Hello from a newly turned 41-year-old 👋 🎉 My birthday at the weekend was originally turning into a disaster, as I had done my back in earlier in the week and oh my goodness, the pain 🥺 I could not bend or sit or stand or walk, and I was like, wow, this is real life after you turn 40! Life after 40, more like your body crumbles after 40 😂

I was quite disappointed that it would be a day of nothing on my birthday. But then my lovely husband said we’d do afternoon tea ☕️ at my parents’ and it was better than perfect!

G arranged the little cakes 🧁, made sandwiches 🥪 with smoked salmon, cucumber and cheese fillings. I raided my mum’s cupboard for fancy teas and G nipped out to get Earl Grey tea bags. And it was the perfect excuse to bring out my mum’s vintage Royal Doulton bone china tea set.

We had mint green tea, apple & cinnamon tea, earl grey, tetley and ‘sleep’ tea. That topped with my beautiful floral flamingo birthday cake 🎂 that my mum made.

Having the tea party at home with my family meant there was no rush, we had all the time I wanted to pose for photos 📷 , and we just chatted and laughed for however long we wanted.

So in the end, I am so grateful to my family for making it the perfect birthday celebration 🥰. And I can totally recommend doing afternoon tea at home!

If you fancy doing afternoon tea at home, this is all you need to do:

1) Buy or make mini cakes and sandwiches with the crusts cut off. We used fillings of smoked salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, grated cheese and posh M&S bread.

2) You’ll need a cake stand or two, and a pretty tea set. And of course a tea pot and milk jug is essential to make it feel like ‘afternoon tea’. I’m sure you will find some relative who has a vintage tea set to lend you. If not, I’d say scour the charity shops to find a tea set and cake stands. If you buy new, they are quite expensive.

3) Have a variety of tea bags at your party – we had Earl Grey, Tetley, Mint Green Tea, Apple and Cinnamon and ‘Sleep’ Tea.

4) A birthday cake of course is very important if you are having a ‘birthday’ afternoon tea and party hats add a bit of frivolity.

The family really enjoyed my birthday afternoon tea party. And it was quite special having it in this particular spot at my parents’ house, as that was EXACTLY where I was sitting for my 5th birthday party back in the 1980s – the original tea party. I’m sure the parents were having many cups of tea that day, possibly in those same Royal Doulton teacups!

Are you tempted to have an Afternoon Tea party at home?

Sabrina x