Downton Abbey Tea Party + Free Printable Downton Abbey Trivia Quiz

I am SO beyond excited to share today's post with you today!  It combines three of my most favorite things all in one- a good party, Downton Abbey, and World Market!

Now if you follow me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, you probably saw some photos from the Downton Abbey Tea Party that I posted on Sunday (and if you don't follow me, I'd love for you to join in the fun!).  I wanted my tea party to be as authentic as possible, and my guests were amazing to dress up and add to the feeling that they were really having a full English tea.

I bought most of the dishes, serving trays, silverware, and food from World Market.  They have an amazing selection of gourmet food from around the world, and I was able to find lots of British and European food that was perfect for the party!  This made it very easy to put together, because I didn't have to spend much time in the kitchen preparing food, and could use that time on decorating and making the FREE printable Downton Abbey trivia quiz that I'll be sharing with you in this post!  Plus, I'll also share a DIY Lady Mary Inspired Tiara/Headband that I made and wore for the party.  I love the way it turned out!

Food & Dishes:  

The food for this tea party was so easy!  I wanted the food to be more substantial than just sweets, so I tried to create an English "full tea," or "high tea," complete with three courses.  The first course consisted of the savory foods, like egg salad sandwiches, cheese and crackers, and dried fruit.  Here's a little tip I learned- when using a three-tiered serving tray at tea, the bottom layer is always eaten first, so it typically holds the sandwiches and other savories.  My tea party guests all ate off of the limited edition Downton Abbey dessert plates from World Market that are just beautiful, and match the other dishes and tea pot that are in the set.

The stands I used are the ivory ones founds here, the white porcelain cake stand, and the beautiful stand shown above.

The second tier, which was the second course, held lemon poppy seed and blueberry scones that I made from World Market's delicious scone mixes.  One can't eat scones plain, you know, so I had some English clotted cream, lemon curd, and orange cranberry marmalade that I served with them.  The scones were amazing on their own, but when you add any of the spreads I just mentioned, they are just heavenly! Lemon curd will always be found in my fridge from here on out, it is THAT good!

For the third course came the sweets, and I did not hold back!  I served Walker's Shortbread from World Market, which everyone loved.  I also served lemon lavender meringues, mini phylo tarts with whipped cream and cut strawberries and kiwi on top, and an assortment of European chocolate covered cookies, all from World Market.  It was nice to serve such a good variety of food, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it.

I also found a small jewelry holder at a craft store that I thought would be perfect for serving Jordan almonds on.  I love how tiny it is!

It wouldn't be a proper tea party without the tea, so because this was a Downton Abbey Tea Party, I just had to have the limited edition The Republic of Tea tin from World Market with the Dowager Countess herself on the front. For those who don't drink caffeine, I also had a Republic of Tea herbal peppermint chocolate tea that was delicious.  The tea was served in the limited edition tea pot, and then poured into beautiful Downton Abbey teacups.

My sister-in-law Rachel loved to "do the Downton," with her pinkie up, of course!  On a side note, look at her beautiful ring!  It's an antique silhouette ring, and was replaced later that night with an engagement ring, woo hoo!  Congratulations Rachel!!

DECORATIONS:

I lucked out, because my husband's grandparents have THE perfect house for throwing a Downton Abbey tea party!  The way their large home is decorated makes it look like it is from a whole different era, which is exactly what I was going for, so I didn't have to do much to the dining room or the formal living room.  I used a white tablecloth with white flowers on the large dining room table, and bought some pretty white and peach roses for the table.  Every English tea party needs fresh roses, right?

I thought it would be fun to have some Crawley family portraits on the table, so I printed out a photo of Lady Mary and Matthew on their wedding day, and a photo of Lord Grantham and Lady Cora as well. I found the perfect frames at World Market to put them in, and they looked great on the table with the china and dishes.  I also found this amazing key bottle opener at World Market a few months ago that I fell in love with.  I think it looks like the perfect front door key to the large Downton estate, don't you?

