Tea Parties

Coming of Age... All Over Again is about a lot of issues and ideas that are important to us. In many ways, the book is about our friendship. We have been close friends since our first day of college... almost 40 years ago. We came up with the idea of having a tea party as a way of reconnecting with friends, as a way to take the time to talk about your life with those friends that you always want to call when something great or something terrible happens to you.

What's a tea party?

Buffy's mother, Middy, was the inspiration for the tea party. When Buffy and her sister, Gogo, were young, Middy would say let's stop and have a cup of tea -- when they were working or doing homework or when they were out shopping or going to a museum. She'd say: Let's have tea and have secrets. By secrets she meant, let's share our dreams and our troubles, let us take time -- create time -- to share intimacies.

NEW! - Photos from a Tea Party in San Francisco!
Kate and Buffy's tea party at the Leland Tea Company. Click here for photos.

Watch the Tea Party Experience
Sit in on a tea party with Kate, Buffy, and their friends as they discuss the value of sharing experiences, insights, and helpful exercises. Click here to watch the online video.
 

It's easy to host a tea party

A tea party is easy to host. Invite 5 or 10 friends. Invite women and men and don't worry about their ages. Invite 5 friends and ask them to bring a friend of their own and you will have Ripple friends in no time. Or host a special tea for you and your best friend. Everyone can benefit from creating the time to sit and enjoy each other.

Serve tea or coffee (or tall glasses of lemonade or water with orange slices) and ask each guest to bring something to munch on -- fruit, cookies, cheese and crackers. Eat on paper plates. Make it easy on yourself. This party isn't about elaborate preparations. It's about spending time with your friends.

Choose one chapter in the book to focus on during each tea party. Think of it like a book club -- if you are a member of book club you know what we mean -- if you aren't, it's easy. Ask each person to read one chapter in advance and then talk about it when you get together to share secrets. If not everyone can read the chapter in advance, the hostess can lead the discussion. Do the exercises in each chapter together. Ask everyone to create a plan at the end of the party.

Consider having a tea party once a month until you finish the book. And we have no doubt you will keep having tea parties since you will always have stories, dreams and secrets to share with your friends. Just ask Middy. She is almost 87 and she still has fabulous secrets.

Book Clubs

If you have a book club and are online, let's set up a virtual tea party. Kate and Buffy would love to "come and talk" at your next book club. Send us an Email. We love to read and think reading is as important as almost anything you can do to make the second half of your life exciting and satisfying.

Kate and Buffy's reading list

Kate and Buffy love to read. They read all kinds of books. Kate likes to mail Buffy books she has just read. Buffy does the same with books on CD. They read fiction (best seller and classic), non-fiction, mysteries.