Best Royal Party Theme Ideas

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Do you have plans for a Royal coronation 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!

A gilded tea cup filled with milky tea sits on a table with pretty green and white flowers.

If you want to host a proper British tea party in honor of King Charles' coronation, I've got the best recipes and tips.

I've been throwing impromptu royal themed parties for my girls in honor of royal weddings and special events since they were tiny. You can see photos of when they were small at the very bottom of the post if you're interested.

I've collected the best British recipes, tea party supplies, and even invented a few party games to make it all fun.

You can use these tips for throwing your own royal-themed party for book club or "just because." I hope you and your friends enjoy them as much as we have!

British Party Menu Ideas

Everyone loves great food at a party.

Whether you're simply hosting book club or going all-out with a royal tea for your tiny princesses, you're sure to find great recipes to include here.

Tea cups in a stack, a sandwich tray, tea cakes on a platter.

Afternoon Tea vs. High Tea

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 style of tea service 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!

British Beverages for High Tea

First, be sure to plan out the drinks for the party.

Here are a couple great ideas:

British 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 cocktail.

You can find a full recipe here.

British Foods for the Party

Tea party foods can be quite simple to prepare. The most obvious choice would be a couple options from my extensive list of finger sandwiches but savory sausage rolls are completely delicious, too.

Finger Sandwiches

Cream cheese and cucumbers comes immediately to mind, but serve a tray full of easy options. Here are 30 finger sandwich recipes to get you started but don't miss the assembly and make-ahead tips included!

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.

Spiced Sausage Rolls
These delicious baked spicy sausage rolls are a fun football party appetizer or perfect for a British themed party. Serve them with a Dijon mustard dipping sauce.
5 from 1 vote
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A tray of sausage rolls shows the golden brown puff pastry wrap and savory sausage filling.

Chips with Malt Vinegar

And by "chips," of course I mean French fries. I won't tell if you use a bag of frozen fries, just grab a bottle of malt vinegar to serve them with!

British Dessert Recipes

End the tea with something sweet. It doesn't need to be difficult, you could even just pick up a package of tea cakes from the grocery store bakery.

Little iced petit fours would be perfect.

If you want to bake something from scratch, here are a few of my favorite British desserts.

Treacle Tart

This Harry Potter-inspired dessert is perfect for a Royal wedding viewing party. Get the easy treacle tart recipe here.

Treacle Tart
The treacle tart Harry Potter would totally order on the Hogwarts Express. This classic British dessert is simple enough for beginner bakers and a fun addition to any Harry Potter themed party.
5 from 1 vote
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A bite of treacle tart with whipped cream on a fork.

Shortbread

Grab a tin of simple shortbread cookies at the store to pad out your tea tray. Or, if you love to bake they are actually a very easy cookie to make from scratch. I love my Irish shortbread recipe during the holidays.

Irish Shortbread Cookies
Buttery Irish shortbread cookies are the perfect tea time treat. Bake a batch to share with friends during the holiday season, they travel well and can be stored in a cookie tin for up to a week.
5 from 1 vote
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A plate with shamrocks on it has a stack of homemade Irish shortbread cookies cut into rectangles.

English Scones

These blueberry scones are our favorite!

Easy Blueberry Scones
These super easy homemade blueberry scones are the perfect recipe for beginner bakers. Light and flaky, they are a perfect weekend brunch menu idea.
4.60 from 10 votes
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A blue plate has a pile of homemade blueberry scones on top.

Serve them with a batch of homemade lemon curd.

Lemon Curd
Homemade lemon curd is so easy to make with fresh lemons. This rich lemon sauce is delicious as a base for a lemon tart but would be amazing spooned over a pound cake, spread onto toast or a biscuit, or used with French toast or pancakes.
5 from 49 votes
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A piece of lemon pie with lemon curd filling.

Or keep it easy and just make these fresh peach scones.

British 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!

Royal 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.

Taste Test the Tea:

Have a blind taste-test contest of a variety of teas. See if the winner can correctly label the flavors.

Scenes from a tea party with treats, sandwiches, and tea cups.

How It Started

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.

A brilliant Royal wedding viewing party: Celebrate like the Brits

Then it was Prince Harry's turn to get hitched and everyone I knew was tuning in for his wedding to Meghan.

Now we get to look forward to the coronation of the first King of England our generation has ever seen.

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!

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