Kitchen Tea Present Ideas

Combine resources to create a large gift for a kitchen tea.tea and cake image by hazel proudlove from <a href='http://www.fotolia.com'>Fotolia.com</a>

Relatives of a bride-to-be who are looking for low-key bridal shower ideas might consider having a kitchen tea. This traditional tea party is usually held in the afternoon, and guests usually bring gifts for the new home, either for the kitchen or for the house in general. One of the traditions of the kitchen tea is to have every guest bring a similar small gift, then combine all of the gifts into a large basket for the guest of honor. By following a theme, many small gifts become one very big present.

Family Recipes

Purchase a pretty ring binder and give each guest one page. Have guests write their favorite family recipes on the pages, and decorate and sign them. Ask every guest to bring a kitchen utensil that is needed to create their own recipe, like a small cheese grater for lasagna or a corkscrew for red wine pasta sauce. Combine the gifts into one basket and top the basket with the collected recipes in the book.

Ask each guest to bring a nice bottle of wine that they really like. Make sticky labels for the wine bottles with occasions that the couple will face during their first year of marriage, like the first day in a new home, the first Christmas, the first fight and the first birthday celebration. Have each guest randomly draw a label to put on her wine bottle.

Decorate a basket with a Christmas garland and decorations. Ask each guest to bring a special ornament for the couple's first Christmas together as a married couple. Guests can either purchase ornaments or make them for the couple. Add some twinkle lights and plain ball ornaments to finish filling the basket.

Purchase attractive bookends or a small bookshelf. Ask each guest to bring a cookbook that might be useful for a newly married couple in their first home. Assign subjects, such as baking, casseroles and low-fat cooking so that the guests don't all bring the same type of book. Assemble the books with the bookends and add a bow with two or three attractive bookmarks hanging from it.