ideas to help you host a Wonderful vintage style tea party for teens
An afternoon tea party is a wonderfully chilled way to host a birthday celebration with a bunch of her besties for your teen daughter.
Here’s a cheat sheet I put together after hosting an afternoon tea party for my daughter’s 13th birthday, to help you make a party really special.
Vintage style tea parties are having a resurgence in popularity as a fun, retro way to celebrate a special occasion like a birthday.
This post may contain affiliate links.Privacy Policy. Follow us on PINTEREST
Tea parties work particularly well with tweens and younger teens because it feels very grown-up to sit down for afternoon tea.
Plus, you can make a tea party as simple or as fancy as you want.
Here are some lovely ideas to style and host a tea party with a vintage theme.
Classic tea party food
Food is clearly the star of the show, so you want to get it right.
My advice is to stick to finger food and single-portion that can be easily picked up and eaten, plus one main centrepiece, like a birthday cake or chocolate fountain.
This makes it so much easier for everyone to eat and chat. So consider things like:
- Finger sandwiches (further reading: 11 Fun sandwiches for kids’ parties
- Pinwheels
- Mini quiches
- Sausage rolls
- Scones
- Cookies
- Tea cakes
- Cupcakes
- Macarons
Take a look at my Tea Party Menu ideas to put together your own menu.
What to serve instead of tea
Most teens I know don’t actually drink tea. But they do drink all of the following:
- Bubble tea
- Hot chocolate (with all the extras!)
- Pink lemonade
- Chai lattes
- Iced coffee
- Mocktails (see my roundup of mocktails for teens)
Vintage tablescape ideas
Make a centrepiece
The absolute classic centrepiece for any vintage tea party has to be a cake stand brimming with delicious fare.
I found a vintage-style cake stand made from vintage china plates on Etsy (it stars in the photos in this content.)
A great alternative is a vintage vase of seasonal flowers works well for teens or make a birthday cake the central focus.
Vintage Crockery
I turned to Etsy again to source some vintage 1920s floral afternoon tea plates, Happy Hyacinth Vintage (UK based), the same seller I bought the cake stand through.
Plus, I also asked my parents if they would let me use their vintage Willow Pattern crockery, which is so beautiful.
Doilies
Doilies are a vintage tea table stalwart. I found some classic white doilies, which I used under each place setting on the table. These are the doilies I used.
Napkins
Vintage style paper napkins help bring an afternoon tea table to life.
These are the vintage floral napkins I used.
Extra special touch
I scattered edible flowers over the table and use them to decorate the food.
Games that bring the fun
Clearly food is the main focus of a tea party, but what about keeping your guests entertained?
Charades is a very genteel party game that works well around afternoon tea.
You can also create a vintage style pass the parcel game, using pretty wrapping paper.
But my main go-to is to have a selection of printable party games which can be handed round or scrolled and put by each guest’s plate at the table.
Word games like word search, word scramble and scattergories go down well, as do more interactive games like selfie challenges.
This set of eight vintage style tea party games will keep teen party guests thoroughly entertained.
Party favours
Here are a couple of lovely favour ideas:
1. Teacup of treats: Fill a vintage tea cup or paper tea cup with sweet treats, wrap it in cellophane and tie it with a bow
2. Tea Bag of favours: Fill small party bags with afternoon tea-themed goodies like macarons, a vintage tea cup and a slice of birthday cake
Over to you
I hope that this post has given you food for thought… see what I did there… for creating your own wonderful vintage style tea party for your teenager.
Pin to save:
Hello, I’m Luci, founder of Mums Make Lists. The site is full of useful and fun ideas for life and seasonal celebrations. Plus a growing selection of instantly downloadable fun printables and party planners. Read more.