How To Throw a Jane Austen Themed Birthday Party

How To Throw a Jane Austen Themed Birthday Party

Tips and Ideas For a Regency-Style Special Occasion

Dec 28, 2009 Laura Briggs


Jane Austen Birthday Party - personal photoEven without renting or making expensive costumes, it's still possible to throw a fun and creative Jane Austen and Regency themed birthday party.

Using basic supplies, one can easily put together a simple but fun occasion to please the Austen fan with a birthday. A little research on the internet will be necessary, as well as some light food preparation. The birthday girl and her guests are sure to appreciate the small but elegant gestures described below.

Make Special Party Invitations

Using a word program and card stock, create a stylish party invitation that guest’s will treasure for their scrapbooks. Look for a subtle paper color, such as cream or off white. Graceful, curvy fonts such as Edwardian and Blackadder would work well for the print.

Get creative and include an Austen quote at the bottom of the invitation. There are countless references to balls, dances, and parties in such books as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility,and Emma. Word searchable texts of Jane Austen's novels are available online.


Once again, use a word program and card stock to create some unique place cards. For a playful edge, consider using an Austen character’s name for the card, thus allowing guests to sit in their favorite heroine’s chair. It would be a nice touch to include a quote about the character beneath their name.

Play a Period Game

Jane Austen’s books are full of references to recreational activities, especially games. Some of the card games that come up again and again in her novels are:

Directions for most of these games can be found online. Devoted Austen fans will get a kick out of playing the same games that entertained such characters as Lizzie, Emma, and Elinor.

Read on

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Make Regency Era Cakes

Small, individual cake treats from the regency era include such things as rout cakes, queen tea cakes, and lemon cheesecakes. For a large cake, one might consider making a delicious plum cake. One can research recipes online or simply make a modern version from one’s own cookbook collection. And, of course, there are also many Regency and Jane Austen themed cookbooks available in book stores and online.

Serve a Period Snack

It would be a wonderful touch to serve tea with the regency cake. But of course, not everyone has a proper tea set on hand for such an occasion. Still, one can always make period snacks to lend an Austen feel to the food arrangement.

Tea sandwiches and scones are two appropriate but simple recipes easily found online. Also, treats mentioned as a special delicacy in Austen’s Sense and Sensibility include olives, dried cherries, and sweet meats (sugar plums).

Play a Trivia Game or Quiz

Austen fans will enjoy showing off their knowledge and matching wits. Quizzes can be found online or simply made from scratch. Activities such as quote identification should prove both challenging and fun.

Finish the Evening With a Film Adaptation

There are many wonderfully made film adaptations of Austen’s novels. The Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice, though extremely accurate and well done, is much too long, clocking in at nearly six hours.


Much shorter but very enjoyable are Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, Roger Michell’s Persuasion, and both the Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale versions of Emma.

Recommended Reading

•Tea With Jane Austen by Kim Wilson, 2004.

•The Jane Austen Cookbook by Maggie Black, 2002.