If you came to Tea Party Girl because you are planning a tea party and need more info, I recommend you start with the question I answer in this article: Is it a Party with Tea or a Tea Party? . For the following article, I offer up some ideas for Parties with Tea.

Winter is a time to celebrate the gifts only winter brings. It’s often a time to take stock and focus on what really matters to you. For some, yearly obligations with family is a relief to have behind them and in winter they can cozy up with ones they feel the closest to. In Tea Party Girl’s life, this means simplifying down to focus on only the five of us who live under the same roof. Winter is about starker decorations like bare tree limbs, the beauty of white and cream, and firelight. Here’s a few ideas for celebrating the last weeks of winter.

I modified this list with some help from the following books:

1. Bless This Food:Four Seasons of Menus, Recipes, and Table Graces
2. Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions:Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort and Joy

• Redeem Groundhog Day–Celebrate Candlemas Instead-Traditionally celebrated on February 2, this day marks winter’s halfway point. In the past, candles had to be made instead of picked up at store. Candle-making, however, can still be a simple handcraft for a group. If there are children involved, it is recommended to use sheets of beeswax to roll around the wick instead of dipping them. Even if you don’t want to make the candles, this is the day to light as many as you can (non-scented are the best choice for this). If it’s a stormy day, all the better! At the very least, eat dinner with your family only by candlelight on this day of the year.
• President’s Day-One of my very favorite simple suggestions in Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations Of Comfort & Joy is to add a Lincoln Log structure to your table decorations and serve cherry pie on President’s Day. Isn’t that a great idea? Since the Fourth of July is America’s most celebrated patriotic holiday, but smack dab in summer, why not go patriotic in the middle of winter? Plan your winter event around red, white, and blue, or celebrate some of the best America has to offer in February. Some ideas I have are to include vintage candy or toys made here in the U.S. either as decorations or favors.
• Mardi Gras–Fat Tuesday is on February 5th this year, traditionally marking the end of revelry between the Twelfth Night of Christmas and the start of Lent. Mardi Gras can represent many levels of decadence and tackiness, but the colors of green, yellow, and purple with costume jewelry galore can still provide a great party theme for even the more sober among us. Use your imagination and find a reason to celebrate “just because” you can.
• Ash Wednesday/Lent-Do you have a few friends who spur you on to “love and good deeds?” Who are your kindred spirits you can share the good, bad, and the ugly with? Why not gather an intimate group together for some true confessing? Then pray for or encourage one another in the small steps needed in your lives for real change. There’s a reason those wooden boxes with priests sitting in them have stayed in style over the centuries and psychologists get paid so well. Confession often frees the soul for true freedom. If you share friendship that can accommodate transparency, celebrate it!

Why didn’t you include Valentine’s Day as a theme?-A complete Valentine’s Day themed tea will be available for download very soon! If you’re interested in receiving it, be sure to sign-up for my email updates in the top right corner of this website.

Of course, all of the above parties need to include tea, if for no other reason than to invite this wonderful beverage who has been often discriminated against in the past.

What winter event will you plan or attend?