I also made pretty little place cards for each guest with the word "Lady" before their real name.  I could definitely get used to being called "Lady Laura" ;)  It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

I found some pretty silver candlestick holders and taper candles at, you guessed it, World Market!  They added a nice ambiance to the table.

Each of the ladies got to take home a cute little favor- a small bag of Jordan almonds.  I bought these adorable little bags from Wholeport.  I love the lace and the tiny key detail on them!

ACTIVITY:

How well do you know Downton Abbey?  I wanted to have some kind of activity for my guests to do, so I created a Downton Abbey Trivia Quiz based on seasons 1, 2, and 3 of the show.  I came up with many of the questions, and also found some here that I used as well.  I found a wonderful vintage flourish design that I included at the top and bottom of the quiz that I just love.

If you'd like to test your knowledge of the show, or if you plan on having a Downton Abbey premier viewing party, you can go ahead and download and print my FREE Downton Abbey Trivia Quiz HERE.  It prints two quizzes per page.  I'll include the answers at the very end of this post, and I'll make them extra small so you arent' tempted to peek ;)  Enjoy!!

I didn't think the quiz was too hard, but my sister-in-law has watched every episode of each season, and thought that the quiz was pretty tricky, so if you check out the quiz, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!  Was I too tough?

Fashion:

All of us dressed in lace, pearls, ruffles, curls... anything girly and dainty!  This was their attempt at being serious, haha.

Can you believe all of these lovely ladies are my sister-in-laws?  Minus my grandma-in-law in the back :)  They all were great sports and looked amazing.

I made a DIY hair tiara/headband that I based on Lady Mary's wedding tiara that had small beautiful leaves that I love.  You can find the easy DIY here.

And now for the sweepstakes!  World Market has partnered with Downton Abbey and is giving away an AMAZING trip for 2 to London, England, a private tour of Highclere Castle, a visit to the set of Downton Abbey, and a $1,000 World Market gift card!  Three first prize winners will also receive a $500 World Market gift card.  Amazing contest, right?!  Can you imagine being the winner of this one?  It would be life changing!  Be sure to enter HERE, and hurry, because the sweepstakes ends 12/27/13.  Good luck!!

Here are the answers to the quiz... how many did you get right?

1. Isis  2. Spanish Flu  3. Shirley Maclaine  4. Anna  5. The Canadian Railway  6. Mr. Bates  7. The Cheerful Charlies  8. Breast Cancer  9. Vera Bates  10. Gretna Green (Scotland)  11. Patrick  12. Sir Anthony Strallan  13. Lawyer  14. Her eyesight is failing  15. Harem Pants  16. Edna Braithwaite  17. William Mason  18. Violet  19. Matthew's fiance  20. Puts a bar of soap on the ground outside the bathtub for Cora to slip on

xo, Laura

5 Easy Holiday Party Treat Ideas with Walgreens Holiday Solutions

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #HappyAllTheWay

December is my favorite month of the year, hands down!  I love all of the sights, smells, and sounds that only come around during this busy time of year, as well as all of the activities and traditions that my family and I look forward to each December.  My husband and I love to entertain family members that come to town each Christmas.  Every year they come over for a fun game night, where we listen to music and catch up while playing cards and eating treats.  It gets so busy, though, with all of the parties, plays, programs, and dinners on our calendar, that I don't always have the time to make a lot of food for our get togethers.  But, I have learned some great tips that I want to share with you and show how easy it is to entertain your guests this season with Walgreens Holiday Solutions!

I'm so excited to share some great tips with you on how to make store-bought food look fabulous for your next holiday party or get together!

I recently went to Walgreens and stocked up on some Good & Delish brand chocolates, nuts, and lots of yummy party snacks to show you how easy it is to entertain stress-free!  They have a huge variety of snacks to choose from.  Here are a few of my top choices that I bought... check out how I used them!

5 Easy Holiday Party Treats Ideas:

1.  Bring on the Cheese- 

Who doesn't love a good cheese platter?  It's easy to impress your guests with a gourmet cheese spread that is a cinch to put together.  Simply buy a few different types of cheese for your party.  It's nice to serve a variety, such as an aged cheese, a soft cheese cheese, a firm cheese, or a blue cheese.

