How to Host a Gothic Tea Party

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By pondripples
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Host a Gothic Tea Party

Goth culture is strongly associated with night, but not all vampires and goths melt in the sunshine. What should you do for a day time party? Tea of course. It has that old fashioned Victorian feel to it, and the juxtaposition prim and proper with dark and evil is delicious.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Tea cups
Tea pot
Kettle
Loose tea
Sugar
Artificial sweater
Lemon slices
Finger food
Decorations
Book on tea leaf reading
Goth outfit

Step 1

Invite your guests.
Ask your guests to dress up in their best goth or Gothic Lolita attire. Give them some advance warning so they have time to put something together. For guests who don't do this on a regular basis, schedule near Halloween.
Step 2

Set up.
For a small party, put a coffee table in the middle of a circle of comfy chairs. For a larger one, tables are fine. Decorate a bit in the Gothic mode. Use black lace, or odd curiosities. If you have time and money, look for a special tea service and tray. Draw the curtains. You don't want it too bright.
Step 3

Put out finger food.
People tend to expect the sort of thing you'd find at a formal English tea. Include some scones, finger sandwiches and mini cake slices. For something fun, use the recipe linked under resources below for lady fingers that look like fingers.
Step 4

Serve tea.
After all that's what this gathering is built around. Put on a little performance. Keep it proper at least to start. Pour loose leaf tea from a tea pot, and offer sugar and cream.
Step 5

Read tea leaves
Look at the patterns formed by tea leaves in the bottom of everyone's cup. There are traditional meanings for some shapes. If you like you can read up on these, but part of the fun is in what your subconscious interprets the shapes as. Pass cups around and see what others see, and speculate on the meanings.