How to Host an Unforgettable Afternoon Tea Party: Valentine’s Edition

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Now I know what you’re thinking…Valentine’s is long over for 2025. However, I worked so hard on hosting this afternoon tea party for my friends and family, that I just can’t help but share my favorite tips and tricks! That, and my favorite color remains to be pink, even after Valentine’s Day is over. Hence why I went all out for this tea party!

I also want to throw this disclaimer out there: hosting this tea party took a LOT of ambition on my part, and a lot of planning went into this. I even took off work for the day before the afternoon tea party, so I could prepare. If you want to host something like this, then buckle in for a fun, yet challenging ride that is well worth it!

Where was the inspiration from this tea drawn from?

Many years ago, my aunt took the women in my family to an afternoon tea party on Christmas Eve at the Dallas Arboretum. Going into it for the first time, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I was completely shocked! The second that the servers brought out the first course, a creamy chestnut soup in a small espresso cup, I fell completely in love. There was no going back for me.

Now a long-standing tradition, I look forward to going to the afternoon tea at the Dallas Arboretum every year for Christmas Eve, and I even take my boyfriend now on a separate day. However, this year I decided that it was time for all the other family members to experience what I genuinely think is one of the greatest excursions of all time. And how would I make that happen? By hosting my own tea party, of course!

This Valentine’s afternoon tea was modeled directly after the tea at the Dallas Arboretum. Complete with three courses and three teas, alongside sparkly beverages if you choose, I figured I would be as ambitious as possible and go all out for my family and friends.

Tips for making the afternoon tea party successful

If you truly want to host an extravagant tea party, make sure that you do as much prep as possible the day before the party. Any earlier than that, and you could risk losing the freshness of the foods you are serving. Any later, and you might run out of time. Here are some other tips I think might help for hosting a tea party:

• Limit the number of foods that you cook on the day of. And by that, I mean only cook a maximum of three dishes on the day of and during the party. Anymore than that, and your kitchen will become a disaster. My first tea party, I made the mistake of planning to cook four dishes the day of (scones, beef wellingtons, chestnut soup and spinach puffs) and I barely finished everything in time. It was a COMPLETE disaster. But they turned out delicious!
• Make desserts and sandwiches that will keep well in the fridge! Since most of the food should be prepped the day before the party, make sure you only choose to cook things that will keep well and stay fresh for at least 24-48 hours. That way, you don’t have to worry about prepping too many things the day of.
• Assemble tea sandwiches on the day of. If you have the time, I recommend spending the early hours of the morning prepping the tea sandwiches and putting them together. One of my favorite things to do is to chop and prepare all the ingredients the day before, and organize them into tupperware. That way, all I have to do the morning of is assemble the sandwiches. This step is important so that if you have a sandwich that uses some type of cream cheese spread, it won’t soak into the bread too much and ruin it.

My favorite tools and dishes for hosting a tea party

• The most important thing (in my opinion) is having a sturdy three-tiered tray. This set of three from amazon was the cheapest I could find, and held up very well during the entire tea party experience.
• Serving utensils like these mini tongs and tea spoons were essential to making the table setting look nice and give the guests a “fancy feel.” Also try out these honey dipper sticks for capturing the essence of the honey pots.
• Aside from the table setting, having sugar cubes on the table is super important for people who like to have their tea sweeter. Try these brown sugar cubes that taste delicious and come in a large box that you can save for other parties.
• And don’t forget these small espresso cups that are perfect for serving the soup course! I have used them multiple times now, and they hold up perfectly in the dishwasher.

My hand-selected menu:

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First Course: Soup

• Baked Potato Soup topped with fresh chives, crispy bacon and sharp cheddar cheese
• Homemade Focaccia with flaky salt and fresh rosemary

Second Course: Savory

• Mini Beef Wellingtons with fresh thyme and dijon mustard
• Cucumber & Dill Cream Cheese Sandwiches cut into heart shapes on homemade sandwich bread
• Mini Chicken and Waffles featuring Chick-fil-a nuggets, Eggo fluffy waffles and a syrup-filled heart-shaped syringe
• Turkey & Pesto Open-faced Sandwiches with homemade pesto, deli turkey and baguette bread
• Mashed Avocado Green Goddess Sandwiches on homemade sandwich bread topped with microgreens

Third Course: Sweet

• Vanilla Bean Scones hand-made by my mother, paired with clotted cream and fresh strawberry jam
• Tres Leches topped with homemade whipped cream and cinnamon
• Chocolate Macarons with rich, fudgy chocolate filling
• Petit Fours filled with homemade buttercream and strawberry jam, covered in orange glaze
• Shortbread Cookies cut into thin rectangles and sprinkled with sparkling sugar
• Chocolate Covered-Strawberries drizzled with white and dark melting chocolate

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And the highlight of the party, of course, are the teas. My go-to brand will always be Republic of Tea, and for the amount of people I was serving, one can of each flavor was the perfect amount. My advice is to choose three teas and serve all of them, because that’s what really defines a tea party!