Place the cheese on a platter or slate cheese board (like mine), and serve with crackers (like these yummy Good & Delish Sea Salt Crackers), dried fruit (I chose Good & Delish Dried Apricots), nuts, and a sweet fruit (grapes or apples are great choices).
Cheese platters are the perfect snack to serve because guests love them, and there is very little prep work involved!

2.  Chocolate, of course!

You know the satisfaction of opening up a box of chocolates and picking out your favorites, then biting into each one and savoring every last bite?  Why not share that fun with your guests?  I bought a few bags of delicious chocolates from Walgreens that were sooooo good- Good & Delish Sea Salt Caramels, Good & Delish Almond Toffee Squares (Sugar Free!), Good & Delish Dark Chocolate Mint Delights, and Good & Delish Dark Chocolate Peppermint Covered Pretzels... are you drooling yet?

Instead of just putting the chocolate out on the table in a bag, which isn't so pretty, I took the chocolates out of the bags (many of them were individually wrapped).  Then I placed them in cute little baking cups, and placed on one of my scalloped cake stands.  Now the chocolates looked even more enticing, and I knew my guests would be excited to take a little cup (or two... or three...) and bite right into the deliciousness!

I also picked up a box of Good & Delish Exquisite Cookies, which are made with pure Belgian chocolate, and placed those into slightly larger nut cups that I bought from the craft store.  The cups were the perfect size for fitting two tasty cookies in.  Those were placed on a larger cake stand, and I stacked the smaller stand on top to make a two-tiered stand, which looked a bit more impressive than two smaller ones!


3.  When I Dip you dip we dip- 

Another easy food to serve to guests is a pre-made dip served alongside cubes of bread. I bought a loaf of french bread from the grocery store, and then cut it into small cubes to eat with the Good & Delish Spinach Artichoke Dip that I bought from Walgreens.  

4.  Make them go Nuts!

Delicious salted nuts are perfect to serve at parties, but instead of just putting out a big bottle or small can of nuts, dress them up a bit by sprinkling them into small nut cups!  They'll be the perfect portion for serving and eating!

5.  Accessorize-

Entertaining, like fashion, is all about accessorizing.  Using the perfect tray or stand, serving in cute little cups, and adding greenery and color to your table are all you need to make your food stand out and look its' best!  You could use greenery cut from your Christmas tree, a few Christmas ornaments, and even candy canes to add some color to the table.  

There is an awesome Good & Delish spread for holiday entertaining in the Walgreens Happy & Healthy Holiday Guide that is found in Walgreens that can give you even more ideas on foods to serve and how to make your party look great!

I hope this gave you a few ideas on how to easily entertain friends and family this holiday season and save yourself some time!  If you haven't tried any of the Good & Delish premium snacks, you have GOT to get to Walgreens and try them... especially those sea salt caramels ;)  I won't even tell you how many of those I ate...


Happy entertaining!

xo, Laura

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

Avocado Cilantro Hummus Recipe

I have wanted to make my own hummus for the longest time.   This week I went for it, and I will DEFINITELY be making my hummus at home from now on!  It was soooo easy, quick, and tastes so fresh and good!

Instead of making the traditional hummus, I gave my recipe a twist by adding a large avocado and lots of cilantro to make an avocado cilantro hummus dip.

Let me tell you, this stuff is addicting!  It's easy to adapt to your own personal taste, too.  If you like more garlic flavor, just add more garlic.  Don't like cilantro?  Then skip it!  Want to add a little spice to your hummus?  Add some hot sauce.

You have GOT to try this recipe!

Avocado Cilantro Hummus

• 1 can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup STAR Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 large avocado, scooped from the peel
• 1 clove garlic
• Cilantro, to taste (I love cilantro, so I added an overflowing cupful)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp. Tahini (a sesame paste that you can find at most grocery stores)
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt (regular salt is fine, too)

Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth.  Told you it was easy!  

You can store this hummus in the fridge for a few days in an airtight container.  

