You found a Tea Party!

A tea party is a formal, ritualized gathering of friends for a small meal called "afternoon tea". Formal tea parties are often characterized by the use of high-prestige tea sets made of porcelain, bone china, or silver. The table is made to look its prettiest, with cloth napkins and matching cups and plates.

In addition to tea, larger parties may provide punch, or in cold weather, hot chocolate. The tea is accompanied by a variety of foods that are easy to manage while in a sitting room, like thin sandwiches, such as cucumber or tomato, cake slices, bread rolls, cookies, biscuits, and scones.

Afternoon tea party was a feature of all of great houses in the Victorian England, as well as in all continental Europe (France, Germany, and above all in the Russian Empire). The formal tea party still survives as a special event, as in the debutante teas still practised by affluent American communities.

In 1922, Emily Post asserted that servants were never to enter the room of a tea party unless summoned. This was partly due to the rigidity of social convention at the time, but it also reflected the intimate nature of the afternoon tea. The chief hostess tries to encourage free and elevated conversation among her guests. Tea parties are also created by young children where the guests consist of stuffed animals, dolls, friends (both real and imaginary), and family members.