Planning your Christmas Tea Party for adults only should be fun and simple to do, so let’s get started. First things first, let’s set the date and time for your party. You will probably want to have your Christmas Tea Party about one or two weeks prior to Christmas. A Sunday would be the best day of the week to have your party but, a Saturday would also be an equally ideal day of the week. The time you set for your party will determine how long your party will be. If you would like a short, simple party then two o’clock on a Sunday afternoon would be ideal. If you would like a long, relaxed party then seven o’clock on a Saturday evening would be ideal. You must simply choose the best date and time that works for you.
Now that you have the date and time picked out for your Christmas Tea Party you need to send out the invitations. You can purchase a nice colorful and festive pack of party invites at your local store or make your own the choice is yours. You will want to go through your address book and choose eight to ten of your closest friends to invite to your Christmas Tea Party. You can invite more guests or fewer guests if you choose, but eight to ten guests for a Christmas Tea Party are plenty. Your invite should read something like this:
You Are Invited To A Christmas Tea Party, Date, Time, Hosted By (your name), Location, and R.S.V.P. by date, time and phone number. You will want to include a map to the location of your Christmas Tea Party as well as other information pertaining to your party depending on how you decide to plan it.
If you and your guests have children you will want to provide some type of childcare at the location of your Christmas Tea Party. I would suggest hiring your regular sitter or a young adult whom you know and trust to take care of the children during the Christmas Tea Party. Agree to a flat rate of payment for the childcare provided with the sitter prior to the night of the party. Make sure you include the fact that childcare will be provided in your invitations. Prepare a bedroom or playroom in your house for the children and make sure you have drinks and snacks available for them.
You will want to have a few games picked out to keep your Christmas Tea Part going. If you want to keep the party short one or two games would be appropriate. Playing Secret Santa or Gift Swap is always fun but it does require some additional planning on your part. I would suggest dividing your guest by gender lets just say five men and five women including your self, have each guest bring one gift costing no more then fifteen dollars for the opposite gender. Please make sure you include an insert with your Christmas Tea Party invitations explaining the game. If all of your guests already know each other prior to the party you could put their names in a bowl and tell them who to buy a gift for when they call you to R.S.V.P. their invitation. Another great game for adult parties is Charades, all you would need is a large pad of paper, some colored pencils, and some imaginative guests. Card games are also a lot of fun for parties. Just consider when choosing your games the amount of guests you have invited and the length of time you want your Christmas Tea Party to last.
As your Christmas Tea Party date approaches you will want to put together a shopping list of all the food and beverage items you will need. Of course with this being a Christmas Tea Party you will want to have a large assortment of teas including Lipton Tea, Green Tea, Chamomile Tea, Melaleuca Tea, Cinnamon Tea, Ginger Tea, and etcetera. You will also want to make sure you have white sugar, brown sugar, honey, lemon, cream or half and half, and milk as condiments for the tea. Considering the fact that your Christmas Tea Party will not be held during any specific meal time finger foods and appetizers would be appropriate. I would suggest having sugar cookies, biscotti, a vegetable and dip platter, as well as a meat and cheese platter with a variety of crackers.
You will also want to consider having a nice little party favor to give to your guests as they leave your Christmas Tea Party. I would suggest buying each of your guests a coffee or tea mug, put three to four different teas in each mug along with a wrapped biscotti or mints and a small Thank You note. Putting the teas and biscotti or mints in a colorful netted bag tied with a ribbon would help make the party favor a bit more festive.
On the day of your Christmas Tea Party make sure your house is clean and that all of your coffee or tea mugs are clean and ready to be used. Set out all of the teas and edible items and put the tea kettle on the stove so it is ready. It would be a good idea to have some soft classical or Christmas music playing in the background. Then welcome your guests as they arrive and have a great time.
