Tea Dance?

For years, this idea has danced around in our minds.  We'd read little snippets about tea dances here and there but did not really understand what they were until picking up yet another tea book.    We found just enough information to generate a germ of an  idea which grew into a truly enjoyable afternoon.

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  Seems in the late 1930s and 40s a dance craze swept our country and young people everywhere were looking for any opportunity to get together and dance.  Times were hard, though. World War II was in full swing and people seemed focused on more serious things.  Enter The Tea Dance!  Communities began hosting late afternoon get-togethers for the young people in their towns.  From 4 pm to 6 pm, the hours after work but before supper, for 35 cents you could enter a church hall, community center, even a school gym, get a sandwich, a piece of cake and a cup of tea, then spend the rest of the time dancing with all the other youngsters present.  This was fun, it was energetic and Dancing Girl just had to host one of her own!

So invitations were sent out, the hall reserved and the menu planned - sandwiches, cakes and tea! 

Then, just as in the 1930s and 40s, the youngsters danced the late afternoon away!  Oh, and they didn't even have to pay the 35 cents!