How to Host the Ultimate Gilmore Girls Fall Party

“Everything in my life has something to do with coffee. I believe in a former life, I was coffee.” -Lorelai Gilmore. I’m slightly obsessed with Gilmore Girls (well, coffee, too). It is my all-time favorite show and every year in September, I rewatch it. This is year nine. I can’t believe I’ve been watching this show for almost a decade. It’s had such an incredible impact on me throughout the years and it never gets old. Restarting it feels like meeting up with an old friend. I laugh and cry at the same scenes, get mad at the same bad decisions Lorelai makes, and cry like a baby when Rory graduates from Chilton. Since we moved to Colorado a few months ago, I’ve made some great new friendships. I figured with fall approaching, it was a great time to get some of us together and have the ultimate Gilmore Girls fall party.

Last year, I hosted a Fall Dinner Party and had a blast not only hosting, but also planning for it. This year, I wanted to do something similar but wanted to honor both the beautiful fall season and my favorite show. I can’t wait to show you how all of my plans came together and show you the fun we had!

The concept

As I met friends after moving to Colorado, I discovered many of them like Gilmore Girls as much as I do. I start throwing around the notion of having a watch party, and finally decided to put together an official party to welcome my favorite season while also celebrating the colorful characters from Stars Hollow. I’ve been a fan of the show for so long, so throwing a Gilmore Girls fall party was a must at some point. This just happened to be the year! I decided there would need to be Gilmore Girls-inspired food, entertainment, music, and experiences.

Invitations

Before I even put together any ideas for the party, I created the invitations. I sometimes like to source ideas from other creators, but I take pride in creating my own designs in Canva. I wanted to make my guests feel like they’d be entering the world of Stars Hollow for my Gilmore Girls fall party, so I started with the gazebo and built out from there. As you can see, I made sure to include some favorite elements from the show, such as books, coffee, donuts, daisies, and fall foliage and elements. The best part about this invitation is you can purchase the template for it if you want to have your own Gilmore Girls fall party!

The set-up

Decorations

One of the most important elements of my party was good décor. I wanted to transport my guests to the world of Gilmore Girls as best as possible within my limited resources. For my Gilmore Girls fall party, I used areas within my house to create a few different “locations” from the show. I focused on the Dragonfly Inn, the Read, Black, & White Bookstore, the Yale Daily News, Rory’s bedroom, and of course, Luke’s Diner. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on decorations, so I knew I’d need to get creative with the supplies and materials. In total, I think spent less than $50 on decorations.

Supplies & Found items

Entrance & Dragonfly Inn

The first area guests came across was “The Dragonfly.” If you’re familiar with the show, Lorelai and Sookie buy the Dragonfly Inn and renovate it. It’s stunning and elegant and I wanted a nod to that. I also purchased this poster and this one for my Gilmore Girls fall party and hung them in my entryway. The only items I purchased were the picture frame and guest book (note that items in the links are slightly different from the ones I purchased). I found a logo for the Dragonfly and just printed that out. The rest of the items were already in my house. Don’t you just love the beautiful tea set?! It’s actually a mix of two different sets and I’ve had them for years – they’re both family heirlooms.

Black, White, & Read Bookstore

What would a Gilmore Girls fall party be without the Black, White, & Read bookstore! I wanted a cute way to introduce our “showtime” for the evening, so I found a similar hand-crafted design and decided to make a design in Canva. I plan to create a template that you can purchase in Etsy, so stay tuned! It’ll also be part of my Gilmore Girls Party Pack as well.

Rory’s Room

I loved the idea of including Rory’s room in my Gilmore Girls fall party décor and I have the perfect space in my house to do it. We have a little book nook/library in our living room area so I started there.

Obviously, books need to make an appearance and I have plenty of them. I used this list from The Candid Cover and pulled out all the books on the list that I have, then placed them on top of my bookshelf. I printed out pictures of Charlotte Bronte and Dorothy Parker, both of whom Rory had posters in her bedroom. And of course, I needed a Yale pennant, but buying one was too expensive, so I decided to make my own. I picked up a cheap piece of dark blue felt and got some adhesive letters. After placing the letters to fit, I cut the felt into the shape of a pennant and then hung it on my wall. I thought the little space was such a nice nod to Rory’s room.

