• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Urban Bliss Life logo

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • contact
  • shop
  • cookbooks
  • cooking classes
  • resources
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • 30-Minute Meals
    • Air Fryer Recipes
    • Appetizer Recipes
    • Asian recipes
    • Bread Recipes
    • Breakfast Recipes
    • Cookie Recipes
    • Dairy-free Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Entertaining Recipes
    • Filipino Recipes
    • Gluten-Free Recipes
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Holiday Recipes
    • Instant Pot Recipes
    • 5 Ingredients
    • Kid-Friendly Recipes
    • Main Dish Recipes
    • Make-Ahead Recipes
    • Pasta Recipes
    • Salad Recipes
    • Side Dishes
    • Slow Cooker Recipes
    • Snack Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Seafood Recipes
    • Vegan Recipes
    • Vegetarian Recipes
    • Cocktail Recipes
    • Dog Treats
  • Wine
    • Oregon Wine Guide
    • Washington Wine
    • California Wine
    • Food and Wine Pairing
    • Wine Country
    • Wine Tips & Wine Pairings
  • Travel
    • Europe
      • Greece
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Liechtenstein
      • The Netherlands
      • Switzerland
      • The UK (United Kingdom)
    • Canada
    • USA travel
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Hawaii
      • Idaho
      • Montana
      • Nevada
      • New Mexico
      • New York
      • Oregon Travel Ideas
      • Utah
      • Washington
      • New Orleans
    • Travel Gear
    • Japan
    • Travel Tips
    • Hotels
    • Family Travel
  • Restaurants
  • About
    • Work With Urban Bliss Life
    • Press
    • Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Fall Recipes
  • All Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • About
  • Work With Us
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Urban Bliss Life » Blog » Mid-Day Tea Party Ideas

    Published: March 4, 2016 / Updated: May 28, 2022 by Marlynn Jayme Schotland · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Mid-Day Tea Party Ideas

    1 shares
    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Mom/work life can be stressful. Invite your friends over for a mid-day tea party while the kids are in school! Here's a peek at a recent moms' brunch that I hosted, along with some of my top tea party ideas! 

    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    I'm lucky enough to have some pretty amazing mom friends who also happen to love food and drink as much as I do. We get together once a month for what we call "research group" meetings: researching different restaurants in the area. Really, it's just an excuse for us to gather, vent, celebrate, de-stress, and just enjoy a couple of kid-free, work-free, house-free hours while trying new restaurants.

    This school year, we've slacked a bit. Many of us now have kids in elementary school and middle school, and many have changed jobs or gone back to work full-time. We also recently lost one of our dear friends to brain cancer...so it's been a tough school year. But, perhaps more than ever, I think we all knew it was time to get our research group back on track.

    So when Lipton Tea was introducing new and improved lines of its tea, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get the gang back together - not for a restaurant research meeting, but I wanted to treat these wonderful women to a fun, let's-pretend-it's-spring, stress-free house party.

    Tea party ideas: the food

    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    A mid-day tea party can be as simple or elaborate as you want it to be. Personally, I like to serve a mix of homemade and store-bought food.

    For this tea party, I served:

    • homemade blueberry lemon scones
    • veggie tray with hummus
    • charcuterie + cheese + crackers tray
    • homemade Greek salmon farro salad
    • store-bought spring kale salad from Costco
    • chicken salad tea sandwiches using store-bought chicken salad from Costco (yay Costco!) and Franz white bread
    • homemade smoked salmon cucumber bites: slice cucumbers evenly using a mandolin (I have this specific mandolin and love it), top with herbed cream cheese, top with store-bought smoked salmon, garnish with dill spring. Done!
    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    Some friends brought crackers, fruits, veggies, and a delicious zucchini noodle salad.

    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    I also made homemade Berry Hibiscus Tea-Infused Fruit Salad. It's so easy to make if you make it the night before, and it's absolutely delicious!  

    The recipe is posted at the bottom of this post.

    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    For sweets, I served store-bought madeleine cookies, Lindt chocolates, and one of my friends brought these beautiful chocolates from Trader Joe's. Aren't they gorgeous?! They tasted delicious as well.

    Tea party ideas: beverages

    No surprise here, but for a mid-day tea party, I suggest you serve... tea! Boil several pots of hot water about an hour before the party starts, and then pour into insulated carafes to keep them hot. This way, your guests can serve themselves by choosing their tea and then pouring the hot water over it.

    Growing up, my great-grandmother (who lived with us and helped raise me) always had a box of Lipton Tea in the cupboards. I watched her drink this tea religiously, so it has a special sentimental value to me. And now, I always have a box of Lipton Tea in my own home.

    My great-grandmother would be SO surprised at how many different flavors of Lipton Tea she could try now!

    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    Lipton has a whole line of new black and herbal tea varieties and improved green teas that level up the whole tea experience.

    For my tea party, I served:

    • Orange Passionfruit Jasmine
    • Stirring Ceylon
    • Irresistible Lady Lipton
    • Lemon Ginger
    • Berry Hibiscus
    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    While I offered packets of all five tea flavors for guests to drink as hot tea, I chose to make a big batch of the Orange Passionfruit Jasmine to serve as an iced tea. It had a light, fresh taste with beautiful color and smelled heavenly. I'm totally making big batches of these as sun iced teas during the summer!

