I love tea parties.

In fact, I have 11 (and counting) themed cookbooks, and one of my absolute favorites is the Disney Princess Tea Parties cookbook!

So one day, it just popped into my head to host a travel themed tea party. So I did! Twice.

Actually, I’ve hosted several travel parties, so I am full of ideas, including reasons to hold said party (for the record, “just because” is reason enough!).

So look no further for your travel party ideas. I’ve got food, games, decorations, favors and more!

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What’s in this Article:

• Travel Party Ideas
• Travel Party Decorations
• Travel Party Food
• Travel Party Games
• Travel Party Favors

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Travel Themed Party Ideas

First and foremost, you need a reason to throw a travel themed party (or just because, like I said before!). And trust me, I’ve got tons of reasons. You can really throw it for any occasion, but here are some solid ideas to get you started:

• Travel themed graduation party (let the adventure begin!)
• Travel themed wedding shower
• Travel themed baby shower
• To celebrate an upcoming bucket list trip
• To share your photos from a recent trip
• Travel themed game night
• Travel themed birthday party
• International movie night
• Or just because your coworkers want to have a tea party!

Choose a Theme/Country

Once you have a reason to throw a party, you have to decide if it’s going to be focused specifically on one country, or just travel in general.

For example, I threw a British tea party when I came back from England, and had all my friends over to show them the photos I took and tell stories from my trip.

But I also threw an international themed game night to play Trekking the World with my board game loving friends, which featured food and drink from all over the world.

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Travel Party Decorations

Honestly, just go to Amazon and search up travel party decorations, and you’ll find so many great options! And they all seem affordable, too, until you start throwing things in your cart and realize you just dropped $100 on a game night…

For my party, I tried to use some decorations I already had around the house (like the little “explore” and “adventure” triangles I had from Dollar [and a quarter] Tree), and things we had at my church from our annual mission’s conference (another reason to throw a travel themed party!).

So I didn’t buy all the decorations I really wanted to, which I definitely would have used if I was throwing a baby shower or a bridal shower!

Decorations I Bought (or wanted to buy…):

• World map table cloth
• Awesome vintage travel suitcase to hold party favors! (I really wanted this, but I was practical, and borrowed the old “missionary suitcase” from church instead)
• “Let the Adventure Begin” banner
• Cute travel themed table toppers
• “Let the adventure begin” plates/napkins, or just these fun napkins, if you already have plates

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Travel Themed Party Food

This is my favorite part of throwing any party!!! I scoured my (2!) Middle Earth cookbooks a year ahead of time to plan the menu for our hobbit party. And I had so much fun planning menus for my travel tea parties (some of which included recipes from my hobbit cookbook!).

The most fun part (for me) is crafting a menu that fits well together. So I’m going to give you a bunch of food (and drink) ideas, but also include several different menus I’ve used from the multiple travel parties I’ve thrown.

Again, you have to decide if your theme is one specific country, like England, or an international theme.

Travel Party Food Ideas

The best place to start when planning your menu is to browse Pinterest. I have some great articles saved in my “Stay at Home” section, like this “best desserts from around the world,” and these “dips from around the world.”

You can find all sorts of free recipes online to make for your party, but I’m also a huge cookbook nerd, so I was excited to use some recipes from my themed cookbooks. My Disney Princess Tea Parties cookbook is a great resource, because there are super cute ideas, and since most Disney princesses are from around the world, you can find tea party recipes from Germany, France, the Middle East, and more!

I also used my Harry Potter cookbook and Hobbit cookbook for recipes from England. Or you can find lots of international cookbooks available on Amazon, like this “Around the World in 80 Recipes.”

Travel Party Menus I’ve Used

Here are the menus I’ve actually used, and where I got the recipes from.

• England Tea Party Menu
  • Scones (you can find a good scone recipe anywhere, but my favorite is the one from my Gilmore Girls cookbook)
  • Trifle (I used the recipe from my Harry Potter cookbook)
  • A “Mrs. Potts” tea pot fruit salad from (one of) my Disney cookbooks, because it’s so freakin’ cute!

