The social season is upon us and is there anything more exhilarating than the promise of a birthday celebration among the ton? This author finds herself compelled to share the most exciting of news.
Last weekend, I celebrated my birthday by throwing a Bridgerton inspired tea party for my immediate family. My obsession with the new netflix show Bridgerton began at the beginning of 2021 when I binge watched the show in 3 days. Like most people I have been feeling a mental burnout and exhaustion from this pandemic. The happiness of being at home with so much free time was great the first few months, but now a year later it’s difficult to find the motivation to frankly do anything. Watching Bridgerton left me so inspired-- the characters, fashion, and soundtrack all left me feeling so motivated to create. So that’s exactly what I did.
I shared some highlights from the party on Instagram and TikTok and I got an overwhelming number of requests to share the details. So in this post, you will find my tips and tricks to hosting the perfect Bridgerton inspired tea party!
I started off my creating a mood board on Pinterest and a color palette to help me visualize my tea party. The Bridgerton House in the show is surrounded by beautiful lavender wisterias which is one of the key colors I used when planning. Here is a breakdown of all the elements.
Backdrop:
The Bridgerton House led me to choosing a balloon garland with hanging wisterias for the backdrop. I worked with an amazing local company called Bliss Events DMV to create the balloon garland backdrop. They have been taking extra precautions with Covid and provided me with a DIY balloon garland kit. It included beautiful matte balloons in all my desired shades and all the supplies needed to put it together. The end results were so elegant with the matte balloons and faux florals.
Alongside the elegant balloon garland, I used a backdrop stand I already had to hang ivory colored drapes. You can find the exact ivory drapes here.
Table Set Up
After browsing Pinterest for hours, I decided to do a floor seating for my tea party. I used my parent's coffee table however crates would work really well for this too, especially if the weather permits you to host this outdoors. You can find free crates at Lowes and Home Depot if you ask the associates. I covered my table with a polyester ivory table cover and layered it with a white lace overlay tablecloth.
I knew I wanted a traditional tea set up with mini sandwiches, scones, pastries, canapés and lots of tea. I found two 3-tiered white stands at Home Goods for only $16 that were perfect for this and I'm so happy to have them in my collection! All of the other serving plates were thrifted or I already had them. I wanted the purple shade to be consistent throughout all the table decor but also wanted to incorporate other shades and patterns so shopping at my local thrift stores helped me deliver an unique look.
Tableware
I wanted my guests to feel like royalty and the tableware would translate that. I started by looking through my own stuff and my mom’s collection to find inspiration. I came across this floral dinner set my mom has had for years which went perfectly with my theme. As I mentioned I wanted to incorporate the purple color and this dinner set had that exact shade. What a coincidence?! I found this beautiful tea set on Amazon which matched the shade perfectly. You can shop it here and it also comes in a beautiful pink and white color.
From here I had a clear vision of what I wanted my table to look like. For each person's set, I arranged it in this order:
Gold Charger Plate- pack of 6 purchased from Michaels, shop it here.
Floral Dinner Plate - from my Mom's collection, you can find similar options at Pottery Barn, Macys, Williams-Sonoma, and if you want disposable Amazon has a bunch!
White Paper Doilies - assortment pack of 32 from Dollar Tree for just $1.
Tea Cup + Saucer - Purple pukka tea set purchased from Amazon, you can shop it here.
Gold Metal Silverware - from my Mom's collection, similar option from Amazon here and Target also has a simpler option you can purchase here.
Bridgerton Details:
Of course, I had to incorporate details from the show and the first thing I thought of was creating my own issue of Lady Whistledown's Society Paper. My guests had a laugh reading it and it was a great way to make everyone feel included, especially those who didn't watch the show. I also incorporated a lot of decor to fit the theme like tea pots filled with fresh flowers, a gold seashell that had pearls placed inside, tall candlesticks to set the mood, and
Lady Whistledown Society Paper - I found an amazing template on Etsy and customized it to my like. The template can be used on Corjl which is really easy to work with. I printed them on normal 8.5x11 size paper and cut it to size. This added a personalized touch and all my guests enjoyed reading it! You can find the template here.
Tea Pot Floral Arrangments - I purchased two of these from amazon, one in lavender and rose that you can shop here and one in a blue color. I used fresh flowers from Trader Joe's and created these beautiful arrangements. This added a sophisticated and elegant look to the table and I was able to repurpose both the flowers and tea pots for other uses after.
Tea Pot Gift Box - I had purchased the tea pots solely for the floral arrangements but they arrived in these beautiful keepsake boxes which I was also able to use for decor. I stacked them on this gold drum table to add some color to my drink station. Again, just an example on how you can use ordinary items like a box to create elegance.
Gold Seashell - Daphne wears pearls on multiple occasion in the show and when I saw this gorgeous gold seashell box at Homesense, I couldn't resists buying it! I filled it up with jumbo pearls that I purchased from the Dollar Tree.
Vintage Candlesticks - I found a set of 3 vintage brass candle stick holders at Homesense as well and purchased ivory candlesticks from Michael's. Here is a similar option.
Food, Drinks, + Tea
One of the most important part of a successful party is the food and in this case the food and tea! I planned my menu after researching traditional afternoon teas. The party was at 2 pm so I decided to include dainty tea sandwiches, a plethora of pastries and sweets, pomegranate tea, and of course birthday cake.
Ombre + Pearl Birthday Cake - This beautiful cake was custom made by a local family owned bakery called Classic Bakery. They have a two locations in Maryland and Virginia and they never disappoint with their amazing creations inspired by their Middle Eastern + European family roots.
Croissants, Mixed Fruit Tarts, Chocolate Custard Tart, and Cream Puffs - Classic Bakery
Macarons, British Style Crumpets with fresberries - Trader Joe's
Cakesicles - Handmade by another local baker, Cakes by Bay. I thought it would be fun to incorporate Daphne + the Duke's famous line "I Burn For You" onto the cakesicles and the amazing baker did not disappoint. They tasted even better than they looked.
Sparkling Lemonade, Organic Pomegranate White Tea - Trader Joe's
Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches, Buffalo Chicken + Mozzarella Sliders, Shrimp Bruschetta - Homemade. If you would like the recipe for any of these items, let me know!
My Look:
Last but not least, I wanted to share some insight on how I came up with my look. I loved Daphne Bridgerton's look that she wore to the ball in Episode 1. It's where her and Simon decided to work together and I loved how elegant yet sophisticated she looked.
Blue Mesh Tulle Maxi Dress- I purchased this dress from Shein and I loved that it was long sleeve and flowy, you can find it here.
Long Layered Pearl Necklace - Found this long pearl necklace that can be worn layered at Target, it was an amazing price and I can use it again and again. Shop it here.
White Lace Gloves - These gloves added a royal touch and covered up my nails that I didn't get time to paint, I purchased them from Amazon here.
White Feather Fan - This vintage marabou feather fan was more of a photo prop, but I think it completed my outfit perfectly.
Makeup - I opted for a simple look with a full coverage base, light contour and blush, and a hint of silver glitter in the corners of my eyes. Completed the look with my favorite Marc Jacobs Lip Creme Lipstick in the shade Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 216 - baked rose.
