Brilliant hostess ideas for the best Royal wedding viewing party

   Do you have plans for a Royal wedding viewing party? Maybe you just want a British themed party for book club. Whether you want to view something on the telly, discuss a book, or just host an awesome evening for your friends, these London themed party ideas will make your mates go mad!

My friend Lindsay is one of the very biggest Princess Diana fans I've ever known. I still remember sitting around our college lounge while Lindsay shared the sweetest stories about how her mom kept her home from school so they could watch the Royal wedding together. 

When Kate married Prince William, my girls were just babies. The Peanut had just turned 4 and Little Pea wasn't even quite 1 year old. Even still, thoughts of Lindsay and her mom were in my head and I picked up royal wedding themed sugar cookies at our local bakery and we donned hats in our living room to watch the ceremony coverage. That was just about all I could handle in those busy toddler days.

Now that it's Prince Harry's turn to get hitched, I thought it would be fun to share some brilliant British themed party ideas in case you want to take this fun opportunity to host a simple get together with friends. I may just have to dust off my tiara for the occasion!

When is Megan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding?

Saturday, May 19, 2018 at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in England

If you're in the US, the televised recording will begin at 4:30 am which is . . . a bit early for partying. If you don't want to watch the recorded playback later that day, I have several other fun suggestions for hosting your own British themed party!

Must-watch Royal movies & TV shows to inspire you for the Royal wedding:

If you don't want to watch the recorded wedding itself, why not invite your friends over for a Royal wedding movie party instead?? Make some fun treats (see below!) and pick one of these awesome movies about the royal family. 

1. The King's Speech: My very favorite on this whole list. An inspiring story about King George (the current Queen Elizabeth's father.) Get the movie here.
2. The Crown: I am OBSESSED with this Netflix Original series. Even Tim enjoyed watching it with me. If you don't have Netflix, you can get the show here.
3. The Queen: Helen Mirren stars as Queen Elizabeth in this historical drama. Watch the movie here.
4. The Young Victoria: Victoria was Queen Elizabeth's great great grandmother, this is a romantic drama of her love for Prince Albert. Read more here.
5. The Other Boleyn Girl: Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Eric Bana star in this dramatic story featuring King Henry VIII. Watch the movie here.
6. The Prince and Me: Significantly more lighthearted, Julia Stiles plays a college girl who falls in love with a prince under cover. Perfect cheesy fun for the Tweens in your house. Read more here.
7. Princess Diaries 2: A Disney classic with Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, fun for the whole family. Free if you have HBO, read more here.

Must-read Royal themed books for book club:

Not into movies? Maybe you'd rather host an epic British themed party for book club! If you're group plans to meet in May, pick one of these novels and go crazy with your party prep.

• The Royal We:  A romantic YA novel featuring characters suspiciously similar to Will and Kate. This came HIGHLY recommended by a friend I trust.
• The Royal Treatment: fun romantic comedy with amazing reviews on Amazon!
• The Heir and the Spare: This sounds a lot like the fictional version of "The Prince and Me" movie I mentioned above! College girl falls in love with a prince.
• The Royal Nanny: We read this for book club and it is a fun historical fiction behind the scenes peek into the life of the real royal family. You can see our book club questions for it right here.
• Victoria: This is the historical fiction book that my book club has been raving about for a while. Read it and enjoy the PBS series it's based on.
• The Other Boleyn Girl: The book the movie is based on, I devoured it several years ago.

English themed party foods and English dessert recipes for a Royal party:

The obvious answer to what to serve at a British theme party is tea. You can choose from an Afternoon tea service or a High tea service -- the main difference between them is High tea involves cocktails and appetizers. You can read more about what is involved in each here.

Get out your fancy tea cups and china and learn how to set a proper tea here. This would be an awesome time to have your kids brush up on their fancy party manners, too!

A fantastic easy menu for your tea party could include:

• Tea: obviously! Stock up on a few flavors and let your guests choose their own flavor, or find a local tea shop that can help you brew a custom blend in a full pot. We love the hot water kettle featured here for a mix-your-own approach. Fill it up, get it hot, and it will make plenty of tea at one time.
• Pimm's cup: Pimm's, ginger ale, cucumber slices and mint! This is a British classic. You can find a full recipe here.
• Finger Sandwiches: Cream cheese and cucumbers comes immediately to mind, but serve a tray full of easy options. Here are 50 ideas to get you started.
• Sausage rolls: We tested these after Tim discovered he is 60% British. They are a huge hit with our family. Get the spiced sausage rolls recipe here.
• Chips with Malt Vinegar: And by "chips," of course I mean French fries. Grab a bottle of malt vinegar to serve them with!
• Treacle Tart: This Harry Potter-inspired dessert is perfect for a Royal wedding viewing party. Get the easy treacle tart recipe here.
• Shortbread: Grab a tin of simple shortbread cookies at the store to pad out your tea tray.
• Simple scones: These blueberry scones are our favorite!
• Trifle: A classic British dessert! My sister and I became obsessed with trifle over the Christmas holiday and now that I got suckered into buying the special trifle dish, it will be a standard part of most of my parties from here forward! Here are 10 trifle recipes to get you going.

Royal wedding viewing interactive party games:

Talk like a Brit: Challenge your party guests to use as many fun British phrases in their conversations as possible. Share these 50 awesome British slang words to get them going.

Host a hat contest: Bring on the fascinators! The taller, the flowery-ier, the feather-ier the better! I may take this a little too far -- check out the Peanut's tea party hat from many years ago. Spoiler alert: She totally brought home the trophy.

Want to keep your British themed party super kid friendly? Host a princess playdate.

I look back at the photos of Little Pea and her preschool friends al dressed up in princess dresses and tiaras and just die a little. They were so crazy cute!

Are you really British?

After all this British theme party fun, are you curious to know if you're actually British too? Take an Ancestry DNA test. You can read all about our shocking Ancestry DNA results right here and the Brtish dinner I hosted for our family afterwards here.