Invite the ladies over for a festive Christmas tea party. Share the Holiday excitement, relax, and chat over a cup of delicious tea while enjoying a platter full of tasty treats.
I’ll present you a collection of dessert and savory treat recipes that are easy to make and don’t have loads of sugar or yucky colorings, etc. No need to have a stomach ache on this joyous occasion.
As you gather your friends for a Holiday tea party, plan to do some festive activities and play some simple games, like the printable Christmas tea party games that only require a little prep.
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I love tea. And I love the Holiday season. So, now that my daughters are also into tea, we decided to start a new tradition: Christmas tea. It was just us this time, but who knows what the next one will look like.
We picked an orange (the fruit) theme for our first holiday tea. It is a refreshing color with evergreen, cranberries, and cinnamon sticks.
We kept the decorations minimal, but I have some extra ideas for you.
Lovely Invitation (free)
Download the FREE printable Christmas tea party invitation, write down your party details, and mail it to your friends.
5 Festive Decoration Ideas
You can go as simple as a bowl of oranges with some evergreen twigs for this party.
1. Wreaths with Orange Slices
As I mentioned, our setup was simple.
We found these cute wreaths at Hobby Lobby. The orange slices, cranberries, and cinnamon sticks are from a garland we took apart. That’s also from Hobby Lobby.
Candles with their twinkle add that special, cozy feel. We used a couple of gold, shimmering candle holders for our centerpieces.
2. Teapots
Serve loose-leaf tea from a beautiful teapot or use it in various ways to adorn the table. For example, you could place teapots on cake stands or wreaths or fill the pots with flowers or evergreen branches.
3. Napkin Rings
There are so many easy ways to decorate the napkins: wrap some twine or ribbon around the napkins. Or put place cards or conversation starters on them.
Download and print the tea party place cards. FREE. (These are in the same file with the invitation, so if you already got that, you also have these.)
Another thing that looks lovely is a flat ornament with some holly. These are from a different event, but I’ll put them here for inspiration.
This type of napkin ring also becomes a party favor. There is a hole at the top with twine. Your guests could make a knot to form a loop and use it as a Christmas tree ornament.
4. Serving Trays
Gorgeous tiered serving trays are functional and serve double-duty as table decorations.
Fill the tray with the treats or decorations. Or do both! One tier is for decorations, and the other is for desserts.
5. Gold Table Runner and Doilies
A beautiful gold table runner adds even more shimmer to this Christmas tea party. So use gold circle placemats or festive disposable gold doilies. These doilies are 10″ in diameter, making them perfect for a tea party. They also come in a bigger size if that is your preference.
5 Refreshing Tea Ideas
I love to serve a variety of teas, from my favorite Teeccino Maca Chocolate to the always popular peppermint.
But since the theme for this party includes oranges, how about serving various orange-flavored teas.
- Imperial Organic: Orange Ginger Rooibus
- Fusion Teas: Orange Sunrise
- Numi: Orange Spice Tea
- 365 Whole Foods Market: Orange Vanilla Creme
- Tazo: Wild Sweet Orange Tea
What Food to Serve
We try to avoid the sugar overload, so we modified our recipes. And tried something different… which did not turn out as we had hoped.
And what is this not-so-great thing? Cream cheese cookies with homemade eggnog frosting. Both of those taste amazing by themselves but not together!
1. Cream Cheese Cookies
Here are the most delicious cream cheese cookies ever (from Pizzazzerie.) Since I prefer to use honey instead of sugar, I made the cookies with half a cup of honey. They are not very sweet this way, so if you want to taste more sweetness and less cream cheese, you should use more honey.
These freeze well and are absolutely delicious cold.
2. Chocolate-Dipped Orange Slices
Melt some dark chocolate or mix melted coconut oil, raw cacao powder, and a little honey. Dip a portion of an orange slice in the melted chocolate. Place on a parchment paper, cover, and put in the fridge to harden.
I used the recipe below (without the coconut flakes) for the chocolate dip.
3. Chocolate Truffles
These coconut chocolate truffles from Homemade Mommy are one of my favorite snacks that I always like to have available. I prefer them with fewer coconut flakes and use just half the amount in the recipe.
This is my modification:
- 1/4 cup of raw honey (instead of a half a cup)
- 1 cup of shredded coconut (instead of two cups)
4. Raspberry Chocolate
I realized how handy the chocolate truffle recipe above is. I use that all the time to make chocolate. I just leave out the coconut.
Melt the coconut oil, add honey, raw cacao powder, and vanilla extract. Pour into silicone candy molds. I like to fill them 1/3 of the way. Add stuff like raspberries, almonds, or peanut butter, then fill it with more chocolate.
I have yet to make the chocolate with oranges, but I want to try that since I love orange chocolate.
I make them with my modified recipe: 1/4 cup of honey.
Note: Coconut oil will melt if your home is very warm… so serve the homemade chocolate cold.
5. Strawberry Almond Balls
Your guests will love these irresistible strawberry almond balls. This delicious dessert from Cozy Peach Kitchen needs no sugar or honey. The sweetness comes from the Medjool dates.
And the strawberries provide a beautiful red color that is perfect for a Christmas tea. These tasty treats go really fast in our house!
