The kids on Islandshire are what the world would call “super-Royalists”. While they never need an excuse to “bring out the food”, the special theme of this party brought out the creativity in everyone. Bunty and her friends used only their best and most-trusted recipes for the party fare. After all, everything had to be fit for a queen! So, “thank you, ma’am” for making this possible. And God save the Queen!
Click here to see the official “Islandshire Platinum Jubilee Street Party” photo story.
Just like we did with the Storefronts, we’re going to take you on a walk-through, for a closer look at the desserts and snacks enjoyed at our celebration.
We started with two American Girl Teatime Tables pushed together under a satin tablecloth cut from an old dress. Purple, after all, is the royal color. Bunty and Eliot looked through their old trunks but couldn’t find the ermine. Satin’s easier to clean, anyway. So, on with the show. And, in the familiar words of Nanea, “FREE LOOKS!”
This eight-slice lemon tart (an unbranded eBay find) is one of our favorite food pieces (and we own a lot of food for our 18″ dolls). We’ve never been able to identify its maker, but you’ll find it now on eBay as dangling earrings. The metal server is from the AG pie set, and the “cake dish” is a vintage glass candlestick from Bunty’s hutch.
The eye-catching piece on the table is the award-winning “Jubilee Trifle”. The UK ran a “Platinum Pudding Competition“, which launched last year, and the winner (chosen in May 2022) was a 31yo Southport (England) woman who called her creation “Lemon Swiss Roll & Amaretti Trifle“. (If you click on the name we just gave you, it’ll take you to the original recipe.) Our version is totally indigestible but much better for your teeth. We started with the “cookie jar” from the AG Truly Me Fun & Games Sleepover set. Next, we printed a replica of the winner’s dessert photo, large enough to wrap around the inside of the footed “jar”. To keep it fitting snugly, we stuffed the inside of that jar with as much Crayola Model Magic as we could cram in. While still wet, we inserted the paper “white chocolate bark with candied-orange” pieces into the Model Magic and let it dry for a couple of days out of the reach of our cats. If you’d like instructions or printables to make one of your own, just let us know.
This is our version of a good friend’s creation called “Cloud Nine Marshmallows” (click on the name to go to her website). Eliot insisted on these being included in the Street Party, even though his sister refused to include his favorite “Double Raspberry” flavour. Eliot didn’t understand the idea of color-coordinating your food, but he’s always a kind brother so settled for the pastels seen here. When asked if they were as good as the Double Raspberries, he diplomatically declined to answer and walked away with that private smile on his face that always leaves you guessing. In reality, our “Turkish Delights” (as we usually call the little sugary cubes) were another unbranded eBay find listed as “faux resin candy”. The “mallows” are sitting in an antique, handpainted nut dish from days of yore. (The old “nut dishes” are a perfect size for serving dishes for 18″ dolls.)
Okay, so how many close-up photos of one dessert can you take? You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I just couldn’t stop taking pictures of it. It was soooooo cute! Anyway, we couldn’t decide whether to make AG’s Maryellen’s Refrigerator Jello piece a Traditional English Plum Pudding or a Jubilee Jelly. You’ll notice we didn’t make a name card for it, so you decide for yourself. Whatever you call it, it was a jaw-dropping bit of Jubilee fun on the table. Again, an AG pie server sits under the Jello, and they’re both sitting on a plate from Blaire’s Farm Restaurant (American Girl).
Here we have Sophia’s little chocolate desserts, packaged in some little Fortnum & Mason “boxes” that we designed and printed on cardstock.
Here you see another of our antique nut dishes holding an assortment of resin “candy” pieces that we bought on eBay. Didn’t realize we had so many purple options, actually. It was fun digging through the candy drawers for them.
Okay, so my sister and I voted this one of our favorite Jubilee foods of the day. The little candy cones are part of the Jubilee printables that we posted earlier this week. We stuffed them with red, white and blue wool roving (what else?) to look like Cotton Candy. Extremely cute in the dolls’ hands! They’re sitting a mixing bowl from one of the AG kitchens which we filled with purple (very royal) gem scatter.