We dipped broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and chips into our hummus.  Any crunchy vegetable, chips, or crackers would taste great with it!  This recipe is the perfect appetizer for your holiday parties- not only does it taste great, but is is so easy and quick to make, which is a must for this busy time of year.

xo, Laura

Italian Antipasto Salad, Basil Pesto Dipping Sauce, and Italian Cream Sodas

I am a member of the World Market Trendsetter Tribe.  These Italian recipes are sponsored by World Market as part of their Gourmet Getaway Sweepstakes.

Get ready to be hungry!  I've got not one, but three amazing Italian recipes to share with you today!!  I love sitting down together with my family to enjoy a homemade dinner together.  It's an important part of my family's day where we can relax and enjoy one another's company.

Last week I made a trip to World Market (okay, a few trips to World Market) to pick up some gourmet Italian ingredients from their gourmet food and drink section to make my family an Italian dinner- a delicious antipasto salad, some rosemary bread with a basil pesto dipping sauce, and then some Italian cream sodas for dessert... yum!  Here's what I bought for the salad...

La Terrazze Extra Virgin Olive Oil // Domaine de Vignes Aged Red Wine Vinegar // Columbus Italian Dry Salame // Cucina & Amore Grilled Artichoke Hearts // World Market Italian Seasoning 

I also bought a few things from the grocery store: romaine hearts, provolone cheese, black olives, grape tomatoes, garlic cloves, and some fresh basil.  Here are the easy directions to make this delicious salad!

Italian Antipasto Salad

Ingredients:

For the Salad:

• 3 Romaine lettuce hearts, chopped or torn into bite-sized pieces
• 4 oz. Columbus Italian Dry Salame, cut into thin slices
• 4 oz. provolone cheese, cut into thin slices
• 1 can black olives, sliced
• 1 can Cucina & Amore Grilled Artichoke Hearts, sliced
• 1 package grape tomatoes
• Fresh basil, cut into thin strips, to taste

For the Dressing:

• 1/4 cup Terrazze Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup Domaine de Vignes Aged Red Wine Vinegar
• Splash of balsamic vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. World Market Italian Seasoning

Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl.  I used my Coupe Serving Bowl I fell in love with at World Market and had to have.  Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour salad dressing on the salad, and mix well.  Refrigerate until ready to serve, to allow the flavors to combine.

This salad was great!  Although this salad is meant to be an appetizer, you can always serve it as a main dish if you add more salame and cheese, and serve it with other Italian favorites!  We ate our salad off of the white Coupe Salad Plates, which I love because they are simple and classic, and would look great with any food served on them!

I served this salad to my family with some store-bought rosemary bread, and a quick basil pesto dipping sauce I made- this sauce literally took me less than a minute to make!

All I did was combine some Sacla Italia Pesto Alla Genovese Basil Pesto with some La Terrazze Olive Oil to make the dipping sauce- so easy, and yet so delicious!!  I served the sauce on a white Coupe Salad Plate.  My kids and husband and I loved dipping our bread in this amazing sauce!

Now onto my favorite part- the drinks!  Who doesn't love buying a fruity and creamy Italian Creme Soda?  My family LOVES them, but it can get expensive buying one for all six of us in my family.  Did you know that it's so easy to make your own at home?  You can customize this recipe to suit your own taste, and the flavor possibilities are endless! Plus, you'll save yourself a ton of money making these at home instead of buying them, which is always a bonus!

World Market has a GREAT selection of Torani syrups that you'll use in this recipe.  I picked up four bottles for our Italian creme sodas because it's fun to mix and match and combine flavors to make your own custom drink.  Have fun and get creative!

Italian Creme Sodas

For each soda you will need:

• 1 cup club soda
• 4 Tbsp. Torani syrup (any flavor that you would like)
• 1 Tbsp. half and half
• Ice
• Whip cream 
• Soiree Maraschino Cherries

1.  Fill cup with ice.  Add 4 Tbsp. Torani syrup to the ice, and fill glass with club soda.  Stir.

2.  Slowly pour in the half and half.  This is the best part!  When the half and half combines with the ice and cold soda it makes beautiful creamy swirls that look amazing!  If you are careful and don't move the cup around too much, you can keep the swirls in place when serving these drinks to guests.  Add whip cream and a cherry to the top and serve!

