Doctor Who New Years Party Ideas

December 25, 2020 4:43 PM

In honour of the upcoming Doctor Who New Year's special, we will be having a party at home. Guest list: just our household: 2 adults and our two ten year-olds. Can you help us brainstorm fun decorations / costumes / food that would make this a festive evening? Right now we are staring at a menu of jelly babies, fish fingers and custard, and I'd love something.. more appealing.

New Year's is usually a big deal for us. My parents fly out to come visit, and we have a theme party with both sets of grandparents.. This year we will be limited to having the grandparents on Zoom, which is fun but definitely not the same. I'd like to make this fun, after a pretty tough year.

We can order things from the grocery store, and we have some costume bits that we can scavenge. We are also open to craft projects!

posted by Valancy Rachel to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (13 answers total)

Best answer: If you can find a refrigerator box and make a TARDIS, that would be clutch!

I remembering Rose having a "Sorta beef" icy in one episode.
posted by chiefthe at 4:54 PM on December 25, 2020

Best answer: You could replicate a meal from any time in British history (or even the world) and be thematic. If you want to go for Jodie's seasons, Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi food, or early 60s US South, or WWII European.

For an easy sonic screwdriver cocktail, make a white lady and sub blue curacao for the Cointreau and skip the sugar syrup (so 1 1/2 oz gin, 1/2 oz lemon, 1/2 oz blue curacao, shake, pour, enjoy that blue color).

What a great question! Have a fun evening!
posted by JawnBigboote at 5:50 PM on December 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: If you google Dr Who Cassandra pizza, you’ll see some cool images that seem pretty doable.

(I love this question, but I’m a latecomer and I’ve only watched two seasons.)
posted by FencingGal at 7:03 PM on December 25, 2020

Best answer: Party games? Pin the plunger on the Dalek.
posted by betweenthebars at 7:14 PM on December 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you want the "fish fingers and custard" to be slightly more palatable, consider this Alton Brown-purloined recipe for fish fingers and savory custard (TARDIS sauce).

Bowtie pasta with just about anything (I've got the palate of your 10-year-olds, so noodles and butter works for me, but noodles with cut up veggies in a vinaigrette, or in whatever sauce you like should work). 'Cos bowties are cool.

Bananas.

Soufflé in honor of Soufflé Girl. My mom makes an awesome mock cheese soufflé using crusts-removed day-old bread cubes. I don't have the recipe handy, but I'm seeing quite a few online recipes. (Here's another.) It's nowhere near as fiddly as a real soufflé, so the kids can still jump around the house, and it reheats pretty nicely.

My friend tried to make this vegetable dalek, but didn't have enough variety, so her kids would only eat the carrots. But I think you could mix-and-match.

This Dalek caprese salad is something your kids could be in charge of putting together once you cut up the ingredients. I think they're adorable, and if the kids don't like tomatoes, they can still eat the cheese.

I've seen quite a few marshmallow desserts for Adipose -- attach mini-ones as arms and legs to regular-sized marshmallows and use food coloring for faces. Or make Victorian-era snowmen out of giant, normal, and mini-sized marshmallows.

I don't know anything about alcohol, but for the grownups, there's a whole website for Doctor Who Cocktails. (Oh, they have mocktails for the kids!)

Have the kids seen the original series as well? Like, would one wear celery (real or construction paper)? Can they each make a fez?

For decorations, can you/they cut out lots of plate-sized circles and stick them up on the walls so it feels like the inside of the TARDIS?

If you've got a family/toy chalkboard, you could put a mysterious message on it, à la Twelve.

Could the kids be in charge of creating a miniature TARDIS console with toilet paper and paper towel rolls, margarine tubs or discardable Tupperware, old toys that make noise, etc?

I bet you could find a bunch of DW trivia questions online, type them up, and cut them into strips and put them in a fez, a cowboy hat, or something similar and draw out questions. (Make up your own rules; the Doctor does!)

Do your kids know Doctor Who music? Last year, my sister got me one of the Chameleon Circuit albums, which has a bunch of Doctor Who-themed songs. (The album is on Spotify; I'm no longer seeing it on Amazon.) And you can go old-school, Dr. Demento-style, and play them Doctorin' the TARDIS. (There's a lot of Doctor Who music; it's quirky, but maybe you could have your kids make up their OWN song?)

Also, I really wish I could be at this party. ;-)
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 11:16 PM on December 25, 2020 [4 favorites]

Best answer: If you go with the current Sheffield setting for the doctor and companions then Yorkshire pudding would be an option to hold whatever, such as your fish fingers and custard. Make it in something like a cake pan and it should rise up around the edges and hold a sauce - it's a common pub food trick. (My father swears he used to eat Yorkies and jam as a kid, and given it's basically crepe batter it should go with either sweet or savoury.)
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 12:02 AM on December 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I don't know how to fit it into a children's party non-murderously but this is my favorite Doctor Who quote about parties:

There's nothing better than a party that turns into a death trap.

—Russell T Davies, Doctor Who writer and producer

posted by XMLicious at 4:09 AM on December 26, 2020

You can make more appealing fish fingers with suitably proportioned rectangles of a firm cake, dipped in an egg wash, rolled in panko crumbs then shallow fried until golden.

Devilled eggs. Cue endless "EGGS-TERM-INATE" eyerolling.

Bow tie pasta is cool.
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 4:36 AM on December 26, 2020 [3 favorites]

Tonic water glows under black light as do other food-safe additions. Or get cups that glow. Not Who-specific, but adds to the overall vibe.

Yorkshire puddings are a good idea, tasty and very British. If made with vegetable oil or shortening, you can call them popovers and serve them with something sweet, even just powdered sugar.

Fish sticks and mayo with some pickle juice whisked in instead of custard.

Jello. Make some stiff white, let it set, cut into lines and decorate a cake pan, pour in blue jello, set, cut into Tardis rectangles. More jello and some ice cube trays and/or a brain mold.
posted by theora55 at 5:46 AM on December 26, 2020

For past Doctor Who-related parties where it's been a challenge to come up with food that is actually substantial, I've seen rectangular-ish calzones/empanadas/pupusas (bigger on the inside) and also savory and/or sweet puff pastry TARDISes (cut in rectangles) which you could do as a build-your-own activity. Sugar cookies to decorate would also be an option.

Also if you're going to buy puff pastry you should make sausage rolls, just on principle.

And yes, deviled eggs...terminate!
posted by Lyn Never at 8:49 AM on December 26, 2020

You could replicate a meal from any time in British history (or even the world) and be thematic. If you want to go for Jodie's seasons, Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi food, or early 60s US South, or WWII European.

I was thinking of the stolen black-market dinner the Doctor crashed in “The Empty Child.”
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:57 AM on December 26, 2020

I made very convincing fish fingers and custard for a viewing party once: cut small cake rectangles, dip in symple syrup with a bit of lemon juice, coat with digestive biscuits crumbs and serve with custard from a box. Tasty!

(Actually, the guests needed convincing to eat them. They were convinced it was a gimmick and that they were actual fish fingers.)
posted by lioness at 12:27 AM on December 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Wow! Amazing answers. I hope I've convinced some Doctor Who fans to celebrate at home. We are doing some crafting, but decided to go with "food we actually love". Tomorrow we will have fish and chips with a choice of custard or tartar sauce.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 11:55 AM on December 31, 2020