• Travel Themed Game Night Menu
  • French provincial vegetable tarts from my Disney Princess cookbook
  • Chocolate brigadeiros from Brazil (suggestion from this international desserts article)
  • Swedish meatballs
  • Vegetable tray with hummus (from the Middle East)
  • International tea box
  • Horchata (cinnamon milk from Mexico–It tastes like your milk after you’ve had Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
• International Tea Party Menu
  • Strawberries and cream bread from England (my favorite recipe from my hobbit cookbook!)
  • Chocobananos from Mexico (suggestion from the desserts article)
  • Italian candies (these were given to me by one of the security guys at work, after I gave him the last cookie I had brought in for my coworkers. He was so excited to share these special candies from his childhood, and it was perfect timing for the international tea party I threw for my coworkers!)
  • Veggie tray and hummus (can’t go wrong with hummus. Unless you’re allergic to chickpeas. Which I am…)
  • Chips and salsa (love that Mexican food!)
  • International tea box
  • Pizza roses from my Disney Princess cookbook. Mostly because they’re cute. But also, um… Italian, I guess!

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Travel Themed Party Activities

There are lots of different activities you can do at a travel themed party. For my first party, I just shared photos and stories from my trip to England. And for my co-worker tea party… well we just ate food and talked about work!

But you can also throw a travel party around an activity, like a board game night or movie.

Travel Themed Games

We’ve done country themed game nights for these fun “escape room in a box” type games from Finder’s Seekers. They’re really fun, and perfect for throwing a travel party! We’ve done a bunch, like the ones from Scotland, Iceland and the US National Parks. And they always come with a keepsake. My favorite was the Scotland one (which is also my favorite country I’ve visited!).

You’ll have to pay attention to what’s available, as they only offer certain countries at a time, and they can sell out quickly (like the New Zealand one!).

The other travel board game we played was Trekking the World (the sequel game to Trekking the National Parks). It’s very easy to play, but what I think is the real selling point of these games is the artwork and fun facts about all the tourist destinations around the world.

Plus, it’s also fun to see (and compare!) how many places on the board you’ve been.

• Good to Know: Both of the “Trekking” board games usually go on sale during Amazon Prime Days.

Travel Movie Ideas

Another thing you could do at your travel party is to watch a movie set in an international destination. Then you can theme your party around that destination.

There are plenty of movies to choose from, but here are just a couple of ideas:

• The Tourist
• Up
• Lost in Translation
• A Tourist’s Guide to Love
• Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father

There are literally so many other movies you could choose. Honestly, you could use pretty much anything as inspiration for a party. But for a few more ideas, here is a good list of the best travel movies to watch. Or check out my destination specific read/watch lists.

• Bonus: If you really love travel themed stories, check out my list of the best travel books to read.

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Travel Themed Party Favors

No party is complete without favors (especially because these are also part of the decorations and menu)!

For my travel party favors, I bought little cardboard suitcases to fill with goodies. Since mine was tea party themed, I put one of the international tea bags in as a favor, which worked perfectly!

I also got these amazing vintage travel themed stickers, which everyone loved. You get tons of stickers, so… you gonna have stickers for days! I also sprinkled them out around the table as decoration, which was great until we started playing a board game and got them confused with the game pieces…

I also wanted to get these cute adventure stickers and put them on Hershey kisses, but I decided to save money and just stick with the tea and stickers.

Then, to display them, I put the little suitcases in an old vintage suitcase that we had at church. I wanted to get this amazing suitcase, but again, I decided to save money and just go with the one I already had access to (but just think how good that vintage suitcase would look as decoration!!).

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Now you have all the ideas you need to throw an epic travel themed party! If you have other suggestions from your own party planning adventures, please be sure to share them in the comments below!

Planning a travel themed party?

Save one of the pins below for future party planning:

You might also like:

• How to Throw a Hobbit Party
• The First Timer’s Guide to London
• How to Plan a Trip Overseas
• Gilmore Girls Gift Ideas
• Travel Destinations

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