Yale Daily News

The Yale Daily News is probably my favorite space I created for my Gilmore Girls fall party. There were a few elements that I knew needed to be a part of it: A newspaper and a typewriter. I already had a typewriter (mine is a really cool vintage 1970s Smith Corona) and a newspaper was easy to procure. I also knew I wanted to have games and decided this would be the perfect spot to put them. Games were just two trivia quizzes that I created and you can purchase them in my Etsy shop. I had a quiz with trivia questions from the show and the other was a quiz where my guests picked the character who said different quotes from the show. I also had prizes for the winners which was a nice touch!

Luke’s Diner

The final area of my house I had for the party was Luke’s Diner. This is a must when throwing a Gilmore Girls fall party! My kitchen was the location for Luke’s Diner, which is a great location to put it since that’s where all the food is being served! I didn’t have to do too much decorating in this area because there was food all over the counters. Really, the most that I did was put up a few posters in my kitchen that I either printed or ordered. There were plenty of Gilmore Girls themed food and beverages, which we’ll get into next.

What is a Gilmore Girls fall party without pizza, tacos, Pop tarts, and coffee?! It’s not, in my opinion. It was a lot of fun to put together the menu for this party. As I like to joke, I can’t ever do anything normally, especially when it comes to feeding others. I only had two savory dishes and a few of my friends brought some other savory foods, which worked out great. There were plenty of sweet treats, and of course, candy.

Savory

The main event was a taco bar. I shared my love of tacos with Lorelai and Rory, so I had to include them. I kept it pretty simple because there was plenty of other food. Here’s what I included in my taco bar:

Soft corn tortillas
Hard shells
Flour tortillas
Refried beans
Ground beef
Shredded chicken
Sour cream
Cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Onion
Salsa
Taco sauce

I put most of the toppings in a taco serving platter, which was quite useful. We also put some of the shells in a taco shell holder which worked great. Consider using mini tongs for guests to get their toppings like cheese and lettuce.

The other savory food I provided was pizza rolls because you can’t have a Gilmore Girls fall party without some sort pizza. And they were delicious! I made homemade pizza dough using the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I also used her recipe for pizza rolls. One of my friends is a vegetarian so I made one batch with pepperoni and one without. I baked both of them in my cast iron skillets. They were so fluffy and baked to perfection. It was an easy dish that guests could eat as finger food and they tasted even better served with warm pizza sauce.

Some other savory recipes you could make for a Gilmore Girls fall party include:

Chinese takeout (homemade or purchased)
Burger sliders
Pizza, like, actual pizza
Mac n’ cheese (a.k.a. Pasta a la Sookie; hold the jalapeno-chipotle cream sauce, please)
Broccoli tarts

Sweets

As my friends know, I love to bake! In fact, I almost went to pastry school. Baked goods and sweet treats add such a fun element through Gilmore Girls and I wanted it to be a part of my Gilmore Girls fall party. I served homemade Pop tarts, rum balls, and pumpkin whoopie pies.

The basis of my Pop tarts recipe came from Boston Girl Bakes’ recipe, but I tweaked a few things, like making the size of the Pop tarts a little smaller. Overall, they were tasty, flaky, and comforting, exactly what you want when eating a Pop tart.

Rum balls are featured in the show and I knew they’d be an easy treat to include. I used this recipe from Alexandra’s Kitchen, and she’s not kidding when she says they’re boozy! I’d consider adding less rum next time, but overall they were a fun addition to my party menu.

While pumpkin whoopie pies aren’t in Gilmore Girls, I made these as a nod to my home state of Pennsylvania and because they are so yummy. If you’ve never had a pumpkin whoopie pie, they are like two little cakes with crème sandwiched between the two. Linda’s recipe on Amish Heritage isn’t exactly the recipe I used, but she was an Amish and the woman knows some great Amish cooking and baking!

Other dessert ideas you could try are:

Apple & Cherry Turnovers
Dessert Sushi
Homemade Edible Cooke Dough
Donuts
Jackson’s Blueberry Shortcake

Snacks

For snacks, I whipped up this easy caramel apple dip and served it with apple slices that I had cut ahead of time. Hint: To keep your apple slices from browning, mix a half teaspoon of salt to every cup of water and soak your apples in them for about ten minutes, then rinse them off. This tip truly works! Next to it, I served a big bowl of Halloween candy, which is very appropriate for a Gilmore Girls fall party.

