So you are throwing an Outlander Party. You want to party like it's 1743! Here are a few ideas to make your night THE night of 200 years:
- Whisky. No Outlander night would be right without some whisky. It is drunk in copious amounts as well as being used as a wound cleanser. You could take it up a level and do a whisky tasting. There are many sites that help you nose the flavours in Scottish whisky, these will help you educate your guests as to what they are drinking. Get a whisky from each of the 4 main areas of whisky making: Lowland, Highland, Speyside, Islay. Taste one whisky from each area as this will help you understand the different characteristics each area has to offer. To really make it fun and interesting why not buy some Outlander shot glasses? There are sets of 4 available, each one has a different Outlander character on it; Claire, Jamie, Black Jack and Dougal. You could put a whisky from each area in each shot glass and taste Jamie!
- Whisky Cocktails. If straight whisky isn't your thing why not try making some whisky cocktails? Another Jamie, Jamie Oliver, has some good ideas for Rob Roy and Whisky Sour. For another easy cocktail try a Rusty Nail
- Wine. A lot of wine is drunk in the Series, mostly red. Try finding traditionally shaped Jacobite wine glasses (as seen in the picture), they will give your table that authentic touch. Alternatively, any old vintage glassware will work. To make it as authentic as possible the French Court of Louis XV would have been drinking Bordeaux (reds) and Burgundy (whites) and going crazy over the Hungarian dessert wine, Tokaji, which is still sought after and expensive to this day.
- Water. Water in bottles labelled from Abbey St Anne de Beaupre adds another Outlander touch to your party.
Your Outlander guests will love seeing Claire's herbal remedies scattered throughout your drinks cabinets. Click here for label ideas
Food Ideas: Click on each idea for recipe
- Oatcakes and Cheese Cheese is eaten a lot in the TV series. If you can, use Scottish cheeses, mostly cheddar with varying flavours e.g. chilli cheese, whisky flavoured cheese and just plain cheddar. In Scotland it is traditional to not use crackers but instead oatcakes. These are crackers made from oats. Both will give your guests a true flavour of a Scotland larder.
- Cupcakes iced in Tartan Design Make or buy your cupcakes then using different coloured icing create the tartan design topping.
- Smoked Salmon on Brown Bread Easy to prepare and if you can get Scottish Smoked Salmon, it will keep your Scottish theme.
- Haggis Balls. Scottish chef, Nick Nairn has a nice recipe for bite sized Haggis balls. Here is a link to his recipe.
- Shortbread, or you get very fancy and make Lavender Shortbread
- Anything with Aberdeen Angus beef e.g. Beef Steak Pie
- Haggis Pizza. Simply choose any pizza you prefer then add scatter small pieces of haggis on the top before cooking. It gives pizza that little Scottish touch.
Finger food is the order of your party. Rarely did any character in Outlander eat with cutlery.
Decoration Ideas:
Make your own standing stones centrepiece using Styrofoam, moss and rocks.
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| Standing Stone centrepiece made from Styrofoam, moss and rocks. Pic on Pinterest. |
For free food and drink labels check out professionalfangirls.com . There you will also find downloadable invitations, wanted posters of Claire and Jamie, straw tags, circle tags for cupcake toppers. Let's face it, if it's not free, it's not Scottish!
For authentic signs, try staining paper with tea or coffee, YouTube video.
Suggested signage:
- Lallybroch
- Castle Leoch
- Fort William
- Inverness
- Edinburgh
- Culloden
- Laudanum
- Essence of Lavender
Use a stylised font to make them look old. There are many to choose from in Google fonts. I like IM Fell English SC
Check out this Pinterest page for ideas and linksGames Ideas:
- Make up an Outlander Quiz to test your guests' knowledge of the TV Series or books. Here is one. There are also a number of Outlander quizzes online you can try.
- Fancy Dress Competition Dress like one of the characters.
- What's in Jamie's sporran? A guessing game where guests are told how many items are in Jamie's sporran and they have to guess what they could be. It could be actual items you have seen Jamie pull from his sporran or something Scottish, it is up to you, let your imagination run wild!
- Make your own Lavender Oil. YouTube has many video's which will give you the recipe. This is the easiest I have found
- Scottish Blethers. Write Gaelic words or phrases each on a separate piece of paper, hold one up at a time and your guests have to write their meaning down. The one with the highest score wins. Diana Gabaldon's website has some Gaelic phrases with translations. You can take it to the next level and have a go at pronouncing the Gaelic, always brings a laugh to the night.
- Whose Line is it? Write lines from the TV series on a piece of paper, fold them up and put them in to a bowl. Guests take turns pulling one piece of paper, read the line out loud, then guess who said it and where in the storyline it came in Outlander series.
- Dress a Highlander. Women dress the men in a traditional kilt. Needed a piece of cloth 9mx3m. After a quick demonstration each person could have a try. Make it a timed game when the fastest wins, or a nearest to the real thing is the winner. YouTube Demonstration here (forward to 3.00 minutes in to it to bypass the chatter)
- Pass the parcel. Wrap your gift e.g. tablet (a Scottish sweet/candy) wrapped in layers of bandages as a homage to Claire's healing skills
For ideas for gifts/prizes for your guests: https://www.popmarket.com/collections/outlander?page=1
Now you are ready to host your Outlander party, have fun Sassenachs :)