Another great thing about this drink is that it's low calorie!  Club soda has zero calories and you can buy Torani Sugar Free syrup with zero calories- the only calories will come from the half and half (you can buy this fat free, too), and the whip cream and cherry (which you could leave off if you like).  Not too bad for an amazing drink!!

Did you know that right now World Market is giving away an amazing prize in their Gourmet Getaway Sweepstakes?  You can enter to win a 6 day culinary trip for 2 to Venice, Italy!  Trip includes airfare and accommodations, Cicchetti tour, a hands-on Venetian cooking class, a cheese making demonstration and tasting, and a $1,000 World Market gift card- WOW!  Plus, three first prize winners will receive $500 World Market gift cards.  You can also earn bonus entries for liking World Market on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr for more chances to win!  Check out the video below with Joey Fatone!

World Market has partnered with the Live Well Network and their hit show My Family Recipe Rocks, hosted by Joey Fatone.  My Family Recipe Rocks features amazing hometown cooks across America, and and Joey Fatone and his crew cook up old family recipes, new homegrown dishes, and meeting people behind their great food in their own kitchens.

You can tune in to My Family Recipe Rocks on Sundays at 8:30 p / 7:30 c.  You can check local listings at livewellnetwork.com.

Be sure to enter World Market's Gourmet Getaway Sweepstakes!  How great would that be to win a culinary trip to Italy and a $1,000 World Market gift card?  You can't win if you don't enter!

I hope you give these gourmet Italian recipes a try, and be sure to check out World Market's great gourmet food section, as well as the rest of the store.... I promise you won't leave empty-handed!

For more fall fun, you can print off my fall activities bucket list punch card.

And for a fun family Halloween meal, check out this Spooky Spaghetti with Eyeballs!

To decorate your home this fall, you can see how to make this cinnamon-scented nature wreath,

or this fall wreath made out of paper!

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Linking up here: Whipperberry, Tidy Mom, 30 Handmade Days, Tatertots and Jello, Ginger Snap Crafts, Snap!

Colored Popcorn Recipe with Jell-O

Have you ever seen an amazing party on Pinterest where they served bright, colored popcorn that matched the colors and theme of the party, and wondered how in the world they made it, or where they bought it?

That was me this week!  And I have the secret ingredient...  Jell-O!

I love the look of bright, cheery colored popcorn in an apothecary jar at a candy or sweets table at a party.  I just made a big batch of pretty turquoise Jell-O popcorn for my daughter's Under the Sea swimming party this weekend, so I thought I would share the recipe with you!

Jell-O popcorn is so easy to make, tastes fruity and sweet, and can be made in any color of Jello that you like, which is perfect to make for your party!  Another plus is that it is very cheap to make, which is nice if you like filling up apothecary jars at your parties like me- it can get really expensive really quick!

Colored Jell-O Popcorn:

• 10 cups popped popcorn
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 (3oz.) package of fruity Jell-o mix (any flavor you like)
• 1 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 3 Tbsps. water

1.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Grease a metal baking sheet, and lay popped popcorn evenly on the sheet.  Set aside.

2.  Combine butter, sugar, Jell-O, corn syrup, and water over medium heat in a pan, and bring to a boil.  When the mixture starts boiling, set a timer, and let it boil for four minutes.

3.  Once it has boiled for four minutes, remove from heat and stir in 1/4 tsp. baking soda.

4.  Carefully pour the hot mixture onto the popcorn, and coat evenly.  Bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes.  Stir once halfway through cooking.  Remove and let cool.  Store in an airtight container or big Ziploc bag.

Recipe adapted from here.

Easy, right?!  Now you won't break the bank filling up one apothecary jar for your next party- no guarantees on the other 6 jars, though! ;)

Have fun, experiment with all of the colors, and enjoy this delicious and easy treat!

xo, Laura

Linking Up Here: Tidy Mom, 30 Handmade Days, Whipperberry, Tatertots and Jello