Tea at Gata's

I finally managed to have an afternoon tea at my place. I thought it worked out pretty well; in fact, well enough to plan more for the future. I'm thinking one more in the spring, before it gets too hot to bake. Of course, an iced tea party might be fun too, but I digress.

There was so much food! Everyone brought something to add to the overall enjoyment. I haven't heard any reports of food poisoning, so it seems the preparation worked out all right. We also had a poetry reading. This isn't done enough nowadays. The last one I remember going to was at a dinner at Pam and Carlos' home about a decade ago. Seriously. People tend to look uncomfortable when the subject of poetry is brought up. I don't understand why. There is so much out there to share, and it certainly doesn't have to be romantic. In this case, there was the option of reading our own poems, but everyone chose to read another's instead. That was fine too. Still, everyone was really cooperative about sharing something they liked, and it turned out being fun - in fact we bust out laughing in intervals. Tea parties don't have to be stiff, formal affairs. In fact, all you need are some good friends, some finger food, and of course tea, and you're set.

Feedback time: those of you who were there or were able to try some of the tea things afterwards, what did you enjoy the most? Was there any room for improvement? (be tactful) Any suggestions for next time? If you weren't there (I'll try to have more of these shindigs in the future, so please don't feel left out), what do you enjoy about tea parties, or what would you like to see in a future afternoon tea?

I forgot to take pictures of the teapots! Actually, a few of them have been featured in earlier posts, so I'm not tearing my hair out in passionate regret.