Tea Cups for Posterity

The moms who started the annual Afternoon Tea also created a tradition of passing on tea settings to  their daughters.  The experience of slowing down to sip a cup of tea with one's mom is memorable enough.  Imagine sipping it from a tea cup that she just gave you!  

Consignment stores and antique shops are great places for tea cup finds.  There are the occasional "Made in Occupied Japan" collectibles, the popular Royal Albert tea cups, and the Chinese porcelain tea cups with lids.  Or perhaps great-aunt Louise left you a tea set from Germany? What a perfect time to give your daughter a cup and saucer that will remind her of her heritage.

In a few more weeks, we will be hosting our Afternoon Tea for our daughters.  Be sure to wrap the tea cup, saucer and plate for your daughter and remember to bring a complete set with cutlery for your other guests.  Picture it--colorful and elegant tea cups, beautifully dressed young ladies, and you!

A Call for Helping Hands!

Tea Time Cupcake from Buzz Bakery

Transforming an All-Purpose Room into a beautiful Tea Room requires many helping hands--decorating hands, lifting hands, sweeping hands.  We've created a sign up just for that purpose with key words that will tell you if we will need decorative items to borrow or food items for you to make.  Click the sign up button on the right.

Tea Time with our Daughters

What's so special about Tea Time?  For many busy homeschooling moms, it may not happen at all, or often enough.  Yet instinctively, we know that if we can just have that special hour or two to slow down, we can have a lovely time with our daughters--to listen to them, to share some of our own stories with them, and to simply enjoy the age they are, whether eight or twelve or sixteen.

This year, we are happy to help you create special memories with your daughters.  You will have an opportunity to bake them extra-special treats, to serve them fragrant cups of tea, and to feel like elegant ladies with them.

Please mark your calendars for this special Afternoon Tea with our daughters*.  We will enjoy delicate finger sandwiches and tasty sweets, calm ourselves with some chamomile and peppermint tea, as well as listen to our guest speaker, Mary Lenaburg.

An Afternoon Tea with our Daughters

Sunday, June 1, 1:45 - 4:00

All-Purpose Room, St. Michael Catholic Church 

7401 St. Michael's Lane, Annandale, VA 22003

*This event is for daughters who have made their First Communion and their mothers, aunts, or grandmothers.  Moms, there will be a sign up for items to be prepared for the event.  Look for a follow up e-mail with details.

The Menu in Pictures

Tea and Crafts

Paper and pretty young ladies were a good combination as a pre-Afternoon Tea activity.  Their hands and dresses did not get dirty; we didn't have to provide a complicated set-up.  Different colors of origami paper were laid out next to a print out of folding instructions, both for the easy origami tulip and a more traditional origami tulip. 

The young ladies gave these origami creations to their mothers, making the tables more festive with the addition of these beautiful offerings.

Counting Down to Tea Time

With only three days left before the Annual Mothers' Tea for their Daughters, a palpable excitement can be felt in the air, at least in our household.  The girls have picked out their dresses, and are busily scrounging through my closet for accessories.  In the meantime, our menu is shaping up beautifully from delights promised by the mommies!

Appetizers

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Cucumber Sandwiches

Salmon and Cream Cheese Croquettes

Pineapple Nut Tea Sandwiches

Desserts

Lemon Bars

Orange Cupcakes

Walnut Ball Cookies

Grapes

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Mini Cheesecakes

Beverages

Selection of Regular and Herbal Teas

Lemonade and Water

But an Afternoon Tea cannot be complete without Scones, Clotted Cream, and Strawberry Jam!  Email us directly at saintannshomeschool at gmail dot com for the scone flavors you can bring, and if I may add, I am partial to orange-cranberry.

Getting Your Tea Fix

The practice of having Afternoon Tea supposedly started when Anna, the 7^th Duchess of Bedford is said to have complained of “having that sinking feeling” during the late afternoon.   She would, indeed, after having eaten breakfast in the morning and nothing at all till supper at 8 o’clock!  These days, stopping for Afternoon Tea has become an occasional luxury even for the British.

But thankfully, it is still available for us to enjoy, even here in Virginia!  Aside from private Tea Receptions such as what we put together every year, there are many places that will indulge your inner Jane Austen.

TeaMap.com is a good place to start your search.  It is an online Tea Room Directory: just plug in your zip code and you get a list of establishments with client ratings to guide you.  Another directory is TeaGuide.net which also lists tea rooms in the US, Canada, England and other countries around the world.

The Pink Bicycle Tea Room in Historic Occoquan has been our personal favorite since our girls can hold teacups.  Owner Lisa Johnson is a gracious hostess and understands the imaginations of little girls.  The big hats in the waiting room add to the magic of the special outing.

Other nearby tea rooms that we’ve enjoyed:

Pinkadilly Tea in Fredericksburg

Tea Tyme and What Nots, also in Fredericksburg is tucked down the hall inside a shopping center

Serenity Tea Room in Frederick, MD

Hotels often offer Afternoon Tea.  A few near us –

Entyse Wine Bar & Lounge at the Ritz Carlton

The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond even has a Teddy Bear Tea for their younger guests

Afternoon Tea Party by Mary Cassatt