Tea and Books Saturday #41: "Friendship Teas to Go"

Friendship Teas to Go
By Emilie Barnes
Harvest House, 2006

For some reason, a tea party for 4 or 40 is easier for me to plan than a tea for just one friend. Fellow tea bloggers, I've noted, are much more successful at planning smaller, more intimate tea parties than I am, but I just finished reading a helpful book that's inspired me to "think small," and it is Emilie Barnes' "Friendship Teas to Go: 12 Celebrations You Can Take Anywhere." The wonderful advice and recipes are accompanied by Susan Rios' beautiful paintings, so this would be a great book to give as well as to get!

I think what I've enjoyed most about Emilie Barnes' many tea books is that she has such a start-where-you-are mentality about teatime. If you've got cute paper plates and a Thermos bottle of tea, fine; if you want to pack up the fine china in a picnic basket, that's fine too! You never feel "unqualified" to follow her teatime ideas, and that is a lovely thing. What's also lovely are the thoughtful ways she manages to bring teatime into the lives of friends: a beach tea party with old high school friends, a fun bridal shower tea party to celebrate an upcoming wedding (I should have read this LAST week!), or a Neighbors Tea to meet the women in your neighborhood.

Teatime recipes are included for each of the 12 celebrations in the book, and Barnes also sprinkles it with ideas for decorating and gift-giving. Happily, her tips are quite practical and affordable. At a Christmas tea, for instance, I'd like to use her idea of having some cookie cutters tied with ribbon and allowing guests to choose one before they leave. It would be a sweet, inexpensive reminder of the tea — and something useful as well. My mind is now buzzing with ideas for a few friends who could use a small treat of teatime ... I just need to follow through!