Christmas Parties Recipes Food Cooking International Guide
Christmas Parties With A Victorian Theme
By Katerina Octanova
When you are celebrating Christmas with your family and friends,
you should know that the Victorians are the people to thank for
many of the joyful festivities and customs we follow. They were
the first to promote the idea of gift giving and charity to the
poor, as being important parts of the holiday.
If you are in need of a Christmas party theme, then perhaps you
should step back in time and have one of the Victorian style Christmas
parties. Theirs was a family celebration with the primary focus
being on the children and Christ. They were the originators of
attending a church service, having a big family dinner and visiting
with friends.
Lavish Christmas Decorations With Garlands Of Cranberries
For Victorian decorating holiday ideas, review your options and
consider using plenty of cedar, greenery, ivy, berries and mistletoe,
etc.
The Victorian parlor basically equates to our modern living or
family rooms and they were always lavishly decorated with garlands
of cranberries and popcorn, paper chains, lace and glass ornaments,
angels and snowflakes.
Coloured Candles At Different Heights
Their Christmas party themes continued with decorating the fireplace
mantel with different types of fruit gathered together in clusters,
along with different colored pillar candles arranged at varying
heights.
You could use more greenery and small white lights concentrated
mostly around the candles to give a soft glow. Most of the Victorian
homes included staircases and of course, their Christmas parties
included wrapping garland around the staircase along with burgundy
ribbon and bows.
Gold Spray Paint On Decorations
The Victorian women loved the gilded look so you might want to
get some gold spray paint and paint some pine cones, nuts, leaves
and even some ornaments in order to keep with their Christmas
party theme. They used lots of burgundy ribbon to make big bows
for the tree and other locations, such as mirrors.
The Victorian look can not be overdone. If you need a Christmas
party game from the Victorian era, then you should know that they
loved parlor games, such as blowing a ball of wool on a table;
the object being to keep the ball from falling off the table near
you, and the longer the game goes the more comical it gets, which
they truly loved.
Crackers And Cheese
What fun would Christmas theme parties be without having an authentic
dinner to go with it? The menus would normally include something
like crackers and cheese or a Parisian salad to start the meal.
The meats would normally be venison, roasted goose, turkey or
pheasant served with oyster loaves, mince meat pies and potatoes.
Other vegetables would include peas and carrots with small pearl
onions mixed in.
Wine With Dinner And Plum Pudding For Dessert
All Victorian Christmas parties would include mulled wine with
the dinner and for desert there would be plum and rice pudding,
lots of fresh fruit and cheese, as well as their version of a
Christmas cake.
There would be after dinner drinks and a favorite among the ladies
was the ginger cordial, which required brandy, currents, ginger,
lemons and bitter almonds.
Stir All The Ingredients
These ingredients would be stirred all together and then left
to stand for a few days, after which time the mixture would be
strained through a jelly bag; sugar would be added, stirred again
and then served.
The ladies considered it quite a "dangerous" drink.
About the Author:
Katerina Octanova has written a number of articles on Christmas ideas, food and
cooking including
Christmas Gift Baskets,
Christmas,
Santa Claus,
Christmas Hamper,
Christmas Party,
Christmas Gift For Family.
Keep a lookout for more of her articles on this website.
Did You Know?
Can I have "theme" Christmas parties?
Theme Christmas parties can be extremely
fun. You may have Christmas party ideas that center on the whole
Santa Clause theme. You can invite people to dress up as elves
or as reindeer. Pick one person to play the part of Santa.
Another great idea for your Christmas party
may be to have a formal party where everyone dresses formally.
You can even call it a Winter Ball. People will love the chance
to dress up and be in a festive atmosphere.
The real truth is that you can make any
theme you wish. Just make sure that if you are having a theme
party to let people know well in advance so they can prepare their
outfits accordingly.
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