Sugar Plum Fairy Afternoon Tea at The Waldorf Hilton

Anyone who knows our Miss T, will know that she's not just "T" by name but "tea" by nature as one of her favourite experiences ever is having afternoon tea. From the afternoon teas she's had at the Royal Kensington Hotel when she was younger (which you can read about here and here) to the Winnie-The-Pooh themed afternoon tea she enjoyed last summer at Ashdown Park Hotel, she's definitely a fan of the concept of afternoon tea: a beautiful setting, scrumptious sandwiches and scones and stunning cakes and patisseries.

So in the run up to Christmas we spotted that the Waldorf Hilton were doing a Sugar Plum Fairy themed afternoon tea. And even better they were running a series of weekly competitions on Instagram to win afternoon tea for two. So of course we entered almost every week, having fun with their Sugar Plum Fairy face filter for our entries. Christmas came and went with no luck. I tried to find a date to take Miss T anyway because by this point her heart was REALLY set on going there but with so much else going on it didn't happen.

Anyhow in the very last week of the competition, I heard that I had won! Of course, I was thrilled! We needed a weekend date as Miss T has so much time off school already for her hospital appointments so we managed to book for the very last date of the themed afternoon tea on Sunday 2nd February.

I don't very often treat myself to new clothes but having increased by 2 to 3 dress sizes in the course of the past 18 months (the doctors can't figure out exactly why and how much of it is due to my underactive thyroid and how much of it is age related and hormones changing!) I couldn't fit into any of my existing dresses. Luckily I found a gorgeous purple dress in the sale at Phase 8. Miss T wore her beautiful plum coloured tutu and we were ready!

Upon arriving at the Waldorf Hilton, we realised that we have passed this place literally countless times on our way to Great Ormond Street appointments, always spotting the posh entrance and smart doormen on our way.

So it was especially nice that today we were here in London for a treat and not for any hospital visits.

Our afternoon tea experience began with a cup of pea flower tea that changed colour from blue to purple. That was the first "wow" experience.

We then chose our main teas from a selection on the menu. I opted for Jasmine Pearl tea as I love white tea, Richard chose Organic Masala Chai and Miss T chose Organic Red Velvet; a herbal berry tea.

A beautiful selection of sandwiches arrived next...

Including a vegetarian selection for me...

...along with our next "wow" experience as the glass teapot in the centre of the table was filled with dry ice.

Then it was time for warm scones - plain ones and orange spiced with cream and jams, followed by the stunning section of patisserie items.

This included a pretty iced gingerbread ballerina biscuit from Biscuiteers. 

We enjoyed the harp being played throughout our afternoon tea. I'm not sure I've ever seen a real-life harp before! Isn't it beautiful!

Finally, passionfruit macarons presented on a dainty musical piano ended our most delightful experience of our Sugar Plum Fairy Afternoon tea at the Waldorf Hilton. 

Although the prize was designed for 2, they very kindly allowed us to book 3 people onto our Afternoon tea and only charged for Miss T as the additional child. Thank you to the Waldorf Hilton for running such a fabulous fun competition with such a fantastic prize.