At How to High Tea, we help you plan elegant afternoon teas, vintage tea parties, and themed high teas with confidence.
From what to serve to what to wear, you’ll find inspiration, practical guides, and curated ideas to make hosting feel joyful — not overwhelming.
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Whether you’re planning a traditional afternoon tea or something wonderfully whimsical, these guides will help you begin.
Popular Tea Party Themes
From playful to elegant, explore our most-loved tea party styles.
- English High Tea — classic and timeless
- French High Tea — soft, refined, and romantic
- Mad Hatter’s Tea Party — bold, whimsical, unforgettable
Hosting for Weddings & Special Events
Planning something more elevated?
Explore guides designed for bridal showers, wedding receptions, and refined garden celebrations.
Regency Estate Table Styling – for ideas that make an event magical.
Afternoon Tea Wedding Reception – How to create the perfect Afternoon tea wedding
Bridal Tea Party Ideas – Bridal Shower Tea Party Inspirations and Guide
What to Wear to a Tea Party
Wondering what actually works for a high tea? From vintage dresses to statement hats, discover what works — and what doesn’t — for every kind of high tea.
Explore dresses, hats, and accessories chosen for comfort, style, and occasion.
Find your perfect hat style: What Style Tea Party Hat Should I Wear?
Classic Afternoon Tea Recipes
Discover traditional sandwich fillings, cakes, and drinks that are easy to prepare and perfect for sharing.
Classic sandwiches for your next tea party: Classic Afternoon Tea Sandwiches for a Traditional High Tea
Our Favourite Tea Party Essentials
We’ve curated a small selection of tea party pieces we genuinely love — beautiful, practical, and perfect for hosting.
Our favorite tea sets for gifting: Best Tea Sets for Gifting
Our Favourite Tea Set
Royal Albert Cup, Saucer and Plate Set
We chose this as our top pick because Royal Albert’s Old Country Roses is the world’s best-selling fine bone china pattern — and for good reason. The burgundy, pink and yellow roses with 22K gold banding look just as beautiful on a table for two as they do at a full afternoon tea. This is the set we recommend most often to readers who are hosting for the first time, because it makes any table look instantly elegant without overthinking the rest of the styling. It also makes a gorgeous gift — it arrives beautifully boxed and feels special from the moment you open it.
Our Favourite Serving Plate
3-Tier Ceramic Cake Stand
Every tea party needs a centrepiece, and a tiered cake stand does more for your table than almost anything else. This one is ceramic rather than metal, which gives it a softer, more classic look that suits vintage and garden tea parties especially well. We like it because it’s sturdy enough to hold a full spread of sandwiches, scones and petit fours — and it photographs beautifully, which matters when your guests inevitably want pictures. If you only buy one serving piece for your tea party, make it this.
Our Favourite Tea Blend
Harney & Sons Victorian London Fog Tea
London Fog is one of those teas that surprises people — it’s a blend of black tea, vanilla, bergamot and lavender, and it tastes far more indulgent than a standard Earl Grey. We recommend it as the tea to serve if you want your guests to ask “what is this?” It works beautifully alongside both sweet and savoury courses, and the tin itself is so pretty that it often ends up staying on the kitchen shelf long after the tea is gone. A lovely choice if you’re gifting to a tea lover who thinks they’ve tried everything.
At How To High Tea, we share our love of the classic Tea party in all forms; High Teas, Vintage Tea Parties, Afternoon Tea, and Retro Luncheons!
We love to share theme ideas, outfit inspirations, recipes, guides, and anything connected to vintage-style tea parties!