Holidays

Raise a Jammy Scone to The Huntington's Holiday Tea

The San Marino destination will offer the chance to bid 2022 farewell, or 2023 hello, with a traditional tea service in its pretty Garden Court.

Edwin Remsberg

What to Know

  • The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino
  • Holiday Tea in the Garden Court
  • Dec. 30 through Jan. 1, 2023 (two seatings per day); $78 plus admission (cocktails, wine, and Champagne are additional)

Raising a crystal flute, high in the air, higher than your head and up to the stars, is an oft-seen and oh-so-celebratory gesture when the first day of the year is in view.

But flutes full of bubbly aren't the only things we can raise during the last hours of the old year; a tea sandwich is fairly easy to lift, and holding a cream-covered scone up to the sky?

If that simple act doesn't have a bit of fanciful fortune to it, we're not sure what does.

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens will give lovers of traditional tea services the chance to bid 2022 adieu in serene style and/or welcome 2023 with a dollop of jam and cream on top.

In short? A special seasonal celebration at the San Marino landmark will suit many Southern California revelers to a tea, er, T.

It's the landmark's Holiday Tea in the Garden Court we're swooning over, a get-a-little-dressy event set to take place on Dec. 30, 31, and Jan. 1.

The daytime to-do will have all of the scrummy hallmarks of a proper tea service, with Lavender Chamomile Rose tea, Cucumber Dill Sandwiches, Bundt Cake, and two types of scones adding tempting cheer to the classic tower presentation.

There are lots of other sandwich-y favorites, sweet treats, and teas on the menu, which you can pore over right here.

And of course the scones — Butterscotch Maple and Cranberry Orange are the flavors — come with jam or marmalade, lemon curd, and, the delight of delights, Devonshire cream.

If you would like a flute of something sparkling, you can find it during the holiday happening; "Champagne, sparkling wine and holiday-themed cocktails are available for purchase," is the promising word from The H.

If you're dining with a tot? Sips like sparkling apple cider will be a popular choice, as well as that perennial wintertime superstar, hot chocolate.

There will be two seatings each day, the price is $78 (not including admission, which is free for members), and, again, spirited libations will be additional.

You'll want to book your tea ticket soon, as the gardens have become a must-visit for people in town for the Rose Parade, which rolls on Jan. 2 in 2023.

Many of The Huntington's famous roses do bloom on New Year's Day, and out-of-towners, as well as in-towners, just have to stop by to see the uplifting and seemingly unlikely, at least for many other places, January sight.

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