Host a Valentine's Day tea party for Galentine's Day, family time, or celebrating with your favorite people. This afternoon tea features heart-shaped treats, vintage and coquette-style decor, and everything you need for a memorable Valentine's celebration.
Valentine's Day Tea Party Quick Look
- 🎉 Best For: Galentine's Day, family gatherings, friendship celebrations
- 👥 Serves: 4-8 guests
- 🍽️ Menu: Tea sandwiches, Scones with clotted cream and jam, and Sweets
- 🎀 Style: Pink and red, coquette aesthetic, bows and hearts
- 💕 Top Tip: Set the table and make sweets and sandwich fillings the day before.
Why You'll Love This Party
- Lots of items can be made ahead.
- Simple ingredients from your grocery store.
- Perfect for Galentine's Day celebrations with friends, or mother-daughter bonding.
- Coquette aesthetic with bows and vintage details is beautiful and on trend.
- Works for small intimate gatherings or larger groups.
Jump to:
What could be more fun than a Valentine's Day tea party?
I invited some of my besties over for an afternoon of sipping tea, and eating treats and we had the best time. This is such a great girlie idea to do with your gal pals for celebrating love day this Feburary. But tea parties are also fun for the whole family, and grandparents particularly love them. It would also be a great way to surprise your partner.
If you're looking for more Valentine's Day entertaining ideas, check out our Valentine's Day Breakfast Ideas and Valentine Breakfast Board for a morning celebration, Heart Shaped Hamburgers for a fun dinner, or our Valentine's Day Pizza Party for kid-friendly festivities. And our 20 At Home Valentine's Day Ideas. And if you love tea parties as much as I do, don't miss our How to Throw an Afternoon Tea Party for Adults for more hosting tips, and our Winter Tea Party.
The Tea Party Decor
For our Galentine's Day celebration, I wanted the decor to embrace the coquette aesthetic that's so popular right now. Think pink, bows, vintage teacups, and feminine details everywhere. It's the perfect style for a Valentine's Day tea party with your girlfriends.
- Floral Tablecloth: I started out with the prettiest pink floral tablecloth. If you can't find what you're after you can always look at the fabric store. Ours was light pink with tiny rosebuds and the perfect backdrop for our table.
- Plates: I used lots of vintage pieces for this party, including the pink depression glass luncheon plates. I layered these with some cute heart plates for Valentine's Day. It's always nice to offer guests one plate for savoury and a fresh plate for sweet for a high tea.
- Vintage Tea Cups: The tea cups were also vintage. Look for them at thrift stores or antique stores. They're all different, but all have touches of pink floral designs to tie them together.
- Pink Champagne Coups: My favourite part of the table settings were the pink champagne coupe glasses, with bows tied on the stems. These were a very lucky antique store find one day.
- Gold Cutlery: Each place setting was finished off with some gold cutlery. Be sure to include a knife so guests can fix their scones. We also included gold heart spoons perfect for stirring a cup of tea, and off-white linen napkins.
- Serving PIeces: We also used lots of vintage serving pieces, like pretty china serving plates, vintage tea pots, cake plates. Look for these pieces at antique stores or thrift stores too.
Valentine's Day Centerpiece
- Candles with Bows: For the Valentine centerpiece in the middle of the table I used some gorgeous glass candlestick holders, and added ribbon bows to some. Candles are fun even in the afternoon for special occasions.
- Painted Candlesticks: And to add another fun bow detail to our Valentine party, a few of the actual candles have bows painted onto them. I used a regular craft paint and they still burned perfectly. This is such a fun way to add an extra detail.
- Fresh Flowers: We also added some really simple floral arrangements of pink spray roses. I love spray roses, and thought they were perfect to go with our rosebud tablecloth. We used my collection of vintage bottles for the fresh flowers and they looked so pretty.
- Valentine's Day Candy: I finished off the centrepiece of the table decorations with some small bowls of Valentine's Day candy. It is a fun detail for the occasion. I had two matching small swan vessels that I found at the thrift store and added a bow around their necks. We filled them with candy cinnamon hearts, and Valentine jelly beans. I used another vintage tea cup as a candy bowl for some conversation hearts, because they're so quintessentially Valentines.
The Drinks
- Hot Tea: You can't have a traditional afternoon tea party without tea of course. I like a traditional orange pekoe, earl grey is always a good choice too. It's a good idea to have a few options for your guests, including something that's decaf, and herbal tea. Brew your tea in a teapot, and be sure to have extra hot water for making more tea as the party continues. We used tea bags, but loose leaf tea feels extra special for a tea party.
- Milk and Sugar: Black tea is traditionally served with milk not cream, so be sure to have some. I also made some adorable pink heart shaped sugar cubes using a small mould. They're very easy to make -see exactly how I made the homemade sugar cubes here.
