How to Host a Downton Abbey Winter Tea Party

Host your own Downton Abbey inspired winter tea party complete with beautiful decor, delicious treats, games, and 1920’s style headbands. A big thanks to World Market for sponsoring this post! This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. See my full disclosure policy here.

I have watched Downton Abbey from the very beginning, and we are just weeks away from the American premiere of the final season (can’t believe it!), so it was the perfect time to celebrate with a Downton Abbey Tea Party! World Market loves Downton Abbey just as much as I do, and they have a whole collection of great Downton Abbey products for you to recreate your own tea party or to buy as Gifts for Tea Lovers in your life.

This is my second year hosting a Downton Abbey tea party (check out last year’s party here), but this year I opted for a Mommy and me afternoon tea. Most of my friends have small kids and it can be hard to find child care, so I just decided to invite my friend’s children too and make it fun for everyone. It was kind of perfect. After we were done with the planned activities, the kids played in the backyard while the Moms chatted and munched on macarons. What a great way to spend an afternoon!

I prepped for the party by setting a fancy table, which is so much fun and something I don’t do often enough. I started with a black tablecloth, and cut a rectangle of kraft wrapping paper to ground the centerpiece. Next, I placed some super cool LED Lighted Gold Branches that I picked up at World Market on top (I don’t see them on the web site, but I got them in the store and they are great!). I stuck some fresh pine branches into the gold branches for a touch of greenery and that lovely pine scent.

I also made some simple floral arrangements using white hydrangeas, tuberoses, and pine branches and wrapped the vases in some art deco style glitter paper for that 1920s vibe. I added Jade Colored Glass Pedestal Stands, a Downton Abbey Two-Tiered Stand, and Downton Abbey Tea Pot to the table.

Each place was set with my grandmother’s china, a green napkin, a Downton Abbey mug, and a mini World Market holiday cracker – my favorite holiday tradition from my time in England.

As the guests arrived, we started off by getting everyone dressed in 1920’s style headbands. (P.S. Have I mentioned how much I’m looking forward to Lady Mary’s Season 6 fashion? It’s going to be so good!) Anyway, World Market is seriously the best place to get affordable, gorgeous beaded headbands. I stocked up on Black Friday so I had a nice selection available for my guests to choose from.

Aren’t they just gorgeous?! (Psst – A bunch of these beauties are on sale right now! Some of my favorites are the Gold and Silver Leaves Rhinestone Headband, Blush Rhinestone Beaded Headband, Mint and Gray Beaded Headband, Peacock Blue Beaded Headband)

Honestly, these headbands are pretty enough they can just be worn on their own, but I decided it would be fun to start our party off with a small craft and personalize the headbands with a little extra flair. I stocked a table with headbands, World Market glitter ribbons, feather clips, alligator clips, rhinestones, feathers, felt, and sequins – everything you need for some flapper girl style.

We made feathered, ribboned, and bejeweled clips that could be attached to the headbands without being a permanent addition (I thought my guests might like to wear their headbands sans feathers in the future). All you need to do to make your own clips is just hot glue feathers, bling, and ribbons onto pieces of felt and then attach the embellishments to clips. Easy Peasy.

The kids went a little crazy with their headbands (think giant blue ostrich feathers), but it was a lot of fun.

Once everyone was all fancied up, we sat down to tea. Republic of Tea has a line of Downton Abbey Tea available at World Market. You guys, that English Rose Tea is amazing – a beautiful caffeine-free herbal tea with raspberry and rose flavors – so yummy!

I also got some delicious Dark Chocolate Cocoa Mix and Holiday Flavored Syrups for the kids who weren’t quite as excited for the tea. I also made some Downton Abbey English Scones that I served with the food of the gods, aka Downton Abbey Lemon Curd.

We also had some cucumber sandwiches, french macarons, and Downton Abbey Shortbread. It was all so, so good! While we enjoyed our tea, we also played a fun little gift passing game.

I used Play Party Pin’s fun pass the present game as my inspiration and used her clues with just a couple adjustments. Here’s how it works: you take up a small gift (I used a $10 World Market gift card) and wrap it up in layers of wrapping paper (I used the Downton Abbey Wrapping Paper, of course! Ha!). On the outside of each layer of wrapping paper is a couplet with instructions for passing the gift to someone else (the person to your left, someone wearing blue, etc.). The person to unwrap the last layer of paper gets to keep the gift!

The kids loved this game and were all campaigning for the gift to be passed to them next. It was the perfect little game to do around the table while enjoying our tea and hot cocoa.

It was such a fun little tea party! I’m so thankful to my friends for coming and to World Market for so many great Downton goodies. Want to win some of your own Downton Abbey goodies? Well, good news! There are a couple of great contests going on right now.

First off, the amazing Downton Abbey Sweepstakes. You could win this amazing grand prize package: Trip for 2 to London, England (airfare & accommodations), Private Chauffeured Tour (filming locations & Highclere Castle), Downton Abbey Script (signed by the full cast) and a $1,000 World Market gift card. WHAT?! Right? So amazing. Plus, three first prize winners will get a $500 World Market gift card. Hurry over to enter right HERE.

And finally, you can enter to win this great Downton Abbey Prize Pack:

The prize includes a Downton Abbey Teapot, Downton Abbey Teacups and Saucers (set of 4), Downton Abbey Plates (set of 4), Downton Abbey 2-tier serving Stand, Walkers Luxury Assorted Shortbread Tin (21oz), Republic of Tea Downton Abbey “Downton Estate Blend” Tea Tin, Downton Abbey Napkins, Notecards, Mrs. Patmore DA Apron, and a Downton Abbey Tea Towel! Basically, you will be all set to host your own amazing Downton Abbey Tea Party!

Enter in the Rafflecopter below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Holidays!