There are few things more enjoyable than planning an Autumn Tea Party. Tables adorned with the colors and flavors of fall – orange, yellow, brown, and red — pumpkins, apples, pears, and cinnamon. It’s one of my favorite seasons, right next to Christmas! This post will take you through the planning steps enabling you to host your own party.
Planning a Tea Party is Fun!
If you’ve never planned a tea party before, please don’t be intimidated. I’m going to walk you through the steps, so you can plan your party with ease. These tea party ideas are perfect for an Autumn Tea, but can be easily adapted for any season.
For me, a large percent of the joy in hosting a tea party is in the planning, so have fun with this!
Be sure to download and print off my Tea Party Checklist for easier planning.
Choose a Tea Party Theme
When planning a tea party, one of the first things I like to do is consider the theme, which will include colors, flowers, dishes and tableware, along with table linens. For an autumn party, you’ll want to choose colors and flowers of the season, so think yellow, orange, brown, and red.
Fall chrysanthemums are a great choice for a floral arrangement, available in many colors to fit your decor. Other flowers such as sunflowers, asters, or marigolds also work well and may be fresh or artificial. If you desire more, add in a few miniature pumpkins, squash, or fall leaves to decorate the table.
Next, determine what tableware and linens you’ll use to fit the color scheme. For my table, I spent time collecting fall dishes at garage sales, and local thrift and antique stores. You can often find china dish sets available for little to nothing, which is how I added the above pink and yellow dishes, purchased for under $10. I mixed and matched tableware with other pieces, including amber Tiara depression glass, a few Royal Albert Lenora cups and saucers, and a Mikasa Antique White teapot and serving ware.
Ebay, Mercari, or Etsy are good places to search for vintage dishes if you compare and watch for good buys. Another option is to use pretty paper plates and napkins. This is especially helpful when hosting a large party.
For linens, I used a green tablecloth that I’ve had for many years, and white crochet napkins. One of my tea party traditions is to include chicken napkin rings for each place setting. For this fall tea, I used a set of brown chickens, found at a thrift store for $1.
Other accent pieces included a pretty autumn table runner gifted to me, as well as glass amber-colored hen on nests that I collect.
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Maison d’ Hermine Fall Table Cloth
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Mikasa French Countryside Teapot
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Invitations, Printables, and Party Favors
Be sure to send out invitations for your tea party at least two weeks in advance. Always include the date, time, place, and if there is a dress code your guests should know about. Sometimes my tea parties are dressy, while others allow for more comfortable clothing, such as this Autumn Tea Party, where I encouraged guests to wear fall colors.
If motivated, create name plates and menu cards for your guests to take home. Or your could purchase pretty templates or items online. Amazon or Etsy are wonderful places to shop for such items.
Games or activities are not required for a tea party, but it does help to keep conversation moving, especially when you have little guests at the party. Try to keep to your theme, if possible. Bingo is always a fun and easy game to play at a table, as are word puzzles such as these Fall Themed Games. Should you desire to offer party favors to your guests when they leave, you might create a menu card for them to take home, or a small bag of tea cookies, or maybe an autumn snack, such as my Peanut Butter Caramel Popcorn or Candy Corn Crispy Rice Treats.
Planning the Tea Party Menu
Now that the basics are figured out, it’s time to plan the menu! For this Autumn Tea Party, I tried to include some of the wonderful fall flavors that we enjoy–pumpkin, apples, pears, and cinnamon. And because of the cooler weather, I wanted to serve a few warm savories to go with the tea sandwiches.
This tea party is for Afternoon Tea or Low Tea, which means I planned three courses–Savories. Scones, and Sweets, in that order. I almost always begin a tea by first serving savories, although you could also serve scones first and therefore, fresh and warm straight from the oven.
Sweets I save for last as I like to end tea with dessert! Sometimes, I plan a fourth course as a grand finale, such as a beautiful layer cake, fruit tart, or even a trifle, so I have included a few recipes for those, too.
First Course – Savories
We always enjoy tea sandwiches, but sometimes it’s nice to include at least one savory item that isn’t a sandwich for variety. For our autumn party, I decided on turkey and cheese sandwiches, butternut squash soup, mini quiche tarts, along with sweet pickles and celery with pimento cheese. Other suggestions might be Curried Chicken Tea Sandwiches, Cheesy Chicken Rice Soup, or Apricot Pepper Jack Mini Tarts.
Second Course – Scones
For the second course, choose a favorite scone or sweet bread, along with butter, clotted cream, and a jam or preserves that compliments the flavor of the scone. You might also offer nuts and fresh fruit, such as sliced apples or pears to go with the scone course.
Third Course – Sweets
Next, select at least three dainty sweets to serve for the third tea course. Consider flavors, colors, and textures to offer as much variety as possible. For our autumn tea, I wanted the warm flavors of the season, and selected sweets with apricots, nuts, cinnamon, and spices.
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Buy Now → Course 4 – Special Dessert
When selecting a special dessert, think layered cakes, fruit tarts, or trifles. For an autumn tea, you might choose desserts with apples, pears, pumpkin, spices, or nuts.
Selecting Teas and Beverages
Now that you have your menu planned, it’s time to decide which teas and beverages to pair with the food you will be serving at your party. Again, because this is an autumn tea party, I tried to select teas that matched the season. Plus, it’s always a good idea to pick at least one plain black tea, to mix things up a bit. Good choices are English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Assam, and my favorite, Earl Grey.
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Tealyra – Imperial Golden Monkey Tea
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Buy Now → For this tea party, I selected Yunon Golden Money Imperial Black Tea from Tealyra to serve with the Savory Course, Cranberry Autumn Tea from Harney & Sons to go with Scones, and a Pumpkin Chai Tea, also from H&S, to serve with Desserts. We also enjoyed a mulled apple cider over ice between courses to cool us down a bit. But you could serve it warm, if you wanted.
I hope you have enjoyed this post for hosting an Autumn Tea Party. Maybe it will stir ideas for a party at your home this month or in November. I always say that a good percentage of the fun had in afternoon tea is in the planning. Happy Planning!
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“The spirit of the tea beverage is one of peace, comfort, and refinement.” ~ Arthur Gray
