How To Host a Simple & Sweet Mother's Day Tea Party

DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored by Bruegger’s Bagels, but all opinions are 100% my own. #BrueggersBunch

As many of you know, I’m the youngest of seven girls (and one very lucky boy)! With Mother’s Day coming up, I really wanted to plan something to celebrate our mom, but getting our busy schedules to align is pretty much impossible!

Miraculously, half of us were available for a few hours on Saturday! Because there were time constraints, it needed to be something simple, but sweet. I decided to plan a Mother’s Day Tea Party for my mom, sisters, nieces, daughters and our aunt.

Our previous tea parties were a hit, but they were also a lot of work. My mom would spend hours baking and preparing treats for the party, and there were always a lot of dishes to do after the party was over. I didn’t want it to be a lot of work, because I wanted to enjoy it as well, so I decided to simplify things. The result was exactly what I was hoping for!

How to host a Simple & Sweet Mother’s Day Tea Party:

Choose the proper location.

Although any of us would have offered up our homes for the occasion, we opted to have the Mother’s Day Tea Party at my sister’s house. She has grown children...which means her house isn’t a complete wreck 24/7!

Come up with your guest list.

I wanted the Mother’s Day Tea Party to be a small, personal occasion. Since it was for our mom, the guest list included my sisters and our daughters, along with my mom’s only sister. Only ten of us could be there, but it made for a relaxing afternoon!

Stick with simple decor that serves a purpose.

We set the table with an elegant white tablecloth, placed a potted plant in the middle for the centerpiece and added mini terrariums at both ends of the table to spruce things up. The plant ended up being the hostess gift for my sister and the mini terrariums were given to our mom and our aunt as an early Mother’s Day gift.

Create a relaxing atmosphere.

The day of the Mother’s Day Tea was chilly, so a lit candle on the table made it feel warm, welcoming and relaxing! (Kicking the kids out of the dining area after they were done eating also helped!)

Have a wide variety of tea available.

We are a tea-drinking family, so there really wasn’t much to purchase. My sister and I contributed our favorites, so there was a wide variety to choose from:

• Black Tea
• Chammomile Tea
• Green Tea
• Earl Grey Tea
• Fruit Tea
• Oolong Tea
• Chai Tea
• White Tea
• Decaf Tea

For those who didn’t like or want hot tea, we had sweetened iced tea, coffee and water available.

Have the event catered.

Instead of spending the week baking and preparing finger foods, I checked out Bruegger’s Bagels catering menu, chose a few of their delicious options and ordered directly online. My husband’s office is very close to a local Bruegger’s Bagels, so he simply picked up my order the following day and brought it home just in time for the event!

Bruegger’s Bagels doesn’t just offer bagels for their catering options! They have breakfast spreads, muffins, bagel bites, drinks, cookies, soups, salads, fruit and sandwiches. There are so many options for a wide variety of guests and price ranges.

For the Mother’s Day Tea Party, I ordered three items from Bruegger’s Bagels that were perfect for the occasion:

Cookie Box - 24 delicious mini chocolate chunk cookies! (Just FYI, the mini cookies are regular sized!)

Bruegger’s Bites Snack Platter (sweet) - 36 plain, blueberry and cinnamon raisin Bruegger’s Bites with a tub of strawberry cream cheese and a tub of honey walnut cream cheese.

Bruegger’s Bites Snack Platter (savory) - 36 poppy, sesame, everything and pumpernickel Bruegger’s Bites with a tub of garden veggie cream cheese and a tub of light herb garlic cream cheese.

Opting for catering from Bruegger’s Bagels was a great, stress-free choice. Not only was the food delicious and plentiful, but it completely eliminated the stress of prepping food for a party!

Choose the perfect spot for the food and beverages.

Nobody wants the food all over the table! A long kitchen counter that separated the dining area from the kitchen was the perfect spot to hold all the food and tea. Sort like items together, make sure the extras (sugar and creamer) are readily available, then stop worrying until something needs to be refilled!

Don’t forget to enjoy the event!

The hostess always seems to get caught up in the busyness that comes with hosting a party, and forgets to enjoy the event. Once the food was out and everyone sat down, I made it a point to put down my camera and sit down to enjoy all the delicious treats and tea!

Minimize cleanup.

Although a bunch of pretty dishes and cloth napkins will make the event look fancy, nobody wants to do all those dishes when the party is over! We opted to use real teacups and dessert plates since it was a tea party, but we skipped real spoons and cloth napkins!

Instead, we wrapped disposable spoons in pretty disposable napkins. Purple ribbon tied around the bundles gave them an extra special touch!

Cleanup was a breeze, although my family DOES need to discuss the “youngest sibling always does the dishes” rule. Well played, sisters, well played.

Skip the favors.

Although we have given simple favors for our other tea parties, this one was all about moms. The two matriarchs of the family were the only ones who were given something when they left!

Capture the moment and share it with all the guests.

Before everybody left, we all squeezed together for a group picture! For just a few dollars, that picture will be printed and given to all the guests to serve as a reminder of all the fun we had together!

Our Sweet & Simple Mother’s Day Tea Party was a huge success! Our mom had a wonderful time and we all loved spending quality family time together, just like we did when we were kids. I definitely think this was the start of a new tradition!

Mother's Day Weekend

Fifteen years ago, I informed Grant that I really wanted to be a mother someday and I wanted four children.  At the time, it seemed like a dream.  It's still hard to believe that it became my reality, but I am so thankful it did!

We spent the weekend celebrating motherhood.

We started the celebration on Saturday with a Mother's Day Tea with my mom and several of my sisters.  We all sipped tea, snacked on cucumber sandwiches and pastries, and chatted. My mom had favor baskets for her daughters and grandchildren. The girls played dress up and sipped tea with us and the boys ran off to play.  Liam was cuddled and happily ate everything in sight. This was the first year we all went in on a gift for my mom.  It was nice to be there together to give it to her!















It was such a fun afternoon, and I'm hoping we continue that tradition next year!



My Mother's Day was simple, but perfect. My day started with breakfast in bed, while a sleeping baby propped his feet on me.  The kids spoiled me with homemade gifts from school, homemade cards, a beautiful hyacinth, boxes of tea, and I'm getting a new engraved necklace.

We spent the majority of the day at home.  We only left for a brief visit with Grant's mom and Nannie.




We didn't do anything exciting, but that's okay.  I spent the day loving the children who made me a mom.  I love them more than words can say.

Last year, I thought I had it all figured out.  I was so excited to meet the baby who would complete our family. I had no idea that baby would challenge me to be a better mother.  As the shock settled in after his birth, I remember thinking, "I CAN'T do this.  I don't want to live this life."

Yesterday, I found myself tearing up while holding the beautiful boy who changed me forever.  After just a few days with my little miracle, my thoughts changed to,  "I CAN do this and this life is better than anything I ever imagined."  

Thank you, sweet Liam, for making me a better person.



Thank you, my beautiful Lily, for making me smile and laugh every single day.  Thank you, my  sweet and gorgeous Lexie, for your fierce loyalty and love.  Thank you, Dylan, for making me a mom and for loving others the way I love you. I am so proud of you all.



I'm so thankful my dream came true. I'm so thankful for my four miracles. They brighten my days and light up my world. I am honored to be their mother and I will love them with all my heart and soul until the end of time.