- Sparkling Wine: Since it was a Galentine's party, we also had some sparkling wine. A glass of champagne is a very fun addition to the afternoon. And the perfect way to make it feel like a real special occasion.
- Non-Alcoholic Options: I always recommend having a non-alcoholic cold option for guests too, for any non-drinkers. Sparkling juice is perfect for this.
- Hot Chocolate: If you're having little girls at a tea party, hot chocolate is a great option, and pink hot chocolate for Valentine's Day is even better.
The Food
Tea Sandwiches
Top Tip: Make your mini sandwiches a couple of hours ahead of time and cover well with plastic wrap so that they don't dry out. You want these sandwiches to be delicate and easy to eat. Offer a variety of fillings and breads, remove the crusts and cut the sandwiches into small pieces.
- Cucumber Sandwiches: Cucumber sandwiches are an afternoon tea favourite. We made finger sandwiches with white bread, butter, mayo, cream cheese and thinly sliced cucumbers. Cut off the crusts and slice them into long rectangle fingers. We also made a few extra special by cutting them into heart shapes with a cookie cutter and topping with a cucumber bow.
- Egg Salad Croissants: I like to serve egg salad on a mini croissant, and top them with some mixed greens.
- Ham and Cheese: We made simple ham and Swiss cheese sandwiches with honey mustard.
- Chicken Salad Toast Cups: These are really easy to make and always a hit with guests. See the chicken salad in toast cups -see the recipe here.
Scones
Top Tip: Scones are best when they are served the day they are made. They have a nice crust on top, and it softens when they're stored in an airtight container. If you don't have time to make the scones the morning of the party, you can make the scones ahead of time and freeze the dough to bake the morning of the party. Prepare the dough and freeze on a cookie sheet until frozen through, then store in a freezer bag. Find our favorite easy food processor scone recipe here.
- Heart Shaped Scones: The next traditional course is scones with jam and cream. We made our Easy Food Processor Scones - see the recipe here. Instead of cutting them into wedges, I rolled them out and cut them with a cookie cutter to make them heart shaped.
- Jam Options: We served ours with raspberry jam, another great option is strawberry jam, or lemon curd.
- Clotted Cream: Scones are traditionally served with clotted cream. It's sometimes hard to find here, look for it in British shops or some grocery stores in the dairy section. You can also substitute whipped cream if you cannot find clotted cream.
Sweets
Top Tip: I try to have a few different options and always include at least one option that is vanilla, chocolate and berry, so that there's something for everyone's different tastes.
- Heart Shaped Vintage Cake: This pretty heart shape vintage cake was so beautiful. We made it from a white cake, and it had raspberry jam filling and Swiss meringue buttercream. It was the star of the show.
- Shortbread Hearts: Shortbread is always a great addtion to a tea party, and a favorite of mine. Get my favorite shortbread recipe here.
- Strawberry Marshmallows: Homemade strawberry marshmallows, cut out with a heart cookie cutter.
- Cherry Pie Love Letters: Little cherry pie love letters -see how I made them here.
- Custard Cream Cookies: Custard creams are a tradional British cookie and perfect for a tea party. We made these heart shaped for Valentine's day and they're so tender and delicious. Find the recipe for the Heart shaped custard cream cookies here.
- Mini Chocolate Eclairs and Macaroons: We also had an assortment of mini chocolate eclairs and macaroons. I picked up these treats at the bakery and grocery store. I love to mix some store bought treats in with the homemade, especially when they're speciality items like these that are a bit challenging to make at home.
Admittedly we had too many sweet treats and lots of leftovers, but they all looked so beautiful.
Coquette Aesthetic for Your Valentine's Tea Party
The coquette aesthetic is having a major moment right now, and it's the perfect style for a Valentine's Day tea party. This ultra-feminine trend embraces everything soft, pink, and romantic with lots of bows, vintage touches, and delicate details. Think balletcore meets cottagecore with a romantic Valentine twist.
Why Coquette Style Works for Tea Parties:
- Naturally Feminine: Tea parties are already inherently girly and elegant, so the coquette aesthetic feels like a natural fit. The vintage teacups, delicate treats, and pretty table settings all align perfectly with this trend.
- Instagram-Worthy: If you or your guests love taking photos, the coquette aesthetic creates a cohesive, beautiful look that photographs incredibly well. Everything is pretty and coordinated without feeling overly formal.
- Easy to Achieve: You don't need to buy all new decor. Shop your home for vintage pieces, add bows to everything, work with a pink color palette, and incorporate florals. Thrift stores and antique shops are goldmines for coquette-style pieces.
