How to host a Valentine’s Day tea party for your friends with these easy ideas.
Welcome to my Valentine Tea Party … come on in!
I love Valentine’s Day.
And, I love afternoon tea.
From children’s make-believe tea parties to frou-frou teas in swanky hotels … and everything in between.
Tea, tea, and more tea, please.
And scones, obviously.
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I’m hosting a Valentine tea party for four.
I invited three girlfriends for some late afternoon fun.
Should I call it a Galentine tea?
No matter, I’ve got some some easy ideas for hosting one of your own.
The Table Setting
This gorgeous floral tablecloth caught my eye, but I didn’t plan ahead and couldn’t get it in time.
In a pinch I ordered a hot pink and green cactus flower tablecloth that reminds me of my Christmas cactus.
I used my round, woven green placemats and blush pink linen napkins. Pale green would be lovely too.
It’s fun to have an excuse to use my mom’s china. It’s Royal Doulton’s Coronet pattern.
I inherited her china 26 years ago but rarely used it.
Last year I passed it on to niece Sophie and I hope she’ll find occasion to use it more often and remember her granny.
I also inherited my maternal grandmother’s silver.
It’s Lunt’s American Victorian pattern. I’ve held onto it and plan to use it as our everyday flatware when we move to our new house.
The silver was in need of polishing. Ugh.
Good news, Jim volunteered to do it.
He ironed the napkins too. While watching football.
The Flowers
Our local grocery store, Diablo Foods, has a wonderful floral department.
They helped me pull together a combination of pink peonies and white hydrangeas to fit my Tiffany crystal bowl.
The Menu
When hosting any type of gathering I follow Ina Garten’s advice.
Make two or three things and buy and assemble the rest. If it works for Ina …
I made the tea sandwiches, scones and mini-quiches.
Tea sandwiches are so easy. You can make just about any sandwich, cut off the crusts, cut them into small pieces and voila.
I made ham and brie sandwiches with strawberry jam on sliced sourdough and marbled rye. And used a small heart shaped cookie cutter to get tea-sized servings.
I planned to make my favorite Sunrise Scones, a currant scone recipe (recipe to follow), but on the morning of my tea party I discovered I was out of currants. Oops.
So I made scones using a cranberry orange scone mix. I always have some sort of scone mix in the pantry in case of this kind of emergency. Lemon poppy seed is a favorite too.
And once again I used a small heart shaped cookie cutter to shape the scones.
Another fun idea is to order Mrs. Bakewell’s Original Cream Tea box. Kim sent me a box over the holidays and it’s one of my favorite gifts ever. What a treat!
You can also order a box of just scones. Classic English scones that are so good you’ll feel like you’re having tea in the English countryside.
To accompany the scones … I served berry jams, lemon curd and clotted cream.
Devon Cream Company’s English Clotted Cream can be found in specialty grocery stores and it’s delicious.
Then there’s the bacon and spinach mini-quiches. It’s a gray area.
Technically I baked them. But, this may fall under the buy and assemble category.
And, Finally, The Desserts
Obviously bought.
We’re blessed with the most fabulous local bakery … Le Gateau Elegant.
They make beautiful and delicious Petit Fours.
While at the bakery I spotted amazing Mexican Wedding cookies and Macarons … the more desserts the merrier.
If you’re hosting littles, these mouse-a-fours are a huge hit.
And, the piece de resistance … the cake.
It’s Le Gateau Elegant’s Swedish Princess Cake.
It’s a vanilla genoise cake with custard and raspberry filling and a pink ombre buttercream frosting.
Yum!
The cake plate was my mother’s. It’s Viking’s heart shaped pedestal plate from their Prelude collection. They can still be found at Replacements Ltd and other resale sites like Etsy.
I wouldn’t be suprised if many of you have this cake plate in your cupboards.
The Tea
I brewed Fortnum & Mason Classic Earl Gray.
Accompanied by cream, sugar and lemon slices.
The heart shaped sugar cubes are left over from my last tea party … to celebrate the Royal wedding of Princess Harry’s and Meghan Markle.
Seems like a lifetime ago.
Tea + Sparkling Wine
Want to kick your tea party up a notch?
Add sparkling wine to the menu or my favorite sparkling cocktail the Raspberry Kir Royale.
It’s a workhorse cocktail and perfect for all occasions from Thanksgiving through Valentine’s Day.
Or year round.
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As promised, here’s my Sunrise Scone recipe ~
Sunrise Scones
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Half-and-Half Cream + 1 tablespoon for glaze
- 1/3 cup Currants
- 1 Large egg, beaten
- 2-1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 3 Tbsp Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Butter, cut into small pieces Freeze for 10 minutes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° and prepare baking sheet with parchment
- Combine cream, currants and egg in small bowl.
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and sale in large bowl.
- Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
- Stir currant mixture into dry ingredients with a fork.
- On a lightly floured surface, turn out the dough and knead lightly for 4-5 turns. Dough will be sticky.
- Pat dough to 3/4 thick and cut out scones using round, scalloped biscuit cutter.
- Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment and brush tops with Half-and-Half. Bake about 18 minutes, until tops are golden brown.
SHOP THE POST ~
So, there you have it.
My Valentine’s Day tea party.
I hope it inspires you to host one of your own.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Images by Monica Vargas Photography
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