7 IDEAS FOR A SWEET KITCHEN TEA PARTY
A sweet kitchen tea is a South African tradition. It takes place just before the wedding and is usually organised for the bride by her maid-of-honour. Traditionally, it was a way of celebrating the new chapter in the bride’s life and helping to equip her kitchen. Nowadays, it’s just a good opportunity to get the bride’s best girlfriends together and have some fun! The most important thing, when planning a kitchen tea, is to think about the person you’re doing it for. Consider the quirks of their personality and how you can reflect that in the arrangements.
I had such fun planning the kitchen tea for my sister. Megan is a bubbly and totally kooky person. Therefore, the tea could not have been conventional. I decided the best theme to go for was sweets. The best thing about a kitchen tea, is that you really don’t need to buy much. Just use what you have in your kitchen!
Here are a few features from my sister’s kitchen tea, which are easy to replicate:
TEAPOTS
Teapots are iconic items to have at any tea. You don’t have to fill the entire thing with sweets. I scrunched up brown paper and stuffed it in then added a few handfuls of sweets to flow over the top. And no, that’s not cheating!
OVERTURNED COLANDER
Colanders are such a simple household item, but overturn them and they make a great stand for your teapot, vase of flowers or anything else you want to draw attention to!
KITCHEN AID
There’s something very vintage feeling about a kitchen aid. I especially love my pink one, but you can use whichever one you have to display a bowl of food.
VARIED CAKE STANDS
Present your cakes on stands of varying heights, widths and shapes. It’s a simple idea but it makes such a different to how busy and interesting the table appears!
VINTAGE CROCKERY
I always feel that the more vintage a table looks, the cozier it feels. Vintage crockery is an easy way to get that shabby chic vintage appearance, without going to too much effort.
OVERSIZED JARS
Collect jars, in the run up to the event, so that you have as many vessels as possible to hold your sweets. Soak off the labels with soapy warm water. The more jars, the more sweets – win, win!
SLICED CAKE
Before the guests arrived, I cut a piece of the cake and placed it on the table. This somehow made the rest of the cake look even more inviting than it already was!