Key Coquette Elements:
- Bows on everything (candles, glassware, candy dishes, napkins)
- Pink as your main color with touches of white and red
- Vintage or vintage-inspired pieces (especially depression glass and floral china)
- Delicate florals (roses, especially)
- Lace, ribbons, and feminine details
- Heart shapes for Valentine's Day
We had so much fun spending hours at the tea table with delicious food, sparkling wine and tea, and great conversation. I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon, or a better type of party for Valentine's Day with your girlfriends.
More Tea Party Inspiration
Frequently Asked Questions
At most hotel teas there are usually 4 tea sandwiches per person. If you are serving your afternoon tea more as a lunch you might want to have up to 6 per person. Remember a tea sandwich is quite small.
You don't want your tea sandwiches to be dry, or soggy. The best way to ensure this is to make them right before serving. If you need to make them ahead of time, prepare your fillings like chicken salad, egg salad, or tunna salad the day before. Be sure to spread your bread with butter to help keep the sandwich filling from making the bread soggy. After assembling your sandwiches the day of the party keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Be sure to keep them covered with plastic wrap righ until serving to ensure they don't dry out.
Decorate your table with Valentine's Day colors like pink and red. Make some of the food heart shaped like sandwiches cut with a cookie cutter, scones, cake and cookies. Offer rose sparking wine for an extra special touch.
Afternoon tea is usually served in the late afternoon. It was originally a way to fill the gap between lunch and much later dinner times than most of us have today. I usually serve afternoon tea as a late lunch, that way guests have room for all the courses and can really enjoy the whole menu.
Galentine's Day is traditionally celebrated on February 13th, the day before Valentine's Day. It's a day to celebrate female friendships and spend time with your girlfriends. The holiday was popularized by the TV show Parks and Recreation and has become a real celebration for women to get together and honor their friendships. Galentine's Day has come to mean any Valentine celebration that celebrates women's friendships and can be celebrated anytime during the season.
A traditional afternoon tea menu includes three courses: tea sandwiches (like cucumber, egg salad, and chicken salad), scones with jam and cream, and an assortment of sweets and desserts. For Valentine's Day, make items heart shaped when possible, use pink and red colors, and include Valentine themed treats. Don't forget to serve both hot tea and sparkling wine or champagne for a festive touch.
Coquette aesthetic is an ultra-feminine style trend that embraces everything soft, pink, and romantic. Key elements include lots of bows, vintage touches, delicate florals (especially roses), lace and ribbons, and a pink color palette. It's perfect for Valentine's Day celebrations because it naturally incorporates all the romantic, pretty details that make the day special.
Traditionally, afternoon tea was a light meal served in the late afternoon with tea, finger sandwiches, scones, and sweets. High tea was actually a heartier early evening meal. These days, most people use the terms interchangeably to mean the same thing - a fancy tea party with all the pretty treats and teacups. What we're hosting here is what would traditionally be called afternoon tea, but call it whatever feels right to you.
Embrace the coquette aesthetic with something feminine and pretty. Think flowy dresses, skirts with blouses, or anything with bows, lace, or floral details. Pink, red, or white are perfect color choices for Valentine's Day. The key is to dress up a bit since tea parties feel special and fancy, but you don't need to be overly formal. Comfortable and pretty is the sweet spot -you'll be sitting and eating for a few hours, so choose something you feel good in.
With a Valentine's Day tea party with your girlfriends, life really is a party!
If you have tried any of these Valentine's Day Tea Party Ideas or any other ideas on my blog please let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!
Eldarose says
Absolutely LOVE this tea party. So sweet and so many cute tips and ideas to use.
I thought half way thru, don't forget to follow this blog because you'll want to give them credit if you do the sugar cube thing with something else. That is something easy enough for me to do, but you're right, it adds so much by making the little details special.
Thank you for sharing.
Eldarose
Maggie says
This is adorable! How much fun for all the girls to get involved and make some fun things. Great idea and the food coloring for the chocolate was really great.
Sandra Britnell says
What a cute table! I bet they all had a wonderful time. I love all of the special touches you added. Pink Hot Chocolate and hearts on the sugar cubes. Everything is so precious!
Debbie says
How fun! Such cute ideas for Valentine's Day. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Alycia Nichols says
Absolutely scrupmtious tea party!!! The young girls must have enjoyed it immensely...as did their Moms! This is the ultimate Mother-Daughter celebration with all of the pretty pink colors, the fun & tasty party food, and the decorations that could be enjoyed by everyone. Great idea to have craft projects available for the kids! It keeps them busy AND makes them an integral part of the festivities! Looking at that miniature BLT makes me hungry for one this morning! Wonderful job!!!
FABBY says
What a beautiful and yummy table! I can see you have a lovely helper too, no wonder everything looks so pretty and inviting! Just dropped by from TT at Susan's. Hugs,
FABBY