With the weeks getting closer to the ‘big day’ a lot of focus and excited attention goes into the planning and celebrating of the bachelorette party, but let’s not forget the other equally important party – the kitchen tea. Let’s discuss the basics of a kitchen tea so that you can ensure it goes as smoothly and wonderfully as the bachelorette party.
The kitchen tea is the tamer version of the bachelorette party. This is the one where the aunts, future mother-in-laws and grannies can attend too, as it generally won’t involve naughty games and binge drinking like the bachelorette party. The tradition behind a kitchen tea is to prepare the bride for her married life. Gifts at a kitchen tea usually involve kitchen items and other things that will assist her in creating a home for herself and her groom. If the bride and groom have been living together before this party, you can always ask the bride for a list of things she would like for her home. The tradition is that only kitchen-related items be given at the kitchen tea, although nowadays you can give the bride pretty much anything you like – from lingerie to body lotions and potions and that whisk she’s been dying for.
Make the Date: Dependent upon time constraints and budgets, a lot of kitchen teas are held the morning of the day of the bachelorette party – generally a week or two before the wedding itself. Remember, the bride is generally not supposed to know when it is her kitchen tea and bachelorette. If she doesn’t like or want that kind of surprise, communicate with her about what weekend will suit her for these events – there is a lot going on for her in the weeks before her wedding!
Who to invite: The kitchen tea is open to all women the bride knows and loves. For this party you don’t have to be restrained in your guest list choices. The more the merrier, and remember, women only!
Decorations: This is the great part, as it is easy to create a classy, fun and feminine atmosphere. Think pink and light pastels. It is not crucial to have a theme at the kitchen tea like it is for the bachelorette. We love this setup for a kitchen tea:
It’s simple and pretty. Get a real teapot and teacups and dainty pink (or whichever colour you choose) decorations such as vases, bunches of pretty flowers on the table and some other little touches. You can go the full mile and create a tea towel cake – this is a popular way to give the bride a gift at her kitchen tea. You can also choose a theme if you feel it assists you in planning the party in a more streamlined way. Take a look at this vintage-inspired kitchen tea setup and get inspired!
Food: Ah, the eats! This is the fun part as you can stock up on pretty cupcakes, a gorgeous cake and other sweet things to enjoy with a delicious cup of tea. Make sure you have some finger food too – such as little cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches and skewers holding cheese and cherry tomatoes. Finger foods are perfect for dainty side plates. The right kind of food, displayed in a gorgeous and delicate way can really create its own kitchen tea theme.
Games: Because the bride may not want her future mother-in-law and her beloved century-old grandmother watching her drink body shots off a male stripper, it is probably best to keep the games tame and fun. You can play the toilet paper wedding dress game (see more about it here), which is fun for everyone (and all you need is tons of toilet paper), the “How Well Do You Know The Bride” game so that all her beloved ladies can see who knows the bride best – for this game you simply write a list of questions about the bride such as ‘how did she meet her groom, what is her favourite colour’ and so forth and everyone has to answer them at the same time. At the end, the bride divulges her answers and you see who wins! You can also play this game whereby you have to guess what the bride’s next word would be.
Don’t forget about the prizes for your kitchen tea games. Some universally-enjoyable prizes include bubble bath, gift vouchers or a nice bottle of wine. You can find some more game inspiration here: Five Fun Bachelorette Party Games
That rounds off our post on kitchen teas. Don’t forget to delegate tasks fairly and equally between the bridal party to make the planning of the kitchen tea more streamlined and fair. Create a list of who will handle what aspect of the kitchen tea, i.e: Bridesmaid 1 handles the food, bridesmaid 2 handles the decorations, bridesmaid 3 looks after the bride and brings her to the party and so forth. Also remember to make sure you take lots of photos for the bride to keep, and another nice thing to do is to pass around a book where everyone can write their bit of marriage advice in it for the bride to look back on in the future. Keepsakes are important to keep the memory of a very special time in her life alive.
Happy Kitchen-Tea’ing!
Hotshotz Bachelorette 