Tea Party Fundraiser
“Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice very earnestly. “I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone, “so I can’t take more.” “You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter, “It’s very easy to take more than nothing.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 1865
My daughter and I have hosted a number of tea parties at our house over the years. Last year we held a tea party, called the Girl’s Club Tea Party, for mom’s and their daughters. I used the tea party as a way to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Societies Team in Training program.
HOST A TEA PARTY
The very first tea party we hosted occurred on a Super Bowl Sunday, while the neighborhood dads were at the neighbors house across the street watching the game. We invited moms and their children to attend. We asked that everyone show up in their favorite dress-up clothes. We placed a large trunk of my daughters extra dress-up clothes in our living room and let the kids play dress-up throughout the duration of the party. We used our digital camera to take photographs of each guest in their favorite outfit and printed out the photos during the party to hand out as party favors at the end of the festivities.
I put my daughters plastic tea set out on a small table for the kids to play with. The children can have fun playing with this set, and still feel like they are part of the festivities, without your having to worry about them accidentally breaking your delicate tea service pieces. I put out water, sugar and lemon slices along with the tea set so the kids could pretend to serve each other tea.
I usually offer three varieties of tea during the parties I host. I like to serve a flavored black tea such as vanilla bean or black currant, a flavored green tea such as lemon ginger and a caffeine free peppermint herbal tea.
CRAFTY IDEAS
I’ve been involved in arts and crafts for a number of years. I used to sell supplies at craft shows, online and even owned a bead store for a short time. I always have TONS of art and craft materials on hand. Just before our last tea party started, I setup one of my 6 foot long folding tables in the living room. I covered the table with a blue floral tablecloth that my mom made out of a pretty bed sheet. I bought 2 styles of straw hats from Oriental Trading Company. Then I loaded up the table with craft supplies, such as ribbons, decorative brads and silk flowers, so the girls could decorate their own hat and wear it during the party.
LOTS OF FOOD
I am the Herbs & Spices Feature Writer on the Suite101 website. I am always testing out recipes for the food articles I write. So deciding what food to serve at the tea party was easy, I made lots of home made goodies for the party. Some of the food I made included miniature pecan tarts, Russian teacakes, banana nut bread, lemon poppyseed teacakes, walnut chicken salad finger sandwiches and ham & cheese quiche.
If you aren’t too thrilled with the idea of cooking, contact one or more grocery stores in your area to see if they will donate some or all of the food for the party. I love cooking, so I usually end up making too much food. But that’s okay, I usually send guests home with to-go plates filled with their favorite items from the tea party.
ASK FOR DONATIONS
At our last tea party fund raiser, we sent out invitations and mentioned that we were hosting the tea party to help raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We had a suggested donation of $20 for moms and $10 for daughters. Many of our guests ended up donating more than this amount. Since we were asking for a donation, I invited 2-3 times the number of people that I actually wanted to attend the party. Times are tight right now, and not everyone has extra money to donate to charities. We ended up with 20 moms & daughters at our last tea party and raised a total of $850. Not bad for a couple of hours. The party ran from 1 PM to 4 PM, with a few guests staying later to hang out and help us clean up - NICE!!!!
About 2/3 of the way into the party my husband and I gave a short presentation on our involvement with the Team in Training program and how we were raising funds for the Leukemia Society. We also detailed our training schedule that we followed to help get us ready for the 100 mile century ride we were participating in. My husband, Rob, was Bob the Butler the day of the party. He dressed up in a suit and tie, helped answer the door, served tea and entertained the crowd. One of my daughter’s friends still calls him Bob the Butler anytime she sees him.
I also had some inexpensive beaded key chains, that I had made, for sale during the party. I asked for a donation of $5.00 for the key chains. They were a hit with the girls, who placed them on their book bags and purses as decoration.
Let me know of any creative fundraising ideas you have come up with. Scavenger hunts also seem to do well down here in S. Florida.
Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva
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This sounds like lots of fun Lynn! I’m on the planning committee for a tea to be held next April and appreciate the tips. Our event will be a big affair 300-350 guests, but I like the idea that a fundraiser tea can be successful in a home setting as well. Here’s another tea that offers some ideas: breast cancer tea.
I always had dreams to do a MAJOR tea party, with our entire cycle team. But I always chickened out thinking of all the work that would take. I can coordinate my husband and I for a home based party, but a whole team - YIKES!!!
I’d love to hear all about your tea party!
One of the members of the committee has done a big tea party event before so that helps. We are also having “table sponsors and table hostesses”. So the hostess is responsible for decorating their own table. This will help with making set up easier, getting commitment from attendees and make it lots of fun. I’ll let you know how it goes!