Planning a Garden Tea Party is a delightful way to celebrate the season with friends, flowers, and your favorite treats. With a bit of creativity, you can transform an outdoor space into a charming setting for sipping tea and sharing conversation.
An outdoor tea party will create a memorable experience for everyone who attends. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday party, wedding, or baby shower, or even just hosting a simple, casual get-together.
I’ll break down everything you need to host the perfect outdoor afternoon tea party.
Choosing a Tea Party Theme
Choosing a theme for your party can be quite simple if you work with what you have, and choose a theme that works with your location.
Your theme will give you a guide during the planning process, but you don’t need an elaborate theme to have an amazing party. A color palette can also be used as a guide when planning. Once you decide on a theme or color palette, it makes planning everything else a bit easier.
A garden isn’t even required to host the perfect garden party. You can create a garden mood on a patio or a yard by adding garden elements.
Here are a few theme ideas for inspiration:
Classic Vintage Garden
You can create a whimsical party by incorporating vintage elements, like teacups, lace tablecloths, candles, and beautiful fresh flowers.
Boho Chic Picnic
A fun, more casual party can be done picnic-style by utilizing low tables (like coffee tables) or serving trays, with blankets and cushions on the ground. This theme can easily be created on a patio or the grass.
Alice in Wonderland
One of the most iconic tea parties is the one by the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. You can recreate this famous scene by incorporating quirky decor and silly pieces that add a playful environment. Amazon has a bunch of themed decorations to get inspired, and make decorating easy.
Invitations
Use your theme or color palette to plan what you want your invitations to look like. They’ll be the first thing to get your guests excited about your party.
There are so many ways to create invitations. You can purchase physical cards (or download my free invitation template) and fill them in, have an online service like Zazzle or Basic Invite create and mail physical copies. Or you can use services like Evite or Paperless Post to send digital invitations and keep track of RSVPs for you.
Be sure to include the following on your invitations:
- Time and place – The ideal time will be dependent on if you have lighting in your space and the weather. If it’s warm where you live, you may want to plan a nighttime party so it’s a bit cooler outside.
- Dress code – Make sure to plan your dress code with the weather in mind. If your party is in the winter months, you’ll want to make sure your guests can dress warm. Dresses are common for tea parties, but it’s also fun to incorporate a dress-up theme, like big hats, scarves, or a specific clothing type.
- Food to be served – State if you’ll be serving a meal, like brunch or lunch, or finger food, so your guests can plan accordingly.
Decorating for Your Garden Tea Party
Buying brand-new decorations for your party is completely optional. Don’t be afraid to utilize items you already own, such as vases, furniture, and your grandma’s old china. You can mix and match elements.
Thrift stores, flea markets, and other second-hand buying options are also great for purchasing items for your party.
Table Setting
Decide if you’re going to use disposable place settings or reusable ones.
This is a great opportunity to break out the fine china that never gets used. Feel free to mix and match pieces.
Linen napkins can add an elegant feel to the table.
If you don’t have a table large enough for all your guests, easy-to-store tables can be dressed up with a pretty tablecloth.
Don’t forget the centerpieces – plenty of flowers, candles, and tea lights make for a beautiful table.
Lighting
If your party will be in the evening, consider putting up string lights, which can make a space feel whimsical while offering light.
Candles and lanterns are a wonderful addition to an outdoor space in the day or night and help to make a cozy atmosphere.
Floral Arrangements
If you have a garden to host your tea party in, that’s a great space already decorated. But you can always add flowers to create a garden feel in any outdoor space.
Include plenty of fresh flowers. These can be purchased at your local grocery store (Costco and Trader Joe’s also have a lovely selection), hardware store, or local nursery. Flower arrangements are beautiful, whether you make your own or purchase them, but you can also buy blooming potted flower plants that can be planted later, or given to your guests as favors.
Include as many flowers as you can in your space.
Tea Party Menu and Recipes
Perhaps the most fun part of planning a tea party is the menu. I like to keep it simple with finger foods that are easy to eat without much tableware or serving instruments.
Whether you make your own food or head to your favorite shops to purchase the food premade, offering a variety of snacks, savory and sweet, helps satiate your guests when your party is a couple of hours or more.
Savory Treats
Tea party sandwiches, like these delicious Cucumber Tea Sandwiches, are easy to make and help to add a more filling option for your guests.
You can also include snack trays with charcuterie boards, vegetable platters with dips, quiches, and deviled eggs.
Sweet Treats
Everyone loves a spread with sweet treats. If you prefer not to make your own, check with your local bakery to see what they offer. Stick with treats that are easy to manage and don’t make a mess.
Here are a few of my favorite recipes:
- Lemon Bars – This easy recipe uses fresh lemon and lemon zest with a buttery crust to create a dessert that’s perfectly sweet and light.
