Hosting a Spring Tea Party

all the details & plans of the tea party I'll be hosting to celebrate the start of spring!

Mar 11, 2026

I love tea parties, for a multitude of reasons. I love tea, first and foremost. Especially when it is served in pretty little teacups on dainty little saucers. I adore all the lovely details- lace doilies, miniature sandwiches or pastries arranged on tiered trays, small silver spoons on folded napkins. I love how a tea party feels fancy and elegant, while also being reminiscent of playing pretend with my teddy bears and dolls as a child. I have hosted two tea parties thus far for my family, and I think they are my favorite events I have ever hosted!

Hosting a tea party feels like I’m still just a little girl playing pretend, setting up a blanket on my bedroom floor with my miniature porcelain teacups in front of my most treasured stuffed animals and dolls.

I decided I wanted to host a tea party to celebrate the Spring Equinox this year, to welcome in spring with jasmine tea served in my grandma’s rose patterned tea cups and teaspoons of sugar. A soft, sweet, whimsical welcome.

I had this idea about a month ago, and have kept a running list of ideas in my notes app as well as a Pinterest board I’ve been adding to since. I thought that my lovely and wonderful Substack readers might also enjoy hearing my ideas, either out of curiosity or to host your own tea party!

The general vibes & feelings:

Fancy. Sweet. Whimsical. Lovely. Soft. Playful. Spring.

My hope for my tea party is that it feels like we’re little kids playing pretend and it’s whimsical and magical, but we’re also adults acting fancy and lovely with our pinkies up sipping tea. A perfect balance of playfulness and elegance.

Here’s some visual inspiration!

From Pinterest:

From tea parties I’ve hosted:

The decor & setup:

A tiered tray. I’ll be using a spinnable tiered tray that I usually keep on my dresser to organize my hair products- I’ll just decorate it with bows and ribbon to make it more dressed up for the event! If you don’t have a tiered tray of any kind, try scavenging through antique stores. Or, make your own! Awhile ago, I had saved a tutorial I saw on TikTok and haven’t gotten around to it yet but I definitely want to. Here’s a link to the tutorial: DIY tiered tray.

Doilies/ lace details. I love using doilies to serve or display my baked goods year round because they are so lovely! I bought a pack of assorted sizes from the dollar store. I had also bought a pack of heart shaped doilies in February to decorate my apartment, so I have some of those leftover to use. I’ll link the ones I got here: heart shaped doilies. I’ll be arranging the doilies across the table, layering them under plates and tea cups, placing the pastries and sandwiches on top of them, honestly just using them as much as possible!

Florals. An absolute must for a spring tea party! I am so excited to thoughtfully choose a bouquet from Trader Joe’s- I’m thinking daffodils- and arrange them in a vase for the centerpiece. I might do multiple small vases across the table, or one large vase in the center- I haven’t decided yet!

Teaware. I am lucky enough to have a grandma who 1. picked out the most beautiful teacup set ever when she was younger and 2. recently donated it to me! This will be the first tea party I host using her teaware set and I am so excited- it feels so special. If you don’t have a complete teaware set, use the mugs and plates you already have! There is no need for them to match or be designated teacups. However, if you do desire to use actual teacups or saucers (I do recommend getting at least one or two because they are so sweet to use for everyday morning tea), I always see some at my local thrift/ vintage stores. I love the look of mismatched teacups and saucers, maybe even more so than a full matching set, so I think it would be so cool and lovely if you pick out a few random teacups and plates here and there to use!

The food & drinks:

Tea. Duh! Can’t have a tea party without tea, can you?! I chose orange tea and jasmine tea as my teas of choice for this tea party, because they feel the most beginning-of-spring to me. I’ll be adding some honey to the jasmine tea, and serving the orange tea with slices of oranges.

Sandwiches. A good thing about hosting a tea party is that you’re not expected to cook and serve a full meal. Making cute little sandwiches is easy and fun! I’ll be making 2 types of tea sandwiches that I think best suit the likes of my guests. Cucumber sandwiches, linked here. And ham and cheese, linked here. To keep the appearance of these sandwiches as dainty and adorable as possible, I’ll be using soft white bread with the crusts cut off and cutting them into little triangles and rectangles. I think I’ll also make smoked salmon canapes, recipe linked here!

A baked good. Making biscuits was on my list of things I wanted to do in 2026, so look at me go! This is the recipe I’ll be using: homemade biscuit recipe. I’ll be serving my homemade biscuits with butter and jam, specifically homemade strawberry jam which I am also so excited about! Here’s the recipe I’ll be using: strawberry jam recipe, and I’ll be storing the jam in a recycled Bonne Maman jar.

A sweet treat. I’ll be making jam thumbprint cookies because they look so adorably delicious and will also give me a chance to use my homemade jam again! I’ll probably also use another flavor of jam to add some variety, like apricot or raspberry. Here’s the recipe: thumbprint cookies.

Fresh fruit. I think fresh fruit at a tea party serves 2 purposes: something yummy to eat and something pretty for the table decor. For this tea, I’ll be serving strawberries and whipped cream! Specifically, diced strawberries in my small crystal bowl and served with homemade whipped cream. Recipe linked here: homemade whipped cream recipe.

The activities & conversations:

There’s really no need to plan for any activities- leisurely enjoying a tea party with your guests is enough! However, if you want to plan a little something extra to do, here are some ideas.

Candlestick painting. Light colored tealights and have guests carefully dip a small paintbrush into the colored melted wax, then paint on a candlestick. Since the paint is really just wax, they will be completely safe to actually use & burn, or they can be kept in candlestick holders as cute custom decor!

Conversation cards. Sometimes it’s nice to chat and gab freely, and sometimes it’s nice to have some specific questions to spark conversations. I made some cute conversation cards that you can either print/ cut and put on the table, or just have ready on your phone to read aloud!