DesignsandEvents: Iced Tea Time on a Very Hot Day!

I don't know about those of you who live in other states but here in Massachusetts we are still under some pretty strict rules concerning the coronavirus. Our social gatherings are still supposed to be held to a small number. So, much of what I do and plan for is for two, maybe four.

We have had an extremely hot summer this year and the last few days have been no exception. It has been in the 90's with high humidity for the last four days. Therefore, when it came to be 4:00 in the afternoon one day, I felt it was tea time...iced tea that is.

With that in mind, I thought I would share with you how to very quickly make an afternoon tray that looks appealing and on which to serve a beverage and maybe a snack.

The first step in the process is to find some kind of tray on which to serve. The one I used for this display is actually a large serving plate but, it was large enough to fit all the items I needed for my "tea time".

Once you have the tray you want to use, you need to find a decorative element to make the tray and its components pretty. Luckily, I had just picked a blue hydrangea from my garden and placed it in a milk bottle. It fit perfectly on the tray!

Next you want to have something yummy to go along with the iced tea. Luckily again, I had just purchased these key lime frosted cookies from the grocery store. They were an awesome color and they actually tasted just like key lime. Very nice!

And, of course, you need the beverage. This one, not surprisingly, was iced tea. I doctored it up with some chocolate mint from my garden and a few blueberries for color. It is always optimum to make everything look pleasing to the eye. For some reason everything tastes better that way!

In that same way, I threw a few more blueberries on the tray to give it a little extra color. This only enhanced the look, which was what I was going for.

To add more texture, I placed a pretty table runner over the end of my chaise lounge and placed the tray on top of the runner. More presentation ideas~

Here is the finished product. All-in-all I spent very little time putting this tray together but it turned out to be a lovely display. It also created a nice respite in the middle of the afternoon, not to mention it offered something refreshing on a very hot day.