A third nut dish holds two of our favorite cookies: the Irish clovers from the AG Ireland Travel Accessories and an unbranded eBay find that we use as British Digestive Biscuits.
You oldtimers will recognize the doughnut tray from American Girl’s 2007-9 Sweet Treats Bakery Case, but they may seem new to the many latecomers to the 18″ doll world. The doughnuts are attached to the tray, but they’re absolutely adorable and work well in lots of set-ups. And, notice, they actually feature one with purple icing!
These unbranded “scones” are one of the I’d-grab-them-if-the-house-caught-on-fire doll foods in our house. They’re used a lot and still never lose their ability to delight. The grape jelly came in American Girl’s 2016-18 Pop-up Camper. It was amazing how much purple food we found in the dolls’ pantry!
The Guardsmen centerpiece and cupcake wrappers are part of the Free Jubilee Printables that we posted this week. The AG cupcake stand (from the 2016-18 Williams-Sonoma Cupcake Set) holds four of Sophia’s cupcakes (found in a number of their dessert sets in various colors).
I’ve saved everyone’s favourite for last. The two-tier dessert dish is from AG’s Teatime Table set. The macarons are an unbranded eBay find. We have them in lots of colors, but imagine having purple ones when you need them. Now, LOOK AT THAT BOTTOM PLATE! They’re CROWNIES! Have you ever seen anything so cute?! Ever?! Crownies! Get it? Not BROWNIES, but CROWNIES! Actually, I wish we could take credit for the idea but we found them listed on a delightful website belonging to a small London firm called The Hummingbird Bakery. (If you have the time, take a quick trip through the website. The ingredients in their basic recipes are as “clean” as any organic home kitchen, but the idea of Americans having any desserts that look like that is . . . well . . . takes a bit of imagination. Probably no different than us thinking we’re making authentic scones or plum puddings, though. Hats off to anyone who can make a living with food that contains nothing but real, digestible, healthy ingredients. They sure couldn’t make a go of things here in America.) As for our Crownies on Islandshire, we printed/laminated the crowns on paper and used mounting putty/tacky to stick them on. (Not as healthy or digestible as the original recipe, but it keeps the dolls a lot cleaner.) We’ve decided to store them like that, so that we can use them either as Crownies or plain brownies. Mostly because Silver has announced that she’s never going to eat plain brownies again. Janie probably won’t care what’s glued onto them . . .
What would a party be without popcorn? And served in Platinum Jubilee boxes! My goodness, what fun!
Next up is Grace’s Bakery Cart. Surely, one of the most versatile pieces of American Girl equipment ever made. Wasn’t it just several months ago that it served as a Gift Wrap cart? Well, here it’s loaded with drinks and more goodies.
Let’s take a closer look and see how much you recognize.
Those are unbranded sandwich halves. Truth be told, they’re much nicer than any sandwiches AG ever produced. The other pieces were sold by American Girl as Empanadas in Lea’s Picnic and other sets. Our Anglophile population on Islandshire believes them to be Cornish Pasties. (Do you want to tell Eliot they’re not?) So, Cornish Pasties they are. The petitfour cake is American Girl, what you got when you had a birthday party at an AG Bistro.
The stack of plates is from AG’s Blaire’s Restaurant and the Teatime Table set. The kitchen mixing bowl is filled with purple gem scatter (works great when ice is needed) and Ice Cream bars from the Our Generation Ice Cream Truck. Those are more of the aforementioned “scones”, and the purple cupcakes are another unbranded eBay find.
The flags, popcorn box, and napkin rings can be found in our Free Platinum Jubilee Printables file. The flags are sitting in a very old glass creamer, but the rest is American Girl plastic. The carafes and water goblets came in Blaire’s Collection. The iced tea was from the 2007-11 Sweet Treats set, the lemonade pitcher which has been released a number of times.
God save the Queen! And on with the Street Party!
Click here for a link to all the QEII Platinum Jubilee articles in the Islandshire Gazette.