Tea party ideas can be hard to find, which may mean bad news for your afternoon soiree. Setting up a tea party is no easy task. From getting the right table to the perfect tiered cake stand, to deciding what to eat with your tea, the whole process can be brain wrecking. Here are a few tea party ideas for your food servings to make your tea soiree a lie in the front porch, which is exactly what it's meant to be.

1.        Tea

The tea usually goes underlooked during tea parties, principally because of all the other foods on the menu. For our advice on tea, always go for tea that pairs well with many types of pastries. Select more bold teas for rich and strongly flavored foods while sticking to delicate teas for the more subtle tasting foods. Considering that one or two of your guests may be sensitive to caffeine, have one or two caffeine free tisane cups ready, or a decaf option.

Milk, sugar and lemon go well as optional ingredients for your guests to add in their drinks.

2.       Scones

Scones are most popular with tea parties. If the tea party is for girls, consider serving raspberry scones which are unusually pink and are very tasty. Flavor your scones with scone toppings and spreads. When in doubt, go with basic clotted cream or lemon curd.

3.       Finger sandwiches

Another of the great tea party ideas. These are served for a heavier style of afternoon tea. Classic afternoon tea party finger sandwiches include cucumber tea sandwiches, egg salad tea sandwiches, roast beef finger sandwiches, ham finger sandwiches and smoked salmon finger sandwiches.

4.       Other sweets

Served during light tea, they include sponge cakes, cupcakes and madeleines and trifles.

DO not have too much of an overlap in your sweets. Ideally, you want to have multiple flavors and types of sweets.

Remember these great tea party ideas the next time you set up a tea party.