further!

One will be a party planning guide with all the tips you need to know for how to plan a party, and another one especially for this Garden Tea Party section will be all about the health benefits of drinking tea, as well as some more information about tea making and serving accessories.

But in the meantime, here are a couple of other products that deserve to be featured here for you:

Primula PTA-4009 Flowering Tea Set with 40-Ounce Pot, 6 Flowering Teas, and Loose-Tea Variety PackCHECK PRICE

Trudeau Tea Mendous Tea TumblerCHECK PRICE

WISSOTZKY Magic Tea Box, 80-CountCHECK PRICE

Tea Forte Single Steeps Loose Tea SamplerCHECK PRICE

Keurig B145 OfficePRO Brewing System with Bonus K-Cup Portion Trial PackCHECK PRICE

Bunn TDO-3.5 3.5 Gallon Iced Tea Dispenser - Low Profile CHECK PRICE

Below here I'm featuring more pages with helpful how-to-do-it  tips on this subject. 

Feel free to submit your own story or article about it, and I will create your own page here with your contribution for the community to read.

Back to HOME PAGE of this how to plan a garden tea party section of the site.