My younger sister Lindsey is getting married in October, so recently we threw her a tea party bridal shower. She loves tea and she’s also an avid reader, so the décor included lots of books, teapots, and teacups.
I planned the menu for the shower, made tea sandwiches, and baked some desserts. My mom created charcuterie teacups and handled all of the gorgeous table arrangements. My sister Lisa planned some fun games to play during the shower.
The shower was a great success! We were all happy with how things came together and everyone really enjoyed the afternoon.
Read on for some inspiring photos from the shower, plus get some ideas for hosting your own afternoon tea party!
My mom really outdid herself with the beautiful tablescapes at this party! We used pretty paper plates topped with napkins folded into the shape of roses. Learn how to fold your own napkin roses with this tutorial.
The centerpieces were teapots filled with faux floral arrangements that my mom crafted. Next to each plate was a teacup filled with charcuterie (see more details later in post) and a cake shaped favor box filled with small treats.
Since my sister loves to read, there are beautiful books incorporated into the centerpieces. The photos of various women are part of a game which is discussed later in the post.
My mom got this idea online and executed it to perfection. Each charcuterie teacup was prepped with a paper liner. Inside was a sprig of rosemary; a stick of grapes and strawberries; a stick loaded with cheese, pepperoni, and a pickle; a Babybel cheese with a heart cut out, and two pretzel sticks. Each saucer got a variety of crackers and a Rocher candy.
These were a bit difficult to carry around, so we put one at each place setting to make things easy. We were very happy with how these came out! Keep in mind that a nice deep tea cup is best for this sort of appetized. My Blue Willow teacups actually worked out the best in this case!
Regrettably, I did not capture photos of our beverage station or our tea sandwiches. The menu consisted of chicken salad sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, pimiento cheese, pasta salad, and broccoli salad.
On theme with the tea party, we served sweet and unsweet tea with flavor syrups to mix with them. We also provided lemonade and water. While cocktails were not served at this event, you could serve cocktails along with the afternoon tea. This lavender limoncello lemonade is a the perfect crowd pleaser and isn’t too strong.
For dessert I baked banana scones and lemon thumbprint cookies. We also served petit fours from a local bakery, small cheesecakes, and brownies.
We played a couple of fun bridal shower games. The first was “Name that Matriarch.” You may have noticed photographs of various women scattered throughout the décor. These are all family photos from both the bride and grooms sides of the family. Guests were given a sheet of names and had to guess who was who.
We filled a teapot with peppermint patties and had people guess how many were inside, with the teapot itself being the prize. We also played a trivia game where we had to guess whether each obscure fact was about the bride or the groom.
Besides the peppermint patty filled teacup, we had prizes on hand which included gift cards and three homemade teacup candles.
I hope you found some tea party theme inspiration from this post! What was your favorite aspect of this tea party? If you’re interested in replicating this party, be sure to check out my Tea Party Bridal Shower Pinterest board.