Little Women Party: A March Sisters Vintage Tea Party

Flower crowns. Mismatched china. A flower-covered cake and a table full of stories pulled straight from the pages of a beloved book. This little women party is the most charming vintage tea party we've ever thrown, and we're sharing every detail.

Jump to:

• Quick Look
• Why You'll Love This Party
• The Atmosphere -Creating the Orchard House Feeling
• The March Sisters Vignette
• Flower Crowns
• Tea Party Menu
• Drinks
• Scones
• Sweets
• Editable Free Printable Invitation and Menu Card
• Thrifting Your Vintage Tea Party
• The Book Party Favor
• Expert Tips:
• Frequently Asked Questions
• More Tea Party Inspiration

Little Women is much beloved for a reason. It's been in print for over 155 years and read by generations. We love it for its celebration of girlhood, creativity, pursuit of one's dreams, and cozy domesticity. Jo is all of us who've had to find our place in the world.

So we are celebrating the "March Sisters". I wanted this one to feel like stepping into Orchard House for an afternoon. Mismatched china. Handmade flower crowns. A cake decorated with pressed flowers. Food pulled straight from the pages of the book. A vintage tea party with my sister and girlfriends.

If you love this kind of intimate, story-driven gathering, this is part of our Year of Gathering series -twelve themed parties, one per month. You might also enjoy our Circus Dinner Party from February. Also check out our Christmas Tea Party, our Valentine's Day Tea Party, and our Winter Tea Party for more seasonal inspiration.

The Atmosphere -Creating the Orchard House Feeling

This vintage tea party happened in my kitchen, not the dining room. For four people, a smaller table feels more genuinely intimate, and much more intimate than a long formal table with empty chairs.

A few details that brought all the cozy vibes to the space:

• Paper Chains: These days we often think of paper chains at Christmas, but for Victorians they were party decor. We made ours from double sided floral scrapbook paper, and they add so much homemade charm to the room.
• Gallery Wall Backdrop: I had fun combing antique stores and thrift shops for vintage botanical prints, cottage art, and old frames that I could add pressed flowers to.
• The Film: whether it's the 2019 Greta Gerwig version or the older 1994 version (I love both) we had it playing silently on the TV in the living room during the flower crown activity for the perfect atmosphere, no effort required.
• Flowers: In addition to our floral napkins, tea cups, paper chains, art, we had to include some actual flowers. We have some potted ones in the background, and small vintage glass bottles on the table filled with loose spring flowers.
• Mismatched Floral China: I sourced teacups and more from thrift stores and antique stores. The more variation the better.
• Brass Candlestick Holders: Look for these at thrift stores and dress them up with ribbon bows.
• Floral Candles: we used acrylic craft paint to paint small flowers onto our candles. They looked so sweet, and burn fine with the paint on them.

The March Sisters Vignette

One of my favorite ideas for this party was to add some vintage pieces that reminded us of each sister.

• Meg: a pair of vintage gloves a nod to when one of hers is taken by a suitor, and sewing basket with pretty supplies, since all the sisters and Marmee were often sewing.
• Jo: a vintage typewriter for the writer, and a stack old books.
• Beth: sheet music for gentle, quiet Beth.
• Amy:  watercolor paints and brushes

Flower Crowns

As a welcome activity, we made our own flower crowns, the sisters all wore for Meg's wedding in the 2019 film.

Since it's not quite spring here, we used dried flowers for this activity and they worked perfectly. I arranged the dried flowers by type on the coffee table, and also the other supplies we needed. We had the movie playing on silent in the background.

Supplies:

• Dried Flowers -strawflowers, lavender, filler flowers, roses, baby's breath, hydrangeas
• Florist Wire
• Floral Tape
• Wire Cutters
• Ribbon

To make the crowns begin measuring the wire to fit around your head. Make a small loop at one end of the wire, and then wrap the wire in florist tape. Then make small bundles of 3 -4 flower stems and attach them to the wire, starting at the end with the loop, using more floral wire working all way around in the same direction, overlapping them as you go. To finish, loop the wire end through the loop you made at the beginning, and tie on some decorative ribbon.

These were so much fun to make and to wear for the party. All my friends are also avid gardeners, who have a little garden shed, or garden room, so we kept the crowns to hang like wreaths in those garden spaces and remember this lovely day together.

Tea Party Menu

For our Little Women tea party, we took lots of inspiration from the book and movies for our menu. We went with traditional tea sandwiches, scones, and sweets and it was all so delicious.