- Earl Grey Cupcakes – These cupcakes are so cute with their purple lavender frosting. They’re the perfect tea-flavored addition to any tea party.
- Scones – The more scone flavors, the better. These Strawberry Scones and Blueberry Scones are always a hit. Including a selection of Cream Scones with a selection of clotted cream, lemon curd, or lime curd can really make the party feel like a traditional tea party.
Tea
Plan to offer an assortment of teas at your party. A range of black, green, and herbal teas is nice, so guests can choose whatever they prefer. If you’re offering plain tea, be sure to include add-ins like honey, sugar cubes, lemon slices, and/or mint leaves.
During the summer months, iced tea and fun tea beverages are the best choice.
Here are some beverage ideas for your tea party:
- Iced Blueberry Matcha Latte – This latte comes together fast, looks and tastes like summer, and only requires a handful of ingredients. It’s the perfect spring or summer garden tea party drink.
- Hibiscus Green Tea Spritzer – Adding a tea spritzer to your drink menu will add a refreshing drink with a touch of elegance to your drink station.
- Cold brew tea – If you’d like to keep it simple with iced tea, use this recipe to make a few different batches of cold brew tea. This Instant Pot Blackberry Iced Tea is another great hands-off, easy option.
- Hot tea – if your garden party will be at a time when the weather is cool, hot tea can be served. I find the easiest way to do this is by having teapots or a warm water dispenser on hand, along with various tea bags and/or loose leaf teas. This way, everyone can choose the tea they would like, and make their own.
Engaging Activities and Entertainment
You’ll want to plan for entertainment at your tea party. You don’t have to get carried away – it’s likely your guests will enjoy the time together. After all, that’s the best part of a tea party!
But here are some ideas for entertainment at your party:
Interactive Games
You can get creative and plan for trivia games or an interactive craft (like hats, tea cups, or flower pot decorating), but one of my favorite outdoor party entertainment ideas is lawn games.
Giant Jenga, Connect Four, and/or a bean bag toss game are a lot of fun, and get your guests engaging with one another. All you have to do is set them up, and your guests can play as they want without much extra coordination on your part.
You can also get this Tea Word Search or Tea Trivia game from my printables shop.
Live Music or Playlist
Music is nice to have at any party. It helps with background noise and to avoid awkward silence.
You can opt for live music, like a harpist, pianist, or band, if you have the means. Or just create a playlist on your favorite streaming service.
I’ve used an Amazon Echo, Bluetooth speakers, and an Apple HomePod to play music. All of them work great and play music surprisingly well.
Choose music that pairs well with your theme or vibe. Soft and/or classical music can help bring a tea party to life, but you can choose whatever you like.
Photo Opportunities
A photo station is always a lot of fun, especially if you stock the area with props related to your theme.
A balloon arch is a relatively simple way to create a photo opportunity station. There are many tutorials online, and Amazon sells balloon kits in many different colors.
Tea Party Favors For the Guests
Though not required, it’s always nice to offer party favors for your guests. These can be simple and packaged in a nice gift bag designed around your theme.
Here are some simple tea favor ideas:
- Flowers – A bouquet or a pretty potted flower plant with blooms.
- Tea towels – Personalized tea towels, or tea towels that have a print related to your theme.
- Box of tea – Since most guests attending will appreciate tea, they’ll love a box of tea or even a bag with a few different tea bags.
- Garden supplies – If your guests are into gardening, a set of gardening tools or packets of seeds are a lot of fun.
- Tea accessories – All tea lovers appreciate tea accessories like a stainless tea ball infuser or a playful silicone infuser, or a cute garden-themed tea cup.
Tips for a Successful Garden Tea Party
It’s hard to plan for everything that could come up to alter your plans at the last minute, but here are my top tips for planning for the unexpected.
- Have a weather plan – Have a space to move in case of rain – like indoors, under a large tent, or covered patio. Outdoor heaters are nice to have in case of cooler weather. If you live in a particularly warm climate, consider having misters or fans available.
- Accessibility – Have a clear path to the garden location, making sure all gates open properly and your guests aren’t fighting with old latches or handles to get to the party.
- Comfortable seating – Take your guests’ needs into consideration with seating. If you have guests who may find it difficult to sit in chairs for long periods of time, consider having a few chair cushions on hand.
- Food allergies – If you have guests with food allergies, talk to them ahead of time so you can offer them foods they can eat.
A garden tea party is a special way to connect with loved ones and celebrate a special occasion. With a bit of planning and some creativity, you can create a memorable experience that feels elegant and easygoing.
Whether you’re going all out with a theme, or keeping it simple, your guests will enjoy being together in a fun and unique way.
