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

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Chocolate No Bake Cookies

Growing up, it was a family tradition that every Sunday night we made chocolate no bake cookies (along with orange Julius, too- I'll save that for another day!).  Sometimes my mom made them, sometimes it was me or one of my sisters, but we always waited anxiously to snatch up the little "drips" from the cookie mixture that fell onto the wax paper that weren't actually part of any of the cookies... yummmm!

Now that I'm all grown up, I still make these delicious cookies with my kids, and they're the ones who wait anxiously and snatch up any little drips of dough.  We probably made these cookies all the time growing up because they are SO easy, take only about 10 minutes to make, and require no special ingredients.

You probably have everything you need to make these little chocolate wonders sitting in our kitchen cabinets right now!

Want to start your own tradition?  Here's the recipe that I grew up with...

Chocolate No Bake Cookies

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
3 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla

1.  Stir the butter, sugar, cocoa, and milk together in a saucepan, and cook on medium heat until it boils.  Boil for about 3 minutes.

2.  Remove from heat and add the oats, peanut butter, and vanilla.  Stir until thoroughly mixed.

3.  Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper, and allow the cookies to cool and harden slightly, which takes about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!  I have so many happy memories of enjoying these delicious cookies with my family, and love making them for my family now.

You might also like to try these yummy Special K Bars or Chocolate Andes Cookies... two of my favorites!!

xo, Laura


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Linking Up Here: Tatertots & Jello, Somewhat Simple, The 36th Avenue, House of Hepworths

Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies... My Family's Christmas Tradition

Today I'm going to share with you the best cookie recipe ever!

Andes Mints Chocolate Cookies... my Christmas tradition!

My mom has been making these every Christmas for as long as I can remember, and now that I am a mom, they have also become my family's tradition.  Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies are the perfect combination of chocolate and mint, and are unique because of the hard mint chocolate layer that is melted and cooled on the top of the cookie.  Total perfection.  

These cookies are always a hit with anyone that tries them.  I took them to a girl's Christmas party with some friends last weekend, and everyone loved them and asked me to post the recipe on my blog... I'll be sure to thank them for you ;)

Andes Mints are what make these cookies taste so delicious!

I have been asked for the recipe for these Andes Mint Cookies numerous times, and am now going to share this amazing recipe with you!  Who knows, it may become your new tradition, too!

 

I'll also be sharing with you a great way to package up your cookies and treats this holiday season, so stick around!  

Andes Mint Cookies:

3/4 C butter

1 1/2 C brown sugar

2 Tbsp. water

2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 eggs

2 1/2 C flour

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Andes Mints (I bought mine at Walgreens)

1.  On low heat, stir the butter, brown sugar, and water just until melted.

2.  Add the chocolate chips, stir until partially melted.  Remove from heat.  Continue to stir until the chocolate is melted.  Pour into a large bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid bowl), and let stand for 10 minutes until cooled slightly.

3.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Add the dry ingredients, beating  just until blended.  Chill for one hour in the fridge.

My kids love to help unwrap the mints.. especially when I let them eat one.

4.  Heat oven to 350 degrees, and put a sheet of foil on a baking sheet.  Roll the chocolate cookie dough into small balls, and place on foil.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  While cookies bake, take the wrappers off of the mints (or have your kids help unwrap- they love it), making sure that you have one mint per cookie.

5.  Remove the cookies from oven, and place one mint on top of each cookie.  Let mint sit on cookie for a minute to melt, and then gently smooth and swirl the chocolate around in a circle on the top of the cookie.  Using a spatula, remove cookies from hot pan, and let them cool on a piece of wax paper.

This recipe makes quite a few cookies, but since these cookies are always a huge hit, I usually double the recipe.  That way I can keep some dough in the fridge to make a fresh batch of cookies whenever I want over the next few days, or I bake all of the cookies, and freeze the extras.  I am not a big fan of freezing my food (hate that freezer taste), but these cookies freeze very well, and taste just as delicious after they have been frozen.

Now to package up the cookies...  Anyone that knows me can tell you that I absolutely adore Martha Stewart and all of the great products in the Martha Stewart Crafts line.  This craft line, as well as other amazing brands such as Jolee's Boutique, American Girl Crafts, Perler, and K&Company (just to name a few), are all made by the same company, EK Success.  So you can imagine how thrilled I was to be contacted by EK Success, and asked if I would like some samples of their holiday products and gift ideas.   

EK Success was very generous in sending me these Wonderland Gingerbread Treat Boxes from the Martha Stewart Crafts line that is sold at Michaels.  Not only are the boxes adorable and perfect for packaging up treats and goodies for your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers, but they also include the pre-cut tissue paper, ribbon, and labels to make six gingerbread houses.  Much more impressive than delivering cookies on a paper plate, don't you agree?

I packaged up some of my Andes Mint Cookies in these adorable gingerbread houses, and now they are all ready to give away to friends.  So easy!  

EK Success was also kind enough to send some boxes of American Girl Crafts and Perler products for my kids to try out.  They were thrilled to open up their boxes and start crafting!  Just like their mama ;)

I'll be sharing these fun gift ideas with you next week, after my kids have finished their projects.   We only got the box a few hours ago, but they were so anxious to get started, I couldn't tell them no.  And be sure to check out all of the holiday products and great gift ideas from EK Success (Martha Stewart Crafts, American Girl Crafts, Perler, Swarovski Elements, Jolee's Boutique..), available at Michael's.

So have you ever eaten these cookies before?  Are you going to give them a try?  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

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XO, Laura