The arrangements are not as elaborate as for a ball.  At most a screen of palms behind which the musicians sit (unless they sit in a gallery), perhaps a few festoons of green here and there, and the debutante’s own flowers banked on tables where she stands to receive, form as much decoration as is ever attempted.

Whether in a public ballroom or a private drawing-room, the curtains over the windows are drawn and the lights lighted as if for a ball in the evening.  If the tea is at a private house there is no awning unless it rains, but there is a chauffeur or coachman at the curb to open motor doors, and a butler, or caterer’s man, to open the door of the house before any one has time to ring.

Guests as they arrive are announced either by the hostess’ own butler or a caterer’s “announcer.”  The hostess receives everyone as at a ball; if she and her daughter are for the moment standing alone, the new arrival, if a friend, stands talking with them until a newer arrival takes his or her place.

After “receiving” with her mother or mother-in-law for an hour or so, as soon as the crowd thins a little, the debutante or bride may be allowed to dance.

The younger people, as soon as they have shaken hands with the hostess, dance.  The older ones sit about, or talk to friends or take tea.

At a formal tea, the tea-table is exactly like that at a wedding reception, in that it is a large table set as a buffet, and is always in charge of the caterer’s men, or the hostess’ own butler or waitress and assistants.  It is never presided over by deputy hostesses.

=THE MENU IS LIMITED=

Only tea, bouillon, chocolate, bread and cakes are served.  There can be all sorts of sandwiches, hot biscuits, crumpets, muffins, sliced cake and little cakes in every variety that a cook or caterer can devise—­whatever can come under the head of “bread and cake” is admissible; but nothing else, or it becomes a “reception,” and not a “tea.”  At the end of the table or on a separate table near by, there are bowls or pitchers of orangeade or lemonade or “punch” (meaning in these days something cold that has fruit juice in it) for the dancers, exactly as at a ball.

Guests go to the table and help themselves to their own selection of bread and cakes.  The chocolate, already poured into cups and with whipped cream on top, is passed on a tray by a servant.  Tea also poured into cups, not mixed but accompanied by a small pitcher of cream, bowl of sugar, and dish of lemon, is also passed on a tray.  A guest taking her plate of food in one hand and her tea or chocolate in the other, finds herself a chair somewhere, if possible, near a table, so that she can take her tea without discomfort.

=AFTERNOON TEAS WITHOUT DANCING=

Afternoon teas without dancing are given in honor of visiting celebrities or new neighbors or engaged couples, or to “warm” a new house; or, most often, for a house-guest from another city.