    The Lemon Ginger and Berry Hibiscus were popular choices among my friends, and the Lady Lipton was one that was much talked about. My personal preference is to cook with the Lemon Ginger (have you ever cooked with tea before? It's such a great way to infuse flavors into your meal!) and to drink the Berry Hibiscus and the Orange Passionfruit Jasmine teas.

    Check out the full line-up of Lipton Green, Black and Herbal tea flavors here. You can also get $0.75 off any 1 Lipton Black, Green, or Herbal 20 count tea - get the coupon at Lipton Tea's website!

    Sweet decor ideas for your tea party

    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    Whenever I throw a party, I like to coordinate the theme via colors and patterns throughout. It really is the little touches, I believe, that make a difference. Here are some ways you can easily coordinate everyday items to tie your party theme together:

    • Flowers: I chose yellow daisies and white hydrangeas to match the decor.
    • Paper decorations: I found large yellow tissue paper flowers and small spring green tissue paper flower garlands at the Dollar store, but I've also made these from scratch and although they take some time, they're relatively easy to make. If you don't have time or have no interest in being crafty, get thee to the nearest dollar store!
    • Washi tape: If you have followed this blog for a while or know me in real life, you know I am totally mildly obsessed with washi tape. I use it to help tie anything and everything together for a party. For this one, I used yellow polka dot washi tape on the flower vases, water vases, and the food trays. I also used various spring patterns to dress up the tea stirrers (pictured above).
    • Plates, cups, and food/beverage packaging:  When you're planning your party, first take stock in what you already have, and then fill in the blanks as needed. I already had a set of green and blue mugs, which coordinated perfectly with this party. When purchasing packaged goods and wine, I choose one wine that I knew was delicious and just happened to have a yellow label that matched our decor, and a new wine to try with a label that also matched the decor (luckily, that one turned out to be yummy as well!).
    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    Tea party favors

    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    While our monthly gatherings are not this elaborate, since it was a special gathering, I wanted each person to walk away with a little something. I like to give favors that I know guests can use, so in keeping with the tea theme, I made my Lemon Ginger Honey Marmalade. I used my regular recipe, but then added a teaspoon of Lipton's Lemon Ginger Herbal Tea to each. It was pretty easy to make a big batch, place into mini mason jars, and tie with baker's twine in coordinating colors.

    Cheers to good friends

    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    I hope you found these party tips helpful, and I hope this gives you the nudge to remember to gather your group of girlfriends for a tea, brunch, lunch, happy hour, or weekend hike! This was the nudge we needed to jumpstart our monthly lunches again, and we already have our research group lunch scheduled for this month.

    One of the life lessons I hope I am passing on to my daughter and son is the massive importance of good friends in life. We all have friends for different reasons: ones that will always make us laugh, ones that immediately go to action in times of crisis, ones that we can always count on to just be there and listen, ones to tell us that we're being ridiculous, ones who are always the voice of reason. I'm grateful to have such a diverse group of women friends from all parts of my life, and I love opportunities like this where we can get together and just be.

    So cheers to good friends!

    Lipton Tea Time Moms' Brunch

    Berry Hibiscus Tea-Infused Fruit Salad

    No ratings yet
    Prep Time: 5 mins
    Total Time: 5 mins
    Recipe by Marlynn Schotland
    This berry tea-infused fruit salad is perfect for serving at breakfast or brunch to a large crowd!
    Servings: 10 -12
    PRINT PIN RATE

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound strawberries hulled and cut into quarters
    • ½ pound blueberries
    • ½ pound raspberries
    • 1 pound red grapes
    • ¼ cup brewed Lipton Berry Hibiscus Herbal Tea cooled to room temperature
    • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
    • 8-10 fresh mint leaves torn or chopped into small pieces

    Instructions

    • Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
    • Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours, preferably overnight.
    • Stir before serving.
    Tried this recipe?Please leave a star rating and comment! Then snap a pic of your dish and share it on social media. Tag @UrbanBlissLife and #UrbanBlissLife!

    Nutrition information is a general estimate. Actual nutrition details may vary depending on the exact foods & brands you use to make this recipe. It does not take into account any substitutions, toppings, or optional ingredients.

    Do you have a group of friends that you regularly get together with for meals, hikes, or other activities? 

    I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. I only write about products, places, experiences, events, services that I personally love and believe you will enjoy as well!

    « Riedel Wine Glass Class at Dobbes Family Estate
    Iced Tea and Beer: Summer Shandy Cocktail »
    1 shares

    Get recipes, travel tips, deals and more delivered to your inbox!

      Reader Interactions

      Comments

      1. Kim Beaulieu says

        March 08, 2016 at 1:48 am

        I love that fruit salad, plus everything else you served. How fun to host a tea party. My mom's family used to do that all the time. I miss having them.

        Reply
        • Marlynn Jayme Schotland says

          March 09, 2016 at 1:35 pm

          The fruit salad is a classic. Thanks, Kim!

