Animal Crossing New Horizons recently awarded it’s long time player base with a free update and paid Switch 2 edition and I happen to be one of those long time players. With this update came some fun new editions, but it also had me thinking once again about the pandemic distractor machine that was Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
This game is all about chores, and nobody loves chores more than a hostess. Tea time and Animal Crossing go together so naturally in my mind that I knew it would be the best place for me to start.
Because we (including me) are all new to this blog I am going to give an overview of
A: what I see a tea time as and
B: The theme, activities, decorations I invasion for this event.
Tea Time is more than just a moment of sipping tea, it is an expression of your individual identity and an identifier of you as a host and person. It really is that serious. Although the term originated in British English as just a time in the afternoon when tea is traditionally served, it has since evolved into a lifestyle of sorts.
There are ritual components to a tea time but it typically involves: You, Whoever you invited to tea time, a moment of connection, a ceremony, food, etiquette.
You can do anything you want, I am not at your tea time, but typically I encourage doing things that are off any screens and focusing on the people or person or just yourself invited. Don’t stress if the sandwiches you spent 2 hours making don’t turn out. It is simply the fact you made an effort for yourself and your guests that makes all the difference.
I try with my own ritual to have: Tea, A friend (or several), an activity that naturally cohabitates the tea ritual, and food. My friend sits down with her mom for tea time as often as she can. And this invaluable time allows them a moment of peace in an otherwise chaotic time period. Make it your own and have fun imaging your next tea time and guests.
B: The Theme
There is no obligation or even need to have a theme, I simply find them to make my life more special. If I could theme and name everything in the world, I would. What makes a theme special to me is the excitement we all get when following one just right and the feeling of looking at a beautiful table spread. I want to delight and excite my guests and the theme is a tool we can all use so everyone is on the same page.
Animal Crossing, as well as a game, is a world. In this world we have things that feel like they fit perfectly right in and things that just don’t work.
Here is a fantastic example of a beautifully made table from http://www.meandannabellee.com and how not animal crossing it all is. I mean me personally, I do not look at any amount of this and think boy am I ready to pick some cherries and do all the work on this island and get billed for it!
Making An Animal Crossing Themed Tea Time:
When making a theme I try to make with my foundations and move up to the details from there. In art there is a concept of broad to specific and I am approaching this just the same. Start broad, what do I think of when I think of Animal Crossing and how can I convey elements of that into my design?
In this section I am going to give you some ideas but honestly I am just scratching the surface of what you can do with this theme.
Tea Pot Options:
Inspired by the iconic moment of upgrading your house, this teapot is sure to grab your parties attention. Wealth flexing in the game was fun, but being able to show off your vintage teapot of wonder to the group will feel better than the last 2.5 Million Bells you dropped on that final upgrade.
The next option for teapots is finding something that evokes the weeds in animal crossing. Yes you read that right, the weeds.
When brainstorming for this I was thinking about the literal gameplay a lot in my choice making. Than I thought about why I am dreading moving back into my adorable island… And the memories of weed picking began.
You may wonder if this is an unpleasant element of the game, why include it? Well my dear reader, it is because it’s horribly iconic. Something you might find in many themes is not everything has to be evoking something pleasant in order to work. Every animal crossing player will spend a substantial amount of time weed picking and we can evoke the overall feeling of the franchise easier borrowing from this imagery.
Finally the floral direction! When picking a floral that represents animal Crossing I highly recommend going uber simplistic. For example this Daisy Stoneware Tea Set both charms and exemplifies the easy going quality of the game. Something too realistic might read more as elegant than video game. And we wouldn’t want to be too elegant now would we?
Tea Cup Options:
Tea cups are a joy and honestly I think for the sake of theme variety I recommend not matching your cups to your tea pot. This is a bit scandalous, I know, but I think a spread looks better to me the more diversity you bring to the table. That sentence I believe in more than one way~!
One element of the game I really believe in that I have not mentioned yet is the variety and customization. This can be implemented in a plethora of ways but my favorite is stationing everyone with a different fruit and flower. It’s kind of like everyone gets their own island! If you want to be really clever about it you could make everyone’s name plate as a different colored airplane to represent their very own island!
Important to this custom character making I mentioned the all important flower. I wanted to share the delightful news that I found these stunning (comes in multiple colors) flower tea spoons
These beauties perfectly show off the fantastic variety that is present in the game. I will link them but to be honest with you I have no idea who or what this company is. With all things I show I want to inspire you rather than force your hand at a purchase. Thrift or second hand shop what you can, find what you wish to!
