Deciding on the music for your tea party is not that hard--it's the budget you need to consider. A professional musician can supply live tunes or you can rely on spinning the CDs yourself. Overall, the music should be a backdrop for a tea party, not too loud or upbeat. A nice compliment of instrumental sounds should be the melody for your guests' enjoyment.

Decide what you want to spend on entertainment services for your party. If handling the music yourself, see what recordings you already own or ask friends if you can borrow some.

Explore the sounds appropriate for a tea party. Popular choices are classical compositions by Bach, Schubert and Debussy. Select music samples to listen to at ClassicalArchives.com (see Resources below). You can see a list of thousands of composers.

Select a list of songs to play at your tea party. Review the popular music choices for tea parties at TeaCakesandTeddyBears.com (see Resources below).

Sample different styles of music. Listen to jazz, instrumental and light contemporary music selections. Visit a retail music or book store where you can listen to a CD before you buy it.

Consider hiring a small group ensemble to play music at the tea party. This is good if you are organizing a larger tea party for a charity event or business. Select from a wide database of musicians for hire at Gigmasters.com (see Resources below).

Enlist the skills of a solo guitarist or other musician. Ask people you know for recommendations or talk to local church groups. Many churches have full bands that perform each week.

Select more upbeat or stylistic tunes if they go with your theme. This will be for you to evaluate. It will depend upon the details of your party, how many guests will be attending and their age group.