Coffee, Tea & Ladies

An event I can’t believe I haven’t talked about before, but it can be quite the affair, is a Women’s Tea. I have planned these events before, usually around Christmas or Springtime. I’m sure there are many variations of this event, but I will share my experience from the ones I helped plan over the years. This was a venue holding 500 in rounds, and we served tea three times; one on a Friday and two on a Saturday. Depending on the year and the goals and objectives of the event, some were accompanied by a “shopping experience” where crafters and small local shops set up in trade show fashion where the women could do some Christmas shopping before and after they’d had their tea.

These events started out like most other events; registration, web page with information, social media campaign, event theme, logo, recruiting a volunteer team, selecting a speaker, picking the dates and times, coordinating a planning timeline, caterer, the usual. There was a keynote speaker, a little entertainment – sometimes a musical guest, sometimes a comedian – and an emcee to keep things moving in the right direction.

For me, where this particular Women’s Tea Event stood apart from others was in the table decor and place settings. Women signed up to host a table. What this meant was that they brought their own China, silverware, glassware, linens, and centerpieces from home. Each table was unique and just as elaborately decorated as the next. The first year this was suggested, there were concerns that some tables would look fantastic and others would be set with “fancy” disposable plates and a votive candle centerpiece. Boy were we wrong. Women were signing up for multiple tables over multiple servings of tea just to be able to use the China and silverware they’d inherited over the years from grandparents and great grandparents, items they’d picked up at estate sales, and others. 

One benefit of decorating tables this way was that the planning team didn’t have to rent tableware, glassware, linens, or pay for delivery, pick up, and laundering. We provided the food and beverages, informed everyone of the menu so the appropriate tableware could be supplied, and the table hosts did a lot of the work. We didn’t even do any dishes. Each table had a bin with its corresponding number on it and as tables were bussed by volunteers, dirty dishes were carefully stacked in the bins and hosts took them home to wash. Now that I look back on it, this probably wouldn’t fly now after 2020 and the rules of engagement changed, but back then, the host’s main concern was that volunteers might break a dish so they preferred to take them home and carefully clean them the “right” way. We did provide sterilizing instructions to ensure cleanliness of the plate’s surface for the next round of ladies, and everything seemed to go well. I don’t recall sending anyone to the emergency room for food poisoning and I don’t remember receiving any calls of sick women after the fact.  

There was an army of volunteers helping to make these events successful. There was a host for the guest speaker and performers, others worked registration, check-in and distributed name tags, some helped the caterer, bussed tables, carried supplies in and out, and a fresh team arrived to assist with clean up after each tea and keep the venue looking good. 

This event went on for several years. I can’t remember why we stopped doing it but my guess is it was a change in direction from the organization’s leadership team. To stay relevant, sometimes you have to rethink even your most successful events.

Did you have a great event that you eventually had to revamp? Perhaps it was after 2020? Share your story here or send me an email. I’d love to hear about it.

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