If you followed my advice from a post way back on September 29, called Planning a Christmas Tea, you’re well on your way to having a wonderful tea. If you didn’t, don’t panic. There is still time to get ready for a Christmas Tea!
You might think you can’t fit a tea into your already busy Christmas schedule. Too much extra work and bother, you feel. Think about it though, your house is, or will be, already cleaned and decorated, your Christmas dishes are down from the top of the cupboard. Your good tablecloth is ironed. You even have your Christmas CDs playing on the machine. The only things left to do for your tea are to invite your guests and make some food.
Go ahead and send a pretty invitation to your Christmas Tea but be warned that you’ll probably need to follow up with a phone call. And don’t be offended if some of the guests you’d like to have unfortunately have prior commitments. Think carefully about when you want to schedule your tea. An evening tea might be easier for your guests to attend than on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
Instead of constraining your taste because of the seasonal aspect, a Christmas Tea allows your style and personality to shine. If your home is decorated in a formal and elegant style, play to that with your gold edged china. Casual and cozy, get out your gingerbread dishes and have fun. You don’t have to think about this; just look around your rooms.
The only extra decoration to bring in might be fresh flowers if you don’t have them already. While you can use any decorations on your table, you really do need to have flowers too. If you are good at arranging, a beautiful bouquet with greens and berries, along with fresh flowers would be lovely. My favorite though are roses. Use ball ornaments as vases to hold a couple roses at each place setting to match your centerpiece. Roses should last a week after your party so they might do double duty even for your Christmas dinner.
It is nice to give a little take-home gift to each guest. I prefer homemade things, especially this time of year. Line up the gifts on a table by the front door or use a basket so no one gets missed as everyone is leaving. I’ll have some suggestions for gifts to make coming up in future posts.
The menu and recipes for A Christmas Tea will start tomorrow. If you feel you don’t want to cook or bake for this tea, you don’t have to. Specialty stores as well as your grocery store will be only too happy to make everything for you. These businesses have special menus they use only for the holiday season so take advantage of that.
The most important thing to keep in mind for this tea, as for all others, is creating a special experience for your guests. Everyone is so stressed now either from too much shopping or year-end crunches at work. Give them a reason to unwind and appreciate this holiday season. Make each guest feel pampered with you personal care and attention. When your guests walk out your door, they should feel renewed and full of joy!