The other treat I offered was a popcorn bar and my guests loved it! It was the perfect thing to serve while we watched the show. I made the adorable sign in Canva (it’ll be for purchase once I link it) and had it printed out. I grabbed a big tub for the popcorn and provided my guests with boxes to put their treats in.

My popcorn bar featured:

Regular popcorn
Kettle corn style popcorn
Butter spray
A variety of seasonings to add
Reese’s Pieces
Milk Duds
Lifesaver Gummies
M&Ms
And of course…Red Vines! You can’t forget the Red Vines

Drinks

A Gilmore Girls fall party is not complete until you put drinks on the menu. I opted for water and mini cans of soda so guests had a variety of options. The highlights of my drink selections though, were the coffee bar and Founder’s Day Punch. I used the Founder’s Day Punch recipe from the Official Gilmore Girls Cookbook. I created a sign to go with it (you’ll be able to purchase it once I have it linked to my Etsy shop) stating the ingredients. And obviously, a Gilmore Girls fall party just wouldn’t be perfect without coffee. I kept it really simple by brewing some decaf coffee and using these cute Luke’s Diner coffee cups. For add-ins, I had half and half, vanilla creamer, and homemade pumpkin spice creamer, which is so delicious! Overall, the drink options were so much fun and one of my favorite aspects of the party.

Supplies

When throwing a party, it’s always important to have plenty of supplies. For my Gilmore Girls fall party, here were my go-to supplies:

Dinner paper plates
Dessert paper plates
Disposable napkins
Foil copper cutlery
Plastic cups
Measuring pitcher (for homemade creamer)
Oval serving platters
Galvanized serving stand
Glass drink dispensers

Entertainment

Parties are more fun with entertainment. The entertainment doesn’t haven’t to be over the top or crazy. And trust me, most people don’t like awkward games that involve forced interaction. I like to keep entertainment low-key and if I’m doing games, I make them so guests can do them while they chat or eat. It keeps things lively without getting weird. For my Gilmore Girls fall party, I centered my entertainment on music (you always need a good playlist!), two games, and the show itself.

Music

If you’re a fan of the show, you know that music is a special part of it. But not just any music. Nope. Gilmore Girls includes a vast array of quirky and unique artists most people haven’t heard of, like XTC, Sam Phillips, Grant-Lee Phillips, Claudine Longet, Elvis Costello, and Mazzy Star. It’s truly a spectacular part of the show. I wanted a playlist that embodied the essence of the shows, so I created a playlist filled with some of the best songs featured on the show. This isn’t just Gilmore Girls vibes, it’s truly songs played or sung on the show. Check out my incredible Spotify playlist I made and feel free to use it for your own Gilmore Girls fall party!

Games

Like I mentioned already, I like to keep my games chill and non-awkward. That’s why I created a trivia quiz and a quotes quiz. Guests had two quizzes with multiple choice answers in case they hadn’t see the show or weren’t too familiar with it. Thankfully, my guests said the quizzes were just challenging enough without being too hard! Check out the quizzes in my Etsy shop so you can purchase them for your own Gilmore Girls fall party.

Costumes

One of my favorite parts of the party was when each of my friends walked in dressed as their chosen character! We had 3 Lukes, a Paris, a preppy Rory, and pilot episode Rory wearing the “moo-moo” sweater (that’s me!). I think we all did a great job 🙂

Gilmore Girls

Finally, we come to the reason to have a Gilmore Girls fall party in the first place. I wanted to share this incredible show with my friends since I start rewatching it every September. It’s the best way to welcome fall and I’m so glad I got to watch it with my friends this year. We all had such a great time laughing and smiling during the pilot.

I hope this post inspired you to not only watch Gilmore Girls this year, but also host your own Gilmore Girls fall party. From the atmosphere and ambience, to the food, friends, and entertainment, it’s always a good time when friends get together. Until next time, Kayla.

How to Host the Ultimate Gilmore Girls Fall Party

The concept

Invitations