A few years ago, I received my Ancestry report and found out that I’m 29% Scottish! What a fun surprise, right? I mean, now my freckles made sense and the fact that there are several red heads in my family. I would love to visit Scotland someday, but in the meantime, I’ve enjoyed a few of the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon, and the mini-series they made out of the books. The scenery and costumes in the series is just stunning and it inspired the best Outlander tea party ideas for my latest party. The party was missing one beloved guest, so I made a place setting for her anyway. The food was not Scottish, but it was tasty, the decor was not authentic, but inspired, and the DIY craft was so fun and relaxing. I hope this post inspires you to start planning your own tea party, any theme you desire.

Best Outlander Tea Party Ideas – The invitation

When planning any party, I break down my decision-making into topics and start making lists. The Outlander tea party was easy to plan because I had just finished watching the last season and felt very inspired. The invitation is such a fun part for me to design. The wannabe desktop publisher in me gets to play around a little with the invitation design, and the crafter in me gets to create the presentation of the invitation. For the Outlander tea party invitation, I first stained a wooden hinged box and then created and printed the invitations. To place inside the box, I selected a pair of fingerless gloves that would match my guest’s outfits and then wrapped the paper invitation around them. I fastened the box with some twine and a topper. My gracious guests wore their fingerless gloves to the party, and it was just too cute. I really enjoy creating special invitations, and I feel like it just sets my guests’ expectations to have fun and enjoy themselves at the party.

Best Outlander Tea Party Ideas – The decorations

I think most people would get excited about selecting the menu for a party, but unfortunately, that’s my least favorite and the most stressful part about planning a party for me. My favorite part is designing and decorating the party space! It’s not about copying the Outlander story but designing decor and ambiance that I interpret. That may sound too artsy fartsy, but my decorating is just an interpretation of the impression a book or movie has left upon me. For instance, the opening credits show a clip of women dancing around the stones with flowy gowns and lanterns in the moonlight. So, that image inspired my three tabletop lanterns. My lanterns are old pickle jars with cheesecloth that has been stiffened using fabric starch. And then some fairy lights from the Dollar Store finished the look. Decor doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. I like creating things that I imagine and if it doesn’t turn out, that’s OK too, I just love trying. The tablescape was very simple, I used a faux vine that I’ve had and embellished it with my dried-out hydrangeas from the yard. I grabbed some baby’s breath from Sam’s Club, dried it, and added it in there too. My stepdad gave me several antlers from his hunting days, so I added those into my centerpiece as well. Overhead, I attached a wooden ladder to the chandelier and then I cut some branches from outside and attached them to the ladder using zip ties. The branches alone weren’t quite enough, so I tied on some more dried out hydrangeas to the branch. My wooden chairs from IKEA are bright white so I covered the tops with a plaid blanket scarf. My decor was actually quite minimal, but I used what I had to try to tie it all together.

Best Outlander Tea Party Ideas – The tablescape

As I mentioned, the tablescape centerpiece came together fast and easily, but each place setting took some thought and special planning. I like to have something be the attention-getter at a table, and I think the place settings were it for this design. Each place setting had a stainless-steel tray with a layer of faux moss inside. Then I placed a soup bowl with handles and a saucer on top with a napkin. This configuration kept the beef stew hot, and the plate also held the cheddar biscuit. I probably enjoy presentation more than anything else. I do love using chargers and having place settings with layers, but while the Outlander story has enough scenes of fancy dinners and dining, they’re not what I think about when I consider the story. I wanted to keep it more rustic, simple, and every day-style but with a flourish. The cloth napkin was cinched together using a kilt pin and embellished with a faux thistle and a pheasant feather. I think the copper mugs added a pop of color as well as adding to that rustic appeal. The tablescape for this party was so much fun to design and I felt like it was a unique interpretation for the story.

Best Outlander Tea Party Ideas – The menu

I know some of you have been waiting to learn more about the menu for this party, so here it goes. Whenever I select a menu for a party, I try to stay on-theme or as close to as possible. And unfortunately, I didn’t find any Scottish dishes that made my mouth water or that looked easy enough for me to make. So, I once again interpreted what food I thought could work and now that we’re getting some fall breezes, beef stew sounded good too. However, the recipe I tested was just average to me, nothing special or really befitting of a party. And lucky for me, TheMenuMaid.com had just emailed a new recipe that caught my eye, and I knew would be delicious and do the trick. This lunch was the easiest out of all of my parties so far, but the dessert was quite time consuming. So, for me, it evened out and I wasn’t stressed the morning of the party because of just how easy the food prep was that day. I made the dessert the day before, so the extra time didn’t matter. For lunch, I served pot roast with mushroom gravy. Once prepped, this roast and gravy come to life in a Dutch oven for the next 3-4 hours making this easy like any slow cooker recipe. I just steamed a bag of peas in the microwave and called the main dish done! I also cheated on the cheddar biscuits by using the Red Lobster boxed biscuit mix. They mix up in minutes and then bake for about 14 minutes – too easy and delicious when served warm. I mixed up some mocktails for the copper mugs using Martinelli’s Cider and white grape juice with a pear and rosemary garnish to drink. This lunch was so good, and it felt like a simple meal they’d eat back in the time Outlander took place. The Scottish sticky toffee pudding by Christina’s Cucina, was extra special, so rich and unique, extra delicious with real whipped cream and served with hot tea. My family raved about this dessert so I’m sure I’ll be making this time-consuming one again.

Best Outlander Tea Party Ideas – The DIY craft

The DIY craft for this party was so easy, fun, and relaxing. Each guest had a skein of fluffy yarn to create a scarf or start a blanket. I found out their choice of yarn color ahead of time and then at the party, showed them step by step how to knit using just their hands. The first step is a simple slip knot and then you loop several hand stitches to create your first row. After that, it’s so easy and completely repetitive. You can listen to music or the TV, carry on a conversation, anything you want because multitasking is something you can do when hand-knitting. The final step to finish the last row in the scarf is a little different, but easy enough. And to tie off the loose ends, you just hand stitch with a needle and thread. I created a short and close-up video showing each step to hand knit. I think you will love how easy it is and with the holidays coming up, you may even consider making something like this for a loved one. My guests made beautiful scarves! I think hand-knitting is a great DIY craft to do in a group because it’s easy once you get started and a scarf can be completed in a short amount of time and with just the one skein of yarn. If you have hands, you can knit!

Best Outlander Tea Party Ideas – Hand knitting how-to video

Best Outlander Tea Party Ideas

On the day of the party, my favorite part is seeing my guests dressed up and looking the part of whatever period-tea party I’m throwing. It’s such a treat to see their costumes and interpretation of the time. One guest actually sewed her Outlander gown, and the details and workmanship were stunning. Man, I wish I could sew! And my other guest bought her gown, and it was equally fabulous and gorgeous. You would have thought they both rented their gowns from a renowned costume shop. I don’t even enjoy personally dressing up for Halloween, but I enjoy wearing something I wouldn’t normally wear and dressing up for a luncheon – it’s pretty special to have friends who will share this time with you. But even if you don’t take a tea party as far as costumes or dressing up, so much fun can still be had with fabulous friends, tasty food, and a fun activity. If you host an Outlander party, please tag me, I’d love to see pictures.

Best Outlander Tea Party Ideas – Shop this post

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Thank you so much for checking out this post and letting me share the details and highlights of my Outlander tea party. These times are so special to me and it’s fun to share what I love doing with others. Feel free to Pin any of the photos for future ideas or inspiration. I hope you have fun planning your new event!