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Host an autumn tea party with these fall tea party menu ideas, pretty place settings, and a recipe for gluten-free apple cake. It’s tea time!
Related: Hosting the Perfect Baby Sprinkle
By Patti Brown
What better way to celebrate autumn than to enjoy a harvest tea party on a crisp fall afternoon? When you want to enjoy fall with all your senses, a fall tea party is the perfect setting!
My daughter Abbie and I are tea enthusiasts, so it doesn’t take much for us to find a reason to enjoy a little something special with a cuppa. Whether we invite friends over or just have a family tea, we always feel refreshed after a spell at the tea table. Autumn brings apples, cranberries and pumpkins, so our autumn tea time often highlights one or more of these fall fruits.
Autumn Tea Party Ideas
First things first for a tea party – the tea! Last year a friend introduced us to Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Rooibos tea. It is perfect for this time of year! Rooibos is an herbal tea, which makes it suitable for all ages.
Tea Party Decorations
While both Abbie and I enjoy a fancy table setting, we reserve those for rare special occasions. We generally keep it simple, because let’s be honest – too much fuss and we won’t want to do it again! If we are in the mood to dress things up a bit, candles, leaves or flowers in autumn colors add a nice touch.
A cute yet practical way to decorate is to make apple napkins to put on the plates. If you don’t have red napkins, use orange to make pumpkin napkins!
A prettily displayed snack also makes an attractive table decoration. We try to take an extra moment to be mindful of presentation when we have our little tea parties. I keep white cupcake papers and paper doilies on hand – it is surprising how they transform a plain dish into something special.
I love what Abbie did with the apple slices here, which she served with pumpkin dip.
Fall Tea Party Recipes
Here are some more recipes that work well for an autumn tea. If you have dietary restrictions, most can be easily modified. When I am cooking gluten-free I use a gluten free flour mix. If I am cooking dairy free I’ll substitute coconut oil for butter and rice milk for cow’s milk. And I am a fan of maple syrup in place of sugar (for low carb I use erythritol with a touch of stevia)
Apple Date Spread (just mix chopped dates, apples and pecans with some thinned cream cheese)
on Gluten Free Pecan Crackers
Gluten Free Apple Cake
I am happy to share my recipe for Gluten Free Apple Cake with you all! I have made this so many times in so many ways. It is a very handy recipe because it can be modified to eliminate most major allergens. Everyone needs a go to recipe for a light and yummy cake with no gluten, dairy, eggs or nuts!
Gluten-Free Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 c gluten free flour (use oat flour to make this a THM E)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 c maple syrup (or a THM equivalent)
- 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Lightly grease an 8"x8" pan.
- Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices in large bowl.
- Combine coconut oil, maple syrup, water, applesauce and vanilla in medium bowl. Stir in apples.
- Add apple mixture to flour mixture. Stir until just combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until lightly brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool on rack, then cut and serve.
Do you share our enthusiasm for tea parties? You can get our free Tea Party Checklist when you sign up for our newsletter.
Plan a tea party as a fun mother-daughter bonding idea, host a shower for a lady at your church, or enjoy a family tea when the gradparents come to visit. There are all kinds of reasons to host a tea party, so dust off your tea pot and have some fun!
Do you like to have tea parties with your family? What is your favorite autumn recipe to enjoy with tea?
Patti Brown and her daughter Abbie love to learn and create together. When they aren’t making up recipes, they are dreaming of yarn and fabric. They write at BlossomsAndPosies.com where they encourage girls and their moms to bloom at home! You can also find them on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Anna @ Feminine Adventures
We just had a fall tea party yesterday afternoon with my mom and four sisters! (And used leaves from a recent nature walk to decorate the table.)
You are so right about not stressing over it so much that you won’t want to do it again! I was feeling run down (thanks to working way too late and being woken up too early!) and knew I wouldn’t enjoy it nearly as much unless I rested a little bit. That meant I didn’t have time to make the cookies I’d wanted, but there was plenty of food anyway and we all had a lovely time.
Patti
Hooray for fall tea parties Anna!
And yes! I learned the hard way that all the fuss does not a happy tea party make. Now we can throw together a tea party with just a few minute’s notice. There is always something on hand to enjoy (even cinnamon toast is special when cut in pretty shapes) and we always have a seemingly endless supply of tea. 🙂 What really matters is that sweet time of sitting together and just enjoying one another.
Thanks for sharing!
Dawn
What a lovely and inspiring post Patti!
Patti
Thanks you Dawn! I raise my tea cup to you! 🙂
Minni DeVoux
Great post. I would love to know the name of your China that you used. It is so beautiful.
Patricia Babcock
Twos of my favorite fall tea recipes are ~turkey-cranberry sandwiches on raisin/walnut bread and thin slices of pumpkin bread with a thin slice of sharp cheese and apple slices.
Chris
Hi there! Love the info and the checklist! If you were attending an afternoon kids tea party (birthday), how many savory and how many sweet treats would you have out?
Erin
I would probably do one of each and then maybe some fruit.
G. Edie
Thank you for the gluten free Apple cake recipe. I am hosting a fall British Brunch and one attendee requires a gluten free diet. Lovely page!
Mary Alice Sampson
I’m in charge of planning a somewhat large tea party for our DAR chapter. We’ll be celebrating the chapters 125th anniversary in early November. Our committee decided on a tea party, since 1896 was the year we were charted I feel it should be as much vintage as possible. We’ve already started collecting tea cups and saucers. Do you have any ideas on how to include vintage for the year, something special for Fall and of course something Patriotic since we are Daughters of the American Revolution, without it appearing just a bunch of things thrown together???