6. Blueberry Scones
Soft, flaky scones with juicy berries! Sounds good, right? This is by far my favorite scone recipe. It’s from The Novice Chef. I have made cranberry, blueberry, strawberry, and raspberry scones with it.
What I want to try next is orange scones. That would be a fantastic variation for this orange-themed Christmas tea party.
My modifications:
- 1/4 cup of honey
- 1/2 cup of kefir (I didn’t have buttermilk, but I always have some delicious homemade kefir.)
I also left out the glaze, but it does make the scones look pretty.
7. Finnish Meat Pies
I tried to find the recipe I used online for the flaky meat pies or meat turnovers, but it’s not there anymore.
I don’t have a better photo of the meat pies… and as you might have noticed if you have gone through my site, I’m no food blogger. Just someone who likes to bake but whose creations don’t always turn out pretty. But they taste good.
Flaky Puff Pastry
So, this is how I prepared the flaky pastry dough. I used the same recipe I use for making the Finnish Prune Tarts. Now, those are amazing, too. You might think, how good can prunes be in a pastry… You need to find out.
- 3 1/2 sticks of butter
- 4 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cups of cold water
- 4 tsp white vinegar
Filling Idea
- rice and ground beef, seasoned to taste ( I did not measure how much I prepared since we simply ate whatever was leftover.)
- you could also add some cheese, cream cheese, onions
- Cut in the butter.
- Add water. Mix. But do not overmix.
- Add the vinegar.
- Put the dough in the fridge for an hour or two.
- Roll out the dough.
- Fold it.
- Roll out again.
- Repeat the folding and rolling out a few times.
- Roll out to 1/2 cm thickness. That is about 1/5 of an inch.
- Cut into 4″ circles. (Or make squares, whatever you’d like to do.)
- Add the filling. Fold and press the edges together.
- Brush with an egg.
- Bake for about 10 minutes at 450F.
(There are other recipes for the Finnish meat pies that you want to check out. Those are made with yeast dough. Delicious!)
Play a Couple of Festive Games
1. Tea Exchange – Roll The Dice
Ask everyone to bring their favorite box or jar of tea. It can be loose tea or tea bags, you decide. You don’t need to limit yourself to tea, but you could do a tea-related gift exchange.
In addition to all the tea, you’ll need dice and the game.
- Decide how many rounds you’ll play.
- Take turns rolling the dice.
2. Tea Bag Dice
For this game, you’ll need individually wrapped tea bags. The more variety, the better. You could ask the guests to bring some too so you’ll have lots of different options.
The goal of this game is to collect 10 tea bags. You’ll accomplish that by rolling the dice and following the instructions. Everyone gets to keep the tea they have in the end. But why not let everyone also grab some of the leftover tea bags.
Prepare cute gift bags for the guests to bring their tea collection home. I made some lovely theme-fitting printable cutouts you can glue to the bags. Yes, these are FREE: tea party gift bag tags.
3. Tea Tasting
Find out who is the tea master.
What You Need
- various tea
- mason jars
- tea cups
How to Play
- Brew a variety of teas.
- Pour into mason jars.
- Each guest takes a small amount in a disposable cup or a teacup, whatever you want to use.
- The guests taste each tea and write down what flavor tea it is.
4. This or That
What would she choose?
In this game, you’ll pick one person to fill out the game, and the others will try to guess what that person would choose. Whoever has the most correct wins.
5. Tea Queen
Do these statements apply to you? You might be the Tea Queen!
Printable Christmas Tea Party Games
Cheers to a festive Christmas tea party filled with laughter and unforgettable memories.
Download and print the simple Christmas tea party games and let the joyous festivities begin.
Five Games
- roll a tea party
- this or that
- tea bag dice
- the tea queen
- roll the dice gift exchange
8 Simple Christmas Tea Party Favors and Prizes
These fun ideas are perfect for this orange-themed Christmas tea party. Use them as favors and game prizes.
I’m so excited to give you these favor tags, also!
Grab the FREE Christmas tea party favor tags. If you already downloaded the cutouts for the gift bags, you’ve got these too.
1. Little Treats in Baking Cups
Grab some Christmas baking cups and fill them with nuts and dried fruit.
2. Tea
Why not gift the guests some orange tea or a variety of Holiday teas. Twinings usually have Christmas tea boxes.
3. Orange Citrus Notebook
Write your tea time notes in cute orange citrus notebooks.
4. Orange Chocolate
Whether you make your own or get delicious Theo organic orange chocolate, it will be a favor your guests will be happy to indulge.
5. Orange Silicone Coasters
Protect the table from heat or condensation with an orange silicone coaster. This pack has six awesome coasters ready to be given to your guests. Attach a fun note, add a tea bag, and you are all set.
7. Tea Infuser
So many fun tea infusers out there. Get some shaped like Christmas trees or stars. Use them as decorations on the table and let the guests pick one when they leave.
8. Orange Peel and Cranberry Candle
You’ll love this orange peel and cranberry candle. Handmade by my friend. I have several of her candles, and they all smell amazing and, best of all, are made without hazardous chemicals.
Summary
Christmas tea is a wonderful way to celebrate this beautiful season. So plan a holiday tea party with these ideas, from invitations and decorations to favors. Remember to get the Christmas Tea Party Games and all the freebies to make it easier!