      2. Debra @ Bowl Me Over says

        March 07, 2016 at 10:27 pm

        Something about an afternoon tea party that just sounds so relaxing, what a great idea! I think it's really smart that you made some thing & bought some also - that was you got to enjoy your party, very smart!

        Reply
      3. Kaitie says

        March 07, 2016 at 1:46 pm

        This is absolutely beautiful! I love the colours and all of the extra added beauty from the cups, spoons, flowers etc... and those little finger treats are amazing!

        Reply
        • Marlynn Jayme Schotland says

          March 09, 2016 at 1:14 pm

          Thank you so much, Kaitie!

      4. Andria says

        March 04, 2016 at 11:46 pm

        Looked like a great afternoon! I love hosting social events like this. While they are a lot of work, they are so much fun!

        Reply
        • Marlynn Jayme Schotland says

          March 09, 2016 at 1:09 pm

          They really are worth the work, aren't they? Love gathering friends together! :) Thanks, Andria!

      5. Renée ♥ The Good Hearted Woman says

        March 04, 2016 at 6:52 pm

        What a wonderful idea, and I love how bright and sunny everything looks! I've been so bad about hosting *anything* lately, but I need to get back into the swing of it, because I love having little parties so much. This might just be the motivation I need.

        Reply
        • Marlynn Jayme Schotland says

          March 09, 2016 at 1:07 pm

          It definitely helps brighten up the currently gloomy grey days we're having ;) Thanks, Renée!

      6. Bella Bucchiotti says

        March 04, 2016 at 6:48 pm

        I love the idea of a tea party! I need to do this. Tea is my favourite drink.

        Reply
        • Marlynn Jayme Schotland says

          March 09, 2016 at 1:07 pm

          Thanks, Bella!

      7. Ashley says

        March 04, 2016 at 5:51 pm

        That would be so much fun! You seem like one lucky lady to have so many amazing women around you. Hope you had a great time :)

        Reply
        • Marlynn Jayme Schotland says

          March 09, 2016 at 12:43 pm

          Thanks, Ashley. I really am pretty lucky to have amazing friends :)

      8. Stacy says

        March 04, 2016 at 5:33 pm

        Love it

        Reply
      9. Bethany says

        March 04, 2016 at 5:18 pm

        How cute!! My mom used to throw tea parties all the time, I can't wait to host them for my daughter as well!!

        Reply
        • Marlynn Jayme Schotland says

          March 09, 2016 at 12:44 pm

          Tea parties with kids is fun too!

      10. Shereen @ Shereen Travels Cheap says

        March 04, 2016 at 1:54 pm

        I love a good tea party and think it's about time I held one at my house, too. Love your spread. My favorite part of a party is coming up with food and drinks to serve and then how to display them :)

        Reply
        • Marlynn Jayme Schotland says

          March 09, 2016 at 1:06 pm

          Thank you, Shereen!

      11. Ratisha Goyal says

        March 04, 2016 at 1:20 pm

        Gorgeous pictures! Tempted me to host a tea party for my friends. Definitely going to use your ideas. Awesome!

        Reply
      12. Rachel Lloyd says

        March 04, 2016 at 12:51 pm

        I saw this on your instagram! SO CUTE! What a good idea. There are times where I want to have people over, but would rather have it in the middle of the day because people have kids to get home too. I'll have to keep this in mind for next time. Have a wonderful weekend!

        Reply

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

      Primary Sidebar

      Marlynn Jayme Schotland 2021 profile pic

      Hi! Thanks for stopping by! I'm Marlynn - a cookbook author, writer, photographer, and mom of two teenagers + a lovable lab retriever. Here you'll find my fast, easy, and delicious recipes, wine pairings, and travel guides. I hold a WSET 2 with Distinction in wine, and am a member of Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and the International Food, Wine, and Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA).

      More about me →

      Featured In

      Urban Bliss Life Press Featured In graphic

      Game Day Recipes

      • Air Fryer Potato Skins Recipe
      • Best Instant Pot Turkey Chili Recipe
      • Creamy Dairy Free Queso Dip
      • Instant Pot BBQ Ribs with Homemade BBQ Sauce

      New Recipes

      • Beef Pad Thai
      • Chocolate Rice Krispies
      • Lobster Pasta
      • 40+ Low Carb Air Fryer Recipes

      New Travel Tips

      • Best Bangkok Temples
      • Best Pad Thai in Bangkok
      • Brazen Banff
      • Best Things to Do in Banff
      • Twitter
      • Facebook
      • Pinterest
      • Instagram
      • YouTube

      Footer

      ↑ back to top

      logos of media outlets that have featured urban bliss life.

      Recipes

      • 30-Minute Meals
      • 5-Ingredients
      • Air Fryer
      • Asian
      • Dairy-Free
      • Pasta
      • Seafood

      About

      • About
      • FAQs
      • Privacy & Accessibility Policy
      • Terms & Conditions

      Contact

      • Contact
      • Work with me

      As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
      Copyright © 2022 Urban Bliss Life

      All rights reserved. You may not use any photos or recipes on this site for any personal or commercial use without my express written permission.