Care For Some Tea? Here's A Classy Table Setting For Your Next Afternoon Tea Party

Afternoon tea, a timeless tradition that originated from the United Kingdom, involves having tea between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., and serving the tea with a variety of sweet and savory pastries to guests. It has become a leisurely and relaxing way of having a wonderful get-together.

 

A mix of old and new

All it takes is a bit of creativity and checking the variety of home items that you can put together to create a classy tablescape for an afternoon tea party. Open your cupboards and look for things that you have not used for a long time. You might find items such as silver tea sets, vintage vases, heirloom china, and other interesting items that can be part of your tea time tablescape.

 

 

It would be best to edit the various materials that you’ve found at home. Be open to mixing different things and breaking up sets in order to create a more unique tablescape. Simply place all the items that you found on a table and see the various colors, patterns and textures when they are placed beside each other. By doing this, you will be able to see which items work together and which items do not.

The tablescape created by the Metro Home & Entertaining team made use of old and new items. The setup includes mini and medium-sized vases in silver and pewter, a ceramic monkey in bright blue, a three-tiered tea tray, fresh flowers, floral plates, and tea cups. The bright blue color of some plates also blends well with the ceramic monkey and the chairs, which creates a more cohesive look.

 

Create an interesting centerpiece. The centerpiece provides an eye-catching focal point which anchors the entire tablescape.

 

 

A vibrant afternoon tea tablescape, it features an elevated and oversized silver tray containing a quirky ceramic bright blue monkey, orange colored fruit décor for color contrast and freshly arranged flowers in silver and pewter vases.

The tablescape becomes more interesting if you use items with different sizes and proportion, but keep in mind that these items on the table must not block the views of guests when they converse with each other.

 

Combine colors and patterns. If you choose to mix china, simply select the main plate, and everything will revolve around it. You can choose a dominant color and a secondary color for the bread plates, sauce dishes and other supporting elements that can connect to the color of the main plate.

 

 

To have an interesting tablescape, mix the items with different patterns or different make and mold. In order to achieve a good mix of items, try matching silver with silver or crystal with crystal so that the overall look is not too busy.

In the featured tablescape, vintage china, hand-woven plate chargers made of a local vine from the fern family, silver and pewter vases were used to create a layered look with old and new materials.

 

Serve sweet and savory treats. Do offer guests high quality freshly brewed hot tea with a variety of sweet and savory treats.

 

 

A good spread will include delicious treats such as scones, clotted cream, jams, various tea or finger sandwiches, mini quiche slices, shortbread, cookies, French macarons, mini eclairs and cream puffs, mini cheesecakes, chocolate-dipped strawberries, petit fours, trifle in small glasses, mini tarts, among others.

 

Choose good music. Adding the appropriate genre of music for a tea party makes the overall environment more pleasing and relaxing for guests.

 

*This article was originally published in Metro Home & Entertaining magazine.

 

Photographs by Jar Concengco for Metro Home & Entertaining