Throw a modern tea party with these sweet and simple DIY tips
This is not your granny's tea party! Some say the tea party is the new cocktail party – if Pinterest and Instagram are any indication. So, get your friends together and throw a modern tea party. We've got some DIY tips for in the kitchen to get this modern tea party started! First up are some DIY sweeteners that are super easy and great flavour-enhancers for your teas.
Sugar sticks
Sugar takes up to a week to crystallize, so do this one in advance!
What you'll need:
- 2 cups water
- 6 cups sugar
- Food colouring to match your party's colour scheme
- Wooden sticks
- Extra ¼ cup sugar – for dipping wooden sticks in
- Saucepan with pouring lip
- Wooden spoon
- Measuring cups
- Clothes pegs
- Tall glasses
Directions:
1. In the tall glasses, place 5 drops of food colouring of your choice.
2. Attach clothes pegs to the end of the wooden sticks. They will balance on the rims of the glasses and the stick should be in the centre of the glass.
3. Heat the water and sugar, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Continue to stir for 2 minutes.
4. Pour the syrup into each glass and allow to cool before putting wooden sticks in.
5. In the meantime, wet the wooden stick with water and roll it in dry sugar. The dry sugar helps the sugar crystals to grow.
6. Next, place the wood into the sugar syrup ensuring it doesn't touch the sides or the bottom of the glass.
7. Set aside to allow the crystals to grow for 3-7 days.
8. Remove the crystals from the glasses and then allow excess colour to drip into glasses before placing them on paper towel to dry.
Lemon-infused honey
What you'll need:
- 1 cup of honey
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
- Fresh slices of lemon
Directions:
1. Add the honey and lemon peel to your saucepan.
2. Simmer on low heat for up to 10 minutes, then add the fresh lemon slices.
3. Let it sit for up to 2 hours before using.
This DIY sweetener will last up to 2 weeks in a glass jar!
Mint syrup
What you'll need:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup tightly packed, coarsely chopped mint.
1. Place all ingredients in saucepan. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
2. Simmer at a low boil for 2 minutes.
3. Then, strain the mixture into a glass jar through sieve.
You can refrigerate this DIY syrup for up to 2 weeks!
Set up your own "Make your own blend" bar
You can set this up for your guests so at the end of your tea party, they can mix and take home their own tea blends. Give your guests all the things they need to create their own tea blend to take home with them. There's no wrong way to blend teas! Set up your blend bar with cute tins, ribbon, stickers, tags, cello bags & empty tea bags.
This would also be perfect for someone's birthday, a baby shower, or even Mother's Day! Give your tea party a modern spin. Here are a few updates for bringing it into the 21st century:
Set the scene
Add some DIY wall art, such as temporary wall art using "brick" wallpaper on wood dowels and chain. It gives the room a cool "tea shop" feel! Use Scrabble pieces that spells out "TEA TIME" for table accents and you can add chalkboard signs in front of each tea, like we did here.
Mix it up!
Instead of granny's tea cups, use these gorgeous modern mugs from David's Tea. They come with stainless steel infusers and lids that double as saucers! And, instead of typical tea party pastels, take your colour palette from your mugs (yellow, turquoise, white, gold). Opt for Moroccan tile patterned napkins instead of florals, so they mirror the pattern in the mugs. We did away with roses and went for tulips and ranunculus instead. And for spoons, instead of antiques, we used hammered copper ones!
Key to the perfect cup:
Fill your tea cups with hot water to keep them warm. The secret is to make tea with hot water, not boiling!
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