We love a good Tea Party! They’re a great option for a birthday or event where you want to dress up with your friends but maybe not venture out of the air conditioning (or be bothered by strangers asking if you are “in a play” on the street). There are a few things you need to make your Tea Party special! And we’ve also collected some great DIY’s and tutorials from other sites to help get you inspired.

With a little planning ahead and some clever diy’s your Gothic Tea Party can really stand out!

Invitations: If you’re planning a smaller party paper invitations are so charming and rare in these days of facebook event planning. Mail them or hand deliver paper ones to your guests- you can really go all out with these to inspire your guests ahead of time! Coffin shaped, full of pressed flowers and glitter, tea soaked paper, or simple on black cardstock with gold pen. There are endless options. You can find printable ones to do at home on etsy with elaborate Gothic themes also!

Table Decor: Whether you’re hosting a Tea Party at your home or at a venue consider decorations and how to fancy up the tables. Buy coordinating dark blossoms in rich colors and create your own arrangement in a big silver vase in the center of the table, tuck some dark jewelry and strange tiny objects in among the flowers or around the base of the vase for added detail. An arrangement of dead or dried flowers would be lovely too! Or place your favorite eerie doll in a Gothic ensemble in the center of the table. Just about anything can be used as table decor as long as it isn’t in the way of serving and chatting! Add some lovely touches to the rest of the room with things like black helium balloons, draping black lace or fabric, spiderwebs, swagged black crepe paper ribbons, etc.

Dishes and Tea Sets: Not everyone can go out and purchase the perfect Gothic themed tea sets (though there are some gorgeous sets available these days). One thing we’ve used at all of our Gloomth Tea Parties are vintage sterling silver serving trays and tea serving pieces, you can often find them at thrift stores as people don’t want the hassle of polishing silver. Silver polish is cheap and easy to use and makes your silver thrift store finds look brand new! The great thing about the silver sets is they’re packed with detail and when mixed into a fancy table setting really add some luxe effect. You can also thrift mis-matched teacups and saucers easily, the more patterns the better- a table full of mixed items looks intentional and allows guests to choose the teacup theme they like best.

Charming Cupcakes: I am the furthest thing from a master baker so I usually order the cupcakes for our events at a local grocery store (super affordable and very delicious!). To keep costs manageable I will add something special to each cupcake as I set them out for our guests- usually a cupcake topper I’ve made and some black sprinkles. Consider using little charms or inedible details to give guests something to keep after the event! The above cupcakes have little cameos pressed into the icing (likely those in the photo are edible but you could use simple washed jewelry charms from the craft store). Anything you can wash before using and that looks inedible (as in no one is going to mistake your cameo for a snack and choke) would be great! Little plastic spiders, eyeballs, anything you like!

Here’s a super easy DIY printable tombstone cupcake toppers! With a little photoshop magic you can customize the lettering to say whatever you like on them also! 🙂

Decadent and Dark Menu: Determining what to serve at your Gothic Tea Party can be tricky! We usually keep it simple and serve as a buffer style for our guests. If your party is smaller you can serve it in courses or all at once. We like a few sweet items, something savory, and something light. Beet hummus looks bloody red and absolutely beautiful in a fancy serving dish, and makes a great dip for vegetables and crackers. Decorate dishes with edible flowers. Instead of trying to figure out a tiny sandwich (50 tea party sandwich recipes) with a gothic feel simply use a knife to cut flat sandwiches into coffin shapes (or a coffin cookie cutter if you have one) for a quirky and spooky feel.

Coffin shaped pop-tarts make a super cute and unique treat for your Tea Party! 😉

Music: I try to keep the music for our Tea Parties unobtrusive, I make a playlist of haunting soft songs ahead of time and hide a bluetooth speaker in the main dining room. Depending on the sort of Gothic Tea Party you’re hosting you can alter the music accordingly. Classic goth bands like the Cure and Bauhaus make a great option, or go super fancy and play haunting classical songs throughout.

Games and Activities: You may only want games if your guests don’t know one another already. Games are a great way to encourage mingling. At a smaller event quiet card games or that “two truths and a lie” introduction game work nicely. With larger groups scavenger hunts, trivia games, or team games at each table work better.

Dress up and have fun! Don’t stress too much if your party isn’t perfect, it’s always more about the company than the details so try and have fun with it. 🙂

-Taeden