Sometimes dinner seems far away, breakfast passed too many hours ago, and the day just keeps on dragging. Doesn’t this sound like the perfect time for a warm cup of tea and some light afternoon sandwiches? We couldn’t agree more! After all, it’s Afternoon Tea Week from 10 to 16 August. So you have the excuse to have a tea party, by yourself or with your loved ones, the entire week (or for the rest of the year if you’re planning on some custom DIY decorations to add some high to the atmosphere).

Yes, it might sound like tapping into the British tradition of elegant afternoon teas, but we can easily adopt the idea and add some South African flair to it like we know best! 😉 It doesn’t even have to be tea, after all. If you prefer freshly brewed coffee beans instead or some moerkoffie, that’s fine too, but we’re quite spoilt for choice when it comes to the variety of tea options – green tea, watermelon and mint, cranberry and pomegranate, vanilla and cinnamon, etc.

It’s your choice if you want to stick to sandwiches or change this up a bit with ham-and-cheese pinwheels, sausage rolls, cheese ball bites, bacon-wrapped dates, mozzarella sticks, koeksisters, lamingtons, a variety of fruits, etc. We hope that you’re craving these appetisers now, too!

But let’s get into the fun stuff that’ll help lift your spirit and drive you through the day… Yes, the DIY decorations!

First things first

First of all, you can decide on your theme, or themes if you let every household member choose their own for different days. Then obviously, the location because this will affect your decorations – living room, family room, garden, or patio. Then, the third big consideration should be your colour scheme; because your tablecloth and napkins, vases, flower arrangements, candles and decorative items need to align with these colours.

We decided that our tea party theme is going to be floral spring because it’s just around the corner and we can use our decorations throughout the next season as well. Our location will be outdoors on the patio where we can obtain a bit of sunray for much-needed Vitamin D. Our colour scheme consists of pastel greens, blues, purples, pinks, and yellows.

Let’s make our DIY tea party décor

Our decorations will mostly consist of floral and we came across this DIY paper flower wreath – perfect for the back wall. For our table, we decided on a white tablecloth, with a pastel yellow runner to emphasise the sun, because without the sun there wouldn’t be any blossoms…

We thought it best to place handmade cupcake wrappers on the table with a vanilla cupcake alongside each attendees’ plate. We’ll use white paper plates with watercolour flowers painted on them, mainly to reduce dishes, but it’s up to you if you’d want to use standard coloured plates. Our teacups are plain white, where we’ve placed pastel markers in the centre of the table for each member to doodle on the cup while enjoying the snacks and conversation.

Other table décor includes a paper flower table runner and loose handmade flowers of tissue paper scattered on the table too.  Adorable paperclip name card holders indicate our different types of snacks, in pastel colours, of course.

To finish off our look, we decided to place scented candles evenly spread across the table to set a peaceful, yet fragrant mood, as well as our own DIY styled tea bags. We think we’re done! Can you image our delightful tea party setting? Are you joining us for tea this week? 😁