Laura Childs
Celebrate the summer months with a salute to the tropics. Go wild with as many floral bouquets as you can fit on your table, then add a roost of pretty feathered birds from the craft store. If you have a floral tablecloth, napkins, and dishes, so much the better. Serve curried chicken salad in pineapple halves, banana nut scones, and small slivers of mushroom and cheese quiche. An oolong tea is perfect and so is an iced tea infusion of raspberry and hibiscus if the weather is hot.
Pull out your crisp white tablecloth and decorate it with anything that’s British themed. We’re talking Shelley china, statues of Big Ben, even plates that bear the Queen’s likeness. English tea roses would make an elegant centerpiece. Your first course will naturally be buttermilk scones with froths of Devonshire cream. Move on to a mandarin orange salad topped with sliced almonds, smoked chicken and fig butter tea sandwiches on white bread, and smoked salmon and cream cheese tea sandwiches on dark bread. Consider an English trifle for dessert and serve rich Ceylon tea.
Who doesn’t love an autumn tea? And dear Mr. Poe can certainly set the mood for Halloween. Think cinnamon-apple scones, chicken salad with cranberries on nut bread, corn chowder, and gingerbread bars. Liven up your table with crocks filled with colorful leaves, black crows from the craft store, and candles dripping rivulets of wax. Make color copies of Poe’s book covers to use as place mats. Mix it up with two different teas, perhaps a smoky Lapsang souchong and a spiced plum tea.
This is a fabulous excuse to pull out everything that’s lacy and floral. Start with a floral tablecloth, and then layer it with a lace tablecloth. Keep the theme going with floral napkins and teacups—if everything’s mismatched, so much the better! For a centerpiece, pop pink peonies into a glass jar or cream-colored crockery and cluster some framed photos and pretty tins around it. If you’re doing a buffet, you could even add painted birdhouses and vintage purses as a backdrop. Serve Cheddar cheese quiche, shrimp salad tea sandwiches, cream scones, and biscotti. A Keemun tea would be delicious, but so would peaches and ginger iced tea served in a large glass container with a spigot!
The mood is laid-back and elegant for this luncheon or afternoon tea. Decorate your table with a lavender tablecloth and your favorite purple flowers displayed in a crystal vase. Lay dried lavender around for an elegant, aromatic effect. Serve lavender scones, chicken salad on nut bread, and lavender shortbread cookies or tea bread. An Assam or Earl Grey tea would be perfect. Packets of lavender seeds make memorable party favors. Classical music is a must.
This is your chance to channel the richness of India and the exuberance of Bollywood. Decorate your table with an Indian-print tablecloth or napkins. For your centerpiece, fill a large colorful bowl with floating candles and flowers. Add an elephant statuette and sprinkle some colorful “jewels” from the party store on your table. Go wild with tableware, too—colors of orange, hot pink, and red are perfect. Serve raspberry and rosewater scones, fresh papaya, cream cheese and cucumber tea sandwiches, and Indian tea biscuits. Darjeeling tea makes the perfect complement, and don’t forget to pass out washable henna tattoos to all your guests!