Drinks

• Tea: You can't have a tea party without tea. We like to have a standard orange pekoe black tea, and a decaf option. You might also consider some herbal teas for anyone who prefers. Something fruity or floral would be perfect for our theme. Tea is served with sugar and milk, not cream.
• Sparkling Wine: The Marches were temperance people. They only drank alcohol medicinally. But you will remember the scene where Meg goes to the party and indulges, and asks Laurie not to tell on her. In honour of that, we also had some sparkling wine, which makes a great addition to afternoon tea.
• Lemonade: It's always nice to have a cold option for anyone who prefers it, and lemonade is a great option.

Tea Sandwiches

• Egg Salad Finger Sandwiches: on soft white bread, crustless - a classic tea party staple and very period appropriate
• Cucumber Finger Sandwiches: simple, fresh, essential
• Chicken Salad Toast Cups: these look fancier than they are and add lovely height to the platter
• Ham with Apple Butter and Sharp Cheddar: my favorite addition. Apple butter is so New England, so Concord, so very Orchard House. The combination of salty ham and sweet-spiced apple butter is genuinely delicious.

We made our sandwich fillings of egg salad and chicken salad, the apple butter, and the toast cups the day before the party. On the morning of the party we assembled all the sandwiches, sliced them, wrapped them tightly in plastic wrap, and kept them in the fridge until it was time to arrange them on a platter and serve.

Scones

The traditional second course of a tea party is scones with clotted cream and jam. Raspberry is a favourite of mine so we had it, but we also had to have Meg's red currant jelly.

In Little Women, Meg attempts to make redcurrant jelly and it famously refuses to set properly. It's a domestic disaster that's both funny and very Meg. Serving redcurrant jelly that did set is a quiet nod for anyone who knows the book. (And if you've never tried it, it's tart, bright, jewel-red, and beautiful with clotted cream. Worth seeking out.)

I made my easy food processor scone recipe the morning of the party, so they were beautifully fresh.

Sweets

• The Flower Cake: In the final scenes of the 2019 film, Jo is bringing out a cake and it's decorated with simple white icing and fall leaves. I thought a flower version of this cake that embraced the wild and beauty of nature would be perfect for our tea party. I used a simple vanilla cake mix, homemade vanilla icing and jam between the layers and decorated it with pressed flowers. The imperfect, organic look is the whole point and perfectly imperfect.
• Shortbread: this buttery, simple, very Marmee's kitchen treat was a wonderful addition. I used this Vanilla shortbread recipe, and cut them with a pretty scalloped edge and used a press to mark them with a flower impression to fit our floral theme.
• Flower Sugar Cookies: I used my Grandma's sugar cookie recipe to make circles with a scalloped edge, and then my favorite buttercream to pipe flowers in soft pastel colors. They were a very pretty addition to our floral theme.
• Pink Ice Cream with Candied Limes: This is not traditional tea party fare, but a nod to two different moments in the book. Mr. Laurence's famous gift to the family after they sacrificed their Christmas breakfast was to send them a feast that included pink ice cream. And who could forget Amy's pickled limes, one of the most iconic food moments in all of Little Women. In the book, the limes were pickled, a period treat that has not stood the test of time. We took inspiration from them and made a sweet candy version instead of a sour pickled one. The candied lime garnish over a little cup of blush pink cherry ice cream covers both references in one beautiful dish.

Editable Free Printable Invitation and Menu Card

If you'd like to use our free invitation and menu card for your own party, subscribe below and we'll instantly send you the link to the template where you can add your own party details and menu choices.

Thrifting Your Vintage Tea Party

One of the things I love about this theme is that the March family's modest circumstances are actually part of the story. They make do. They find beauty in what they have. A little women party that's built mostly from thrift stores and things you already own is more authentic, not less.

Here's what I sourced secondhand for this party:

• Mismatched Floral China: plates, teacups, saucers. I look for these every time I'm at the thrift store and have been building a collection for years.
• Mismatched Cutlery: Found at an antique fair years ago. These odd pieces were $1 a piece. I built a little mismatched collection full of character and charm, and the tarnish adds to it, I think.
• Hardcover copies of Little Women: one per guest, tied with a ribbon. I found four different vintage editions which made each book feel special and individual.
• Small Glass Bottles: for the flowers in different sizes and colors.
• Vintage Frames: for the gallery wall I filled several with free botanical prints downloaded from the Biodiversity Heritage Library (wonderful free resource, search "vintage botanical illustration")
• Gloves:  I already had these -from our Bridgerton party, but thrift stores and antique stores are full of them.

The Book Party Favor

Each guest received a thrifted hardcover copy of Little Women tied with a ribbon bow as their party favor. Four women, four different editions of the same beloved book. It wasn't expensive and it was the detail everyone talked about afterward.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Tea Party Inspiration

If you try anything from this little women party or any other ideas on my blog, please let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!