Winter Tea Party

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Tea Party! Simple friend gatherings at home for tea or coffee, can easily be transformed into beautiful afternoon tea parties,

where communication and relaxation enriched with beautiful decor and creates memorable moments for us and our friends.
I found a very nice idea for a tea party designed by Julie Murphy and photographed by Burcu Avsar and featured at Country Living magazine. Enjoy it!

Make Tea Party-Themed Invitations

“I thought it would be fun to send out an invitation that actually looks like a tea bag,” Murphy says. Follow her lead by typing your event information in a Microsoft Word document and printing it onto a four-inch-square piece of card stock. Place the card inside a 4 1/2″W x 6 3/4″H glassine bag and fold back the bag’s top two corners. Next, fold over the top of the bag by one inch and staple the whole thing shut. To really make it resemble a tea bag, Murphy punched a hole at the top, then added a length of twine and a “tag”—in this case, a scalloped-edged construction-paper circle accented with a paper heart. To make the polka-dot inner envelope, print out our template Here.

Suit Up Your Seats

These striking slipcovers don’t require a single stitch! For each chair, measure the width of the chair’s back and add two inches. Then, measure the height of the chair’s back (from seat to top); double that figure and add an inch. With pinking shears, cut a piece of white canvas duck to those dimensions. Next, cut heart, spade, club, and diamond designs out of red and black felt, and hot-glue one to the center of each cover’s front side. Once dry, drape each cover evenly over a chair’s back; on either side, cut small slits through both layers of fabric, as shown. Finally, loop a ribbon through each pair of slits, tying it in a bow.

Let Them Eat Cake

Put a personal stamp on store-bought treats with tiny EAT ME flags. To craft each banner, Murphy cut a small strip of card stock, trimming one end into an inverted arrow. She then used alphabet stamps to spell out the message, and glued the banner to a toothpick. The final step: Planting the flags in pretty cupcakes, each displayed on a mini cake pedestal. “I love the luxury of every guest getting her own stand,” Murphy says.

Charm Guests with Little Details

Reference Carroll’s White Rabbit with these low-priced pocket watches, just $15 a pop, which Murphy scattered atop her table. Other handy uses: Open them up to cradle placecards or wrap them around napkins as holders.

Serve Fun Finger Sandwiches

The only thing better than sliced bread? Bread sliced into card suits using inexpensive cookie cutters. Murphy also kicked her sandwich fillings up a notch, serving chicken salad with mango chutney; radishes with butter and sea salt; pear and blue cheese; and an easy-to-eat BLT salad.

Stage a Tea Tasting

Murphy relied on her friend Jamie Sydney, who owns G.H. Macy Fine Teas, to recommend these satisfying selections (clockwise, from left): Marco Polo, a delightful floral; a Darjeeling blend; a classic black Darjeeling; and Red Nectar, a caffeine-free rooibos brew that boasts a red hue.

Craft a Playful Garland

All you need: a deck of cards, a hole punch, and baker’s twine. Punch two holes at the top of each card, then thread the twine through the holes, alternating the card facings, as shown.

Single Out Your Drinks

Make sparkling wine even more special—and call to mind Love Potion No. 9—by serving bubbly in individual decanters. Murphy’s drink of choice? Lini 910’s Lambrusco Rose. “I added extra little touches, too: shipping tags stamped DRINK ME and cheery barber pole straws,” she says.

Deal Out Super-Affordable Party Favors

Turn $1 packs of playing cards into presents by packaging them in nifty tins that also cost around a buck. For bookish appeal, adorn the lid of each tin with a sticker that bears an illustration from an old edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (Print out the PDF card label with an ink-jet sticker paper.) Then, place a deck of cards inside before gifting.