Pumpkins leer from windows. Frost stalks the night. Leaves blaze yellow and crimson. Nature is debatably more beautiful in autumn than any other time of year. The sights, smells, and tastes that convey the season should become the focal point for the first fall tea: Alluring Afternoons, a Celebration of Beauty.
Alluring Afternoons: A Tea Party in Celebration of Beauty
Prepare seasonal invitations with pressed fall leaves and ribbons. Or find stamps and ink for the same purpose. Then in calligraphy or an elegant font request the company of friends for an Alluring Afternoon Tea. Tea quotes inscribed in each card lend a nice touch.
Supplies Needed to Host a Tea
Once the R.S.V.P.s have returned, check the cupboards and china hutches for the following supplies. Purchase anything necessary.
- Damask table linens in autumn colors/white linens with accessories.
- Place settings for the appropriate number of guests
- A tea kettle
- Silver tea service with sugar bowl, creamer, and tea strainer
- Cutlery including tea spoons and sugar tongs
- Fall scented ambient candle of choice
- Dripless tapers for table top
- Background music featuring sounds of nature, i.e. rain, waves, birds chirping, etc.
- Floral centerpiece featuring fall décor
- Loose fall leaves (artificial or fresh) for table-top decoration
- Party favors (individually packaged tea bags make a nice gift)
- Ingredients for the menu
Sample Menu
A typical cream tea has three staples: tea, scones, and clotted cream. Start with the basics. If aiming for a simple tea, serve only tea, scones, and a spread. If time and inclination afford, extend the menu to include finger sandwiches and some type of dessert. In this way a creative hostess can tailor the tea to fit every occasion. Here is a sample menu for an Alluring Afternoon Tea which highlights the flavors of autumn:
- Loose Darjeeling tea (a fine black tea which compliments both sweet and savory. Serve with milk and sugar cubes)
- Iced blackberry tea (herbal or black)
- Salmon and watercress finger sandwiches on rye
- Cranberry Walnut Waldorf salad served on croissants
- Currant Apple Scones with apple butter
- Baked custard with blackberries
Preparing a Tea Party
The secret to hosting a successful party is allowing sufficient preparation time. Time ensures that all the details fall into place and that the hostess can enjoy herself in the midst of planning, shopping, and cooking.
During the week preceding the party, prepare the menu and shop for ingredients.
Two days prior prepare the linens. Polish the silver. Wash the china and crystal. Relish this opportunity to use delicate items whose colors, textures and patterns evoke beauty.
On the day before the party prepare the room and set the table. Select autumn flowers for the centerpiece, such as mums or marigolds or asters and gather any last minute items needed for the menu (such as blackberries). Keep any fall leaves in the cooler until the day of the party to ensure freshness. Cue the background music. Bake custards and toss the Waldorf salad. If making home-made apple butter cook and cool in advance.
Prepare remaining food on the morning of the party. Light the aromatic candle at least twenty minutes prior to guests’ arrival and start the music. Finally, include time to exchange the chef’s apron for a favorite fall outfit!
Cups of Conversation
Start conversations by asking what each guest likes best about autumn. What particular image does he or she associate with fall? What makes a scene beautiful? Ask guests to describe their ideal vacation spot.
Eventually turn the conversation to a discussion of physical beauty. What makes an individual beautiful? How has the conception of beauty changed over the eras and what form will it take in the future? If time allows display photos from magazines or books depicting the belle of the 1800s and decades of the 1900s as compared to present day models. This should evoke a lot of laughs.
Hand out favors before guests disperse and plan to party again soon. Further autumn themed teas will follow...Miss Scarlet in the Dining Room with the Earl Grey? A Mystery Tea and Poetry, Pumpkins and Poe, a party that is anything but prosaic.
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