The flavors I used for the party are below:

• British Breakfast: This black tea is a classic and pairs well with anything. Keep in mind that it has a little caffeine!
• Blackberry Sage: This flavor was actually the favorite of the day. I was so surprised! It has notes of soft berries and white sage.
• Ginger Peach: My all-time favorite flavor, ginger peach!! There is also a decaf version available for purchase.
• Dallas Arboretum’s Toasted Chestnut Tea: Available for purchase at the Arboretum’s gift shop. It’s my absolute favorite flavor and pairs well with any food!

As you can tell, this was a very ambitious menu. But when cooking is your passion, it’s more fun than daunting!

How to choose the number of guests invited to the afternoon tea party

The best advice I can give is to make sure that the people you invite to this party will appreciate it. I loved having just close family and friends come, including my grandparents, parents and best friend. I also let the people in my life bring someone close to them so they could enjoy as well. But with all the effort that goes into planning and executing this, I truly do think everyone there needs to be someone who would genuinely enjoy the experience.

The other piece of advice I can give on this topic is make sure to keep the party on the smaller side. The more people, the more difficult it will be to execute. Not only would it require more dishes, it would require more tea serving. This is truly the hard part! Personally, I don’t own multiple large teapots. So brewing 20+ cups of tea three different times would be VERY difficult in my house. I kept my party at 12-14 people max, and it made the whole tea party even more intimate and enjoyable.

Tips for planning and executing:

I’m going to be completely real here. I put a lottt of effort into this event. But I truly think I have found my passion in doing so! I put days and days into thinking and planning out every last detail of this party. Here are some of my tips!

• Take a full day to cook and prepare: If at all possible, take the day before the party off of work or leave early. Or plan the party for a Sunday and prep all Saturday! This really helps to get everything done for the food and ensure you have all the necessary ingredients.
• Keep track of groceries and tools: It’s always important to ensure you are staying within your budget for hosting events like this. Plan out all the ingredients and tools you’ll need to execute and calculate all the costs before purchasing. If needed, cut costs where possible.
• Make a schedule: Plan out all the things you need to do to prepare ahead of time for the party. For me, that included thrifting tea cups, grocery shopping, hand-writing menus and putting together party favors. I used Notion to make a schedule and plan times to complete these tasks after work.
• Take advantage of technology! I used Notion to plan all of this tea party. From the guest list to the menu, I organized every thought I had into my simple template. I just used the basic page and made lists!

Party favors and hand-made gifts for the guests:

One of my favorite parts of hosting is giving little gifts to people, so they have something to remember the event by. As much as I want to savor the moment and live in it forever, all things come to an end. Consider giving out party favors that are equally sentimental and adorable. It just adds a genuine touch to the whole thing! Here are the gifts I gave out during my Valentine’s tea party:

• Mini Strawberries and Cream Bailey’s: I purchased these online and hot-glued pink bows onto them. They perfectly matched the theme of the party.
• Hand-Written Menus: I put a good amount of effort into these hand-written menus. They were small keepsakes for people to take home and remember the party forever! I used mini pink crafting bows and scrap paper to create them.
• Slice of Homemade Pink Velvet Cake: Did I forget to mention that I also made an entire cake from scratch? Oh yeah, I did. I made it for the centerpiece of the table and gave everyone a slice at the end! I put them into these cute pink cake boxes for people to take home.
• Left-Overs: To make sure not to waste any food, I just packaged up some leftovers from the tea party menu and sent it home with people! I used these recyclable soup containers and paper bags.
• Thrifted Tea Cups: Right across from my neighborhood there’s an antique mall. I took advantage and thrifted 14 tea cups. Then I let everyone take them home, so they could bring them again next time! It adds a personal touch, and you might be surprised at how you can find beautiful, vintage tea cups for cheap.

Why you might want to consider asking people to help in the kitchen!

• Take advantage of your friends and family wanting to help! Lots of people like to help in the kitchen and play an important part in an unforgettable experience.
• If you have someone helping you, they can help with making drinks and serving tea. This part is crucial, because it honestly takes up more time than you would think. Having someone designated on this station makes all the difference.
• What other reason do you need than having fun? Having my sister, cousin and best friend in the kitchen with me made the afternoon tea party easier and more exciting. I also had my boyfriend as the photographer, and tasked him with capturing all beautiful food and people.

Was it worth it?

So I guess the last question to answer: was it all worth it? I can honestly say that it was 100% worth my time, effort and money. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy it, my family and friends enjoyed it even more. The best part was listening to them chatter and enjoy the food while I was working in the kitchen. I hope that I am able to host many more teas in the future!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know if you have some questions, advice or even if you have hosted your own tea party before!