Cups and Saucers! Our FIRST High Tea...with Poetry

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? I didn't, but how ironic that I had JUST started planning our very first ever High Tea with Poetry readings! 

(I've seen this idea floating around the blogosphere recently and it had me pondering. If you're one of these bloggers, PLEASE share your link in the comment section and readers can see YOUR teas too!)

On Monday, the Saplings each chose a poem to copy and memorize. Sugar Maple was MOST excited and anxious to chose just the perfect poem!

Do you know what "low tea" is? "afternoon tea"? "high tea"? "meat tea"? Us either, so we had to Google them and found this simple explanation:

High tea [meat tea] is a full meal served at around 5 or 6 PM. It is usually associated with the members of the lower classes, who were hungry after a long day at work (often with no break). Low tea [afternoon tea] is a light meal traditionally begun at 4 or 5 PM and ending before 7 PM. It is associated with the high class, who saw it more as a social occasion than a meal and used it to stave off hunger between an early lunch and a late dinner. Think of high tea as a meal and low tea as “finger foods.” - VeeTea 


So, after looking at VeeTea and traditional food ideas we decided to combine the "teas" and have MEDIUM TEA! LOL Yeah, we just made that up. (Click on the highlighted menu links to see the where we found our recipes. Pinterest finds!)


Medium Tea Menu
Mini Mac'n Cheese
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
Watercress Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches
Gingerbread Scones with Orange Glaze
Crumb Cake
Various Teas and Hot Cocoa

Sometimes Blue Spruce (Dad) misses our dinner meals because of work, but this week we MADE SURE our tea was on Thursday so he could join us! And guess what? He shared some poetry too!

White Pine's Poem Copywork

Sugar Maple's Illustrated Poem Copywork

Balsam Fir's Poem Copywork

First, the Saplings helped make our goodies and then they prepared the table with our tea cups and saucers. Nothing too fancy (of course), but there's something special about using tableware that you, well, never use.

An Assortment of Tea

Gingerbread Scones with Orange Glaze

Egg Salad - Watercress Tea Sandwiches

Coffee Crumble Cake

Mini Mac'n Cheese Cups

Cucumber with Herbed Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches

And then we nibbled a little, sipped, shared a few poems, nibbled a little more, sipped, and finished up our poems. And we worked on proper, polite table manners! I was pleasantly surprised that the kids - even the BOYS - seemed to enjoy choosing a poem to memorize and share! Do you suppose it was the lure of the food? LOL I think I've stumbled upon something that could become a family tradition! Shakespeare next?