Along the teacup lines might I suggest the wonderful world of Instagram ceramics artists. They tell you exactly when and how they sell and often tell you if their commissions are open or closed. I use the follow suggested by instagram option all the time as I wonder the social media halls.
I do not have one specific artist I want to suggest rather a concept of training your algorithm to show you more artists works and explore yourself the wonderful world of ceramics. For animal crossing I suggest very cartoon or simplistic ceramics or details of bugs, fruit, and flowers. If you feel overwhelmed or stuck might I suggest an artist website for you!
In my next category I am going to broadly call it,
The decorations:
How you decorate your tea table can make a strong visual impact on the guests, but be mindful of the fact you need somewhere to place your food. I have been to well designed tables where the Achille’s heel of sorts is the height of the table settings in front of me. If I can not see the people on the other side of the table, I believe it is a failure of social design.
The main goal of tea time, as implied by the name, is tea. But this does not mean that tea is the only bargaining chip on the table, food plays a massive role in how your guest feels. Or if you are a solo traveler, how you feel. How you choose to decorate your space needs to have the hierarchy of elements, therefore, in mind.
When examining our own design we have to think, what would make the ____ be the center of my tea time. This blank can and should be filled by you. I might say food is the center of my design or tea or social engagement. In the case of our animal crossing theme I believe we the players are the center. So all decorations and experiences should therefore have us totally in mind.
What this means in terms of decoration is that, as we have discussed, your players will feel like they are both a part of a larger group but wholly having an individual chosen experience.
My husband is a game designer (one of his many hats) and listening to him talk about his design I have often formulated many of my life approaches as a game design of sorts. So the decorations in this tea time game are there to serve as the visual design, the tea is our gameplay as well as a chosen activity, and the social of it all is the plot driving.
So my decorations start with the table cloth. The humble table cloth can be a very practical item for tea, as tea is a very stainable liquid that has a tendency to jump on surfaces. The humble table cloth also takes up a shocking amount of visual space for the whole place setting and because it is mostly flat, playing with layers here can change so many elements of your design.
I can picture several layers here so walk with me, or in this case imagine with me. You have some form of a gingham flower green design as your base. You get a textured grass like or woven runner, than you top it all off with flowers! You could even go crazy and get some flower place mats. This builds a sort of scenery and story within your table with very little in terms of space lost.
The Activities:
Imagine this, you get to tea time and you have the most delicious devilish black brew of your life than… Well than nothing. You stare at each other after two rounds of the most socially awkward, “how is your work going?” braindead affair. You realize in horror you thought you knew this person okay that you invited to the sacred space but oh lord you don’t know them at all. What do you do?
Panic.
No really press the button, I know you have always wanted to.
After the button is pressed I will appear and guide you to an activity so that you don’t have to muster up one more, “wow this scone is really delicious, huh”. We can get into the good bits!
~ D I S T R A C T I O N S ~
For an animal crossing themed tea time the option for me is pretty clear, bring a game! I will suggest for a tea time a card game is a fantastic option so that you can sip and play without all the hassle of a large board. This is a great time to hit up your local game shop (if you have one) and ask them for something on theme. Maybe a cozy card game that has some fruit in it?
The Food:
Looking at the images of animal crossing food makes a girl ravenously hungry. So I won’t deep dive too much into your options. Just know they are vast.
There is an unofficial animal crossing cookbook that might stretch the itch but for the most part I would rely on what you have time to do, and what sounds the best to you. Almost no food is out of the question but below is some inspiration of sorts.
Conclusion and Misc. Thoughts:
There are a multitude of ways you can approach this theme. You can go very literal and natural or you can make the entire table themed after your favorite character.
I had so many images that evoked animal crossing to me I had a hard time narrowing down the aura for you all. Here is a collection of other inspiration I had on the subject.
Whatever you decide I hope you can find some principals here helpful. And honestly if you got to this point in the article I have something intended only for you! A drawing of my design! Well now, at this point it feels like our design. It is an our design in the same way that it’s ‘we are pregnant’ or ‘we did this assignment together’. Something shared, but something very much not shared all at once!
here is my little sketch outline of a mug, a leaf shaped soup plate, treats and delights. How you approach this journey makes it all the more individual, I anxiously wait to hear your ideas of how you would approach this subject.
Until next tea time – Abi
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