Castle/Knight Birthday Party Ideas

[limabean]

I'm determined not to let DS's October birthday sneak up on me this year, so I'm already collecting ideas. He wants a castle/knight party -- throw all your ideas at me! (He's turning 6, btw.)

I'd love to make most of the decorations since I have the time -- I'm not hugely creative, but I can follow directions on simple craft and sewing projects fairly proficiently.

We have a large stuffed dragon that will be a great decoration, and I was thinking it'd be cute to do scroll-like invitations, with sealing wax and everything. I need help with the invitation wording though, so any ideas for that would be great. Thanks!

[maddymama]

We did a princess birthday party for DD1 in June. Our wording on the invite was
"Hear Ye Hear Ye All the princes and princesses in the land are hereby invited to DD1's birthday on June.... etc. Kindly RSVP to Kind X and Queen Y, etc."
For the take home favor I got gold foil crowns and adhesive stick on jewels for them to take home and decorate their crown and then play with.
~maddymama

[PatchChild]

Treasure hunt for the cake?

[limabean]

Bump.

So far we've got:
--pass out crowns when guests arrive
--scroll invitations w/ wording similar to maddymama's
--a castle cake w/ upside-down ice cream cones for the towers
--a treasure hunt where each child gets a treasure box from the craft store, then have to find treasure (magic stones, chocolate coins, medallions... any other ideas here?), then they can decorate their boxes with jewels
--decorations: coat of arms, dragon, balloons in royal colors (purple, blue, gold)
--silver paper plates/cups

Any other ideas? I think I'm all set for activities, but I'd love more ideas for decorations and favors.

[Teensy]

DD had a castle party. We did an easter egg hunt, ahem, a dragon egg hunt. Golden dragon egg won a prize.

Our goody present was a beginning reader book, "Good Night, Good Knight" that I bought on Amazon.

I had aspirations of building a castle out of appliance boxes, but alas, that didn't happen.

Have fun!

[JamieCatheryn]

Re-enactor here.

Lotsa heraldic shields and tapestries on the walls (in paper would be easiest) with stylized or mythical beasts like lions, unicorns, dragons, etc. Any plain fabric hanging on the wall may add to it too. You could put up pennon flags (like long triangle ones). Good colors would be bright jewel tones of green, red, blue, purple, gold, and silver. Use fake fire lights of any sort you can do: flameless candles, "torches" with colored cloth blowing (firelight is a must for medieval atmosphere but not great with all those kids around). Play medieval music but take care to avoid the more risque drinking songs!

As the queen hostess, you should wear a medieval dress, maybe one with those big long tippet sleeves they're fun and would make an impression with kids. The birthday boy could wear a t-tunic, pants, a belt, and a playsilk cape.

Grab a clipart initial capital online for that invitation, and use a good early calligraphy font.

[NiteNicole]

We had a really cute cardboard castle from Hobby Lobby. I think they're in the $14 - $20 range. We always kept a bucket of chalk in it and every kid that has ever been in my house has colored a brick (or five) on the caste. If you have room, that would be a fun thing to have everyone sign and write messages on. My daughter planed with it till it just fell apart and we've given more than a few as gifts. They're more sturdy than you would think!

[Spiralshell]

A friend of mine did a party like this, and as a combo activity, game, and favor she made hobby horses out of cardboard that the kids decorated, then used to gallop all over the back yard, then took home.
She cut the heads out of cardboard and attached a wooden dowel or a cardboard tube, I forget which. They looked like the ones on this website http://horseplaycraftyparties.co.uk/...orse-Party-Kit
The kids decorated them with markers and pasted on bits of paper and streamers and stuff, then galloped all over with them. I think they might even have done some jousting type games.

[eepster]

Make a dragon pinata and have the kids slay it with swords.

have the guests decorate shield with their families coat-of-arms.

Bake a square or rectangular cake. Build walls around the edge with waffer cookies. Use upside down ice cream cones as turrets. Add a gram cracker draw bridge, windows, flags, etc and call it a castle. Put it on a blue platter for the moat.

[K B Pottery]

Hi there.  Yes, I used this company http://horseplaycraftyparties.co.uk/Party-Kits/Hobby-Horse-Party-Kit  and did the same thing.  They were great, the hobbyhorses were such good quality and value for money.  My kids had such a great time and they were all talking about it for ages after the party.  They also have knights craft kits, I think it is a Shield and sword for the boys to make and also a princess wand for the girls to make.  Someone I know had a party like that and was also very pleased with it all.  I also think they are quite good at being eco friendly, using recycled materials etc...  Yeah, it was a great idea for a knights party.