What time shall I invite people for afternoon tea?

[Mushroomwithaview]

I'm a bit worried that if I invite people at 4.00 they won't be very hungry, but there will be a lot of food - sandwiches and cakes and cocktails.

Do I change it to a lunch or evening thing? But I feel weird inviting people for lunch or evening and then serving afternoon tea.

Do I make it clear on the invitation that there will be food? 4.00 is a weird time to eat.

How do I do this? How would you do it? What have I not realised?

I'd say arrive at 3, and say it is an afternoon 'high tea' buffet.

I'd go for 3pm and put an end time on the invitations too, to ensure that people make other plans for the evening and leave. 😁

I'd say 4pm for afternoon tea. Lunch is usually between 12-2and dinner from 6pm onwards. Afternoon tea comes between them.

But 2pm is late lunch.
Afternoon tea is definitely around 3pm or4pm
Remember most people have lunch at 1pm and dinner at 8pm so you need to be in the middle.

State both start and end time (3-6). Serve food half an hour after the start time. Stop serving it half an hour before you want them to go home. At that point offer 'a last cup of tea before you go'.

Say on the invitation that it is afternoon tea.

Do not say it is 'afternoon high tea buffet' - that's 3 different things and I wouldn't know which to expect.

I think you're right. 3.00 sounds about right.

To me afternoon tea is a lunch replacement but eaten slightly later, so 2-3pm.