Etiquette Boss: Talking tea

YOUR BEST INVESTMENT: Etiquette for Children

Tea Party Etiquette:Your child may be invited to a birthday tea party during the summer or be introduced to formal tea at a hotel here or abroad. How do you prepare him or her to be comfortable and make the best impression?

Teach your child that a teacup is not held the way adults hold a coffee mug (forefinger hooked through handle). Thumb and forefinger alone should hold the teacup as well as any coffee cup that is served with evening coffee. Keep the pinkie down.

Hot tea should be sipped and not drunk as if it is iced tea or soda. After each sip, the cup is returned to the saucer until another sip is desired: no sip…sip….sip, while the teacup is held in the hand, as this indicates haste, and tea is a leisurely ritual. No gesticulating while holding the silverware as they speak to their friends.

Is there an order to eating the sandwiches and other sweets on the table? The order is similar to that of a regular meal. Savories are eaten first as in the appetizer course. Sweets are eaten last, similar to the dessert course. Sandwiches are first, being salty and light (as an appetizer) followed by scones, which are heavier and neither too salty nor too sweet (as an entrée). The sweet pastries are eaten last, as is done with dessert in a regular meal.

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International Beauty Tips: Parisian women are renowned for their glowing skin. Salt rubs are their secret weapon to glowing skin. One cup of sea salt is mixed with half cup of peppermint tea, made into a paste and used as a rub before getting into the shower.

The women in Spain produce dramatic highlights to their dark hair by adding half cup of cranberry juice mixed with half cup of seltzer. This is used as a final rinse after shampooing.

Coconut oil has been used by generations of women in India to help strengthen weak hair and produce thick, shiny hair. They do a hot oil scalp massage once per week. Sleep with hair in a plastic cap, and wash in the morning.

Phillipa Morrish is the president of Etiquette Training International.