It’s down to the final week before the wedding. Your bridesmaids have been your go-to girls for months and have yet to complete their labors of love. What better time to slow down, step back from the planning and express your appreciation than at an elegant, tranquil bridesmaids’ tea?

Though primarily for the bridesmaids, the occasion can include the flower girl and her mother, and the mothers and grandmothers of the bride and groom as well. This intimate, girls-only affair is the perfect occasion for the bride to present gifts to her attendants. Traditionally the bride gives identical gifts to her bridesmaids and a slightly different one of the same kind to her maid of honor, but there is really no inviolable rule. Whether you put the gifts at each maid’s place setting or pass them out one by one with a little speech, a handwritten note is de rigueur.

Traditionally a “farewell” event, the bridesmaids’ tea is held as close to the wedding day as possible. If all the women are local, host the tea as long as a week before the wedding. If some are from out of the area and will be in town for just a few days, have the tea a day or two before the wedding.

Whether your preference is understated elegance or themed-to-the-max, the party can take place in the home of the bride or her mother or at one of Houston’s fine hotels or restaurants that offer afternoon tea service. Most venues require reservations at least 24 hours in advance for even the smallest group. Though “smart casual” attire is all that’s usually required, if you and your maids are the sorts who enjoy getting all dressed up, then bring on the hats and gloves!

At Masraff’s on Post Oak Lane, tea is served weekday afternoons. Owner Tony Masraff became enamored of the tradition as a young boy when his family lived in England and other parts of Europe. “Everything on the tea menu is made in house,” says Masraff’s event coordinator Holly MacArevey, “but Tony personally makes all the marmalade we serve from his own secret recipe.”

A harpist sets the tone for tea at the stately St. Regis Hotel. The English country house ambience of The Tea Lounge is the perfect backdrop for a traditional British-style tea, and other bright and airy rooms are available as well. Tea butler Charles Marcel ensures a proper afternoon tea experience. “The tea itself, as well as the ritual of afternoon tea, has a tension-taming effect,” he notes.

The bride who opts to host the bridesmaids’ tea at home probably will go with a somewhat simpler menu than those offered at the city’s swankiest venues. Since everything except the tea itself can be prepared ahead of time, and the pastries can be purchased from a bakery, even an elaborate afternoon tea is doable for the busy bride or mother-of-the-bride if she enlists the help of a close friend or relative who is not in the bridal party. Remember, you can’t ask your bridesmaids to help with a party given in their honor!

The three requisite courses—scones, sandwiches and savories, and diminutive desserts—can be extravagant or refined. Instead of having several kinds of meticulously composed tea sandwiches, make a larger quantity of just two or three less-fussy kinds. Homemade scones are best, and quite easy to make, but excellent store-bought scones can be purchased from a bakery and reheated at the last moment.

The charm cake, said to date back to Victorian England, is a Southern tradition some Houston brides will want to embrace. It makes the perfect centerpiece for the bridesmaids’ tea table. With the charm cake, sterling silver pull charms (one for each bridesmaid and flower girl) are tied to thin satin ribbons that are arranged between the cake and the cake plate, trailing onto the table. When preparing the cake, the baker places the charms under the edge of the cake, evenly spaced all around, before piping on the border at the base of the cake. If the cake is a Bundt, simply put the charms in the center and drape the ribbons over the sides.

Since afternoon tea—particularly a bridesmaids’ tea just days before the big day—typically is a shorter event, perhaps two hours, the hostess would do well to include the word “precisely” in front of the time on the invitation (as in “precisely three o’clock”). And please, don’t call it “high tea,” which is the informal main evening meal, sometimes called a “meat tea.”

Every bride strives for perfection in all things related to her wedding, but the bridesmaids’ tea is a time to relax. All one really needs to know is the following:

1. Four o’clock may be the traditional “tea time,” but you may start earlier if you like. Fortnum’s, the original London tea house, actually starts tea at 3:00. But you may start any time at all—this close to the wedding, you will be forgiven for taking any sort of liberty you like with the time.

2. Set a lovely tea table, starting with a tablecloth in white, cream or any color you prefer. Tea plates, cups and saucers can be all of a kind or mismatched for an eclectic look.

3. Buy a fine-quality black tea, in loose leaf form or bags, and some strawberry or raspberry jam, lemon curd and Devonshire cream for the scones.

4. Make up to three different kinds of tiny, crustless sandwiches (six to eight per person—selections might include cucumber, smoked salmon and chicken salad), and cover them properly before refrigerating for a couple of hours until serving time. You might also include savory tartlets, mini quiches or bite-size meat pies.

5. Make or buy a selection of dainty sweet treats, perhaps three of the following: shortbread or other biscuits (cookies), miniature cream puffs, mini muffins, petits fours and pecan tartlets.

6. Bake a batch of scones (two per person). You can use the accompanying simple recipe.

7. To make a proper pot of tea, fill a kettle with fresh water and set it to boil. Just before it reaches a boil, warm the teapot with hot water, empty it, and add one teaspoon of tea leaves for every eight ounces of water. Immediately pour in the freshly boiling water. Let the tea stand for five minutes, stir, and then strain into cups. If you prefer to use a tea ball, be sure it is large enough to allow the tea leaves to unfurl. Serve hot tea with loose sugar or sugar cubes, thin slices (not wedges) of lemon and a small pitcher of milk (not cream).

Holding the bridesmaids’ tea at home is easiest, of course, when a caterer prepares the food and handles everything from set-up to clean-up. Barbara McKnight, owner of Culinaire Catering, says she’s seen growing interest in bridesmaids’ teas that are held in the home of the mother-of-the-bride or other relative or friend. “It might be for 15, or for as many as 30 to 40 if it includes close female friends and relatives as well as the bridesmaids,” she says. Whether you go all-out with several offerings in each course or serve just one type of sandwich, scone and sweet, beautiful presentation and a proper pot of tea will delight your guests and demonstrate your gratitude, deliciously.