10 Tea Party Games for Online Gatherings

When circumstances prevent you from meeting up with your mates in person, then it’s time to plan a super-fun online soiree.
These days, we’re getting pretty savvy at hosting online get-togethers. Fun can be had via on-screen get-togethers with a little bit of creative planning. Check out these ideas for ten tea party games online that you can play with friends and family at your next virtual gathering.

1. Guess the Sugar Cubes

Guessing games always make for a fun party starter. The only skill required is a bit of creative concentration.
Fill a medium-sized jar with sugar cubes, candies, or other tea-related items. When your gathering begins, present the filled jar to your guests and ask them to make their guesses by writing down a number on a piece of paper to share later in the party.
The winner gets a door prize, like this Tea Moments Journal, the perfect souvenir for your next tea party, it features a wonderful format for making your tea tasting notes, in addition to occasional pages for pausing for gratitude.
 Photo courtesy of Mary Heim.

2. Build Your Own Sandwich

One could essentially design an entire tea party game online around a build-your-own-tea-sandwich competition. As part of your pre-party invite, let your guests know that they will be building their own tea sandwich and explain the rules of the game.
Choose a way to judge the sandwiches. It could be holiday-themed, or by special ingredient, or maybe even a number of layers, for example. With all this build-your-own fun happening, guests have an easy, engaging way to converse and connect with their fellow tea friends.
 

3. Wordsmith

For wordies like me, this is a fun and challenging tea party game. The goal is to create as many words as you can in a set amount of time from a phrase you choose and provide to your guests, such as “Springtime Sweet Treats.”
This game is great for a tea party game online gathering because all you need to play is a timer, notepad, and pen or pencil.
A cuppa the Reading Nook Blend will be a tasty accompaniment to this tea game online, a signature tea created for enjoying while perfecting some of our dearest passions: reading, writing, and enjoying conversation with friends.
 

4. Get to Know You

Here’s the thing with get-to-know-you questions: sometimes they take some thoughtful pondering.
So that your guests feel most comfortable sharing, and not get caught off guard by a question they don’t like, I recommend compiling a list of 10 or so introspective questions and send them to your participants ahead of your party.
Everyone then has a chance to think about their answers and write down some notes.
When it comes time to play the game, take turns asking each other a question from the shared list. This approach encourages sparkling conversation and goes beyond your average get-to-know-you conversations. Great for introverts and extroverts alike.
 

5. Tea Cup Toss

Don’t use your delicate bone china for this one! If you have some sturdier tea mugs, you can use tea bags, ping pong balls, or marshmallows for tossing into your teacups.
There are a couple of different approaches to this competition. Spread the teacups out across the table. Then play the game two ways. First, have a timed toss, where everyone at once tosses items into their own cups for a certain amount of time (15 seconds, for example).
The person with the most “hits” wins. Next, assign points to the cups, fewer points for cups nearest to you and more for the ones farthest from you. This time, aim for collecting the most points possible in a set amount of time.

6. Sugar Cube Stacks

Get creative building with sugar cubes! You can find sugar cubes at your local market. The challenge is to see which player can stack the highest stack of sugar cubes before it falls over.
You can play this tea game online by choosing different stacking patterns for your participants, such as single cube stacking or stacking in a pattern, like rows or blocks. The tallest stack wins! Great for kids and adults.
 Photo courtesy of Lauren Connally.

7. Tea Trivia

Check out this link to some interesting tea trivia facts to build your own trivia tea party game online.
Simply point your guests to this link with cool tea facts to study ahead of time, or send it in a link to your guests in their email invite. Describe to them that you’ll be competing in a trivia game. Then generate a list of questions based on those facts to quiz your guests with.
 

8. Take a Yarn, Tell a Yarn

This is a fun icebreaker game that gets your guests talking about themselves (without them knowing it’s going to happen).
When your guests arrive for your tea party games online, select a length of yarn or string — any length they like, short or long — but don’t tell them what it’s for. Later in your party, each guest will be asked to “yarn” about themselves for as long as it takes to slowly wrap their piece of string around a finger.
(Tip: Don’t let them cheat by wrapping it too quickly!)
To adapt this for an online version of a game, include a piece of yarn in their tea party package or select the yarn yourself. You'll be their timer!
 

9. Tea Tray Memory Game

Before your online tea party games begin, set up a tray with little tchotchkes from around your home, tea-related or not, some that are easy to identify and other quizzical ones.
Make one of the items on the tray the prize for this game, for example, some delicious loose leaf tea, like the Soul Warmer herbal tea, a rooibos tea with a mix of hazelnut, chestnut, and caramel flavors, perfect for keeping those taste buds energized.
Present the tray of items to your guests and let them look it over for about a minute. Then take the tray away and ask everyone to write down all of the items they remember. The person who has the most correct answers wins the tea!
 

10. Abstract Tea Art

Share a tea-related image with the group, such as a teacup or teapot. Let the guests study the picture for a few minutes before they close their eyes (or better yet, use an eye mask!) and attempt to recreate the picture on pen and paper.
Who wins in this game? Let the group decide if they will choose the most abstract piece (the one that looks the least like the picture) or the one that most closely represents the original image. Either way, it will be a blast to see the creative art skills of your friends in blindfolds.
While we are still getting back “normal” after a full year of adjustments brought on by a global pandemic, one thing remains constant — laughter is an awesome pick-me-up.
Playing games together creates the perfect platform for sharing laughter and cheer, and these 10 tea party games online can easily be incorporated into your next virtual tea party.
For more great game ideas like organizing a deluxe board game night, check out this awesome article! You can also find more tea party ideas here and find creative ways to adapt them for your online gatherings.
All photos courtesy of the author, unless otherwise stated.