The afternoon tea is counted amongst the finest British traditions wherein a group of friends, family or colleagues sit at a pre-decided venue like a hotel, house garden or at any other place like house backyard. The host make sure that everything is arranged well in order and is placed well at its place including the sitting arrangement, eatables like cookies, pancakes, tea, coffee and sandwiches etc. in sufficient amount that can fill the appetite of the guests.
The basic kit: Recollect the decorative pieces like tiered cake stand and dust everything off to use them as the centrepieces on the table. Use the best crockery pieces on the tea table to make it look appealing and more special with lace-like things, folded napkins etc. and arrange all the eatables in a way that it enhance the beauty of your afternoon tea party. If you do not have much crockery in your stock then consider buying few and do not forget the teapots, teacups, cutlery and cake slices for serving.
Setting the scene: Table settings should always be attractive and fascinating so that the guests can enjoy having tea under such an ambience. Consider buying good looking fabrics, yummy cookies and also consider making everything personalised. For instance ice the cookies with the names of the guests to make your tea table look more eye-catchy. You can even consider gifting those personalised cookies wrapped properly to the guests as a present to take away or just serve them as an entree to leave an everlasting impression on the people present at this get together.
Arrival drinks: Always plan ahead of time and place everything on the table before your guests arrive, so that you can serve drinks to your guests on their arrival. Keep sugar and milk ready to pour your guests a cuppa as they sit down. Try making arrangements for a variety of tea to give your guests an ample amount of choices to choose from. Keep options for both hot and cold teas like iced tea etc. As during warmer weather, most of people prefer having something cold and for an afternoon tea in Hertfordshire, lemon or mint iced tea is one of the best choices to serve them.
The variety of snacks: Though there is no rule when it comes to food for the tea party. But a standard late afternoon course of food is inclusive of a layer of sandwiches, cakes, cookies, scones and the tea cakes. However pastries, petit fours can also be added to this course. Don’t overload the tea table with too many ambitious bites choose a limited variety to make sure you get the perfect choices on the table. After all, food is the main thing that can make or break the enthusiasm at the tea party. Here are the common food choices:
Sandwiches: They require minimal efforts and are less-expensive to be places on the tea table. Just take out sufficient amount of time by preparing your fillings in advance and assembling everything on time to avoid the dreaded soggy sarnie.
Scones: The scones are best eaten during the day time and do not take much time to whip up. But to prepare everything well on time, freeze a batch and defrost them in a low oven. Serve warm with the lashings of jam and keep an amount of jam separately in a bowl so that your guests can use it to spread on their scones.
Cakes: Individual piece of cakes should always be the main component and therefore, try avoiding the large cakes and place something dinky so that everyone can easily pick their piece of cake and enjoy.
Showstoppers: Apart from all basic things, bring out something innovative and lip smacking that can be a part of your showstopper menu. This basically includes desserts like dark chocolate madeleine, tarts etc.
Stay creative and find out distinctive ways to organise afternoon tea parties. Make the ambience look appealing and wonderful so that your guests can enjoy the environment of the party. Manage everything well and add soothing music to the party to make it a great success.
You can even plan to throw an afternoon tea party in Hertfordshire this New Year, inviting all your friends and close family members. Throwing your own party means you need have to stick your own budget and choose the favourite finger foods that can fit easily on your budget. You can consider following suggestions while planning a party at your outhouse.