Knight Party- Food & Goodies

FOOD

The party was in the middle of the day- we were serving lunch.

The table was set as a Knights' Feast... with "gold" plates and goblets.  All food was served on silver & pewter platters.  Napkins had knights on them.

White Castle Burgers- I thought the "castle" tied in nicely :)  We bought two "Craver Cases" and served them arranged in their castle boxes on a tiered silver tray.

Chicken Wings- because all knights eat with their hands, right?

Fruit Kebobs with vanilla Greek yogurt dip- because knights will also eat anything on a stick!  (This went faster than anything else!)

Cheese & crackers- with sword toothpicks

Dragon Claws (aka Bugle chips)

Cupcakes- with Knight toppers

DRINK

For the kiddos:

Dragon Juice (aka Melon flavored Gatorade... thought any green "juice" would do)- served in a fancy punch bowl.  This was a big hit!

Apple Cider

For the Adults:

Wine- Castle Rock, Hess (has Gryffindor on label), Barbera D'Asti (has knight on label)

Beer- New Castle, Wee Heavy (has castle on label), Blithering Idiot (has jester on label)

Hot Apple Cider

Coffee

Soda

 

GOODY BAGS

 I got the bags from Meri Meri.

We stuffed them with:
Knight Paper Dolls- (see the "How To" below!)
Knight figurines
Dragon Gliders
Gold Coins

The kids also got to take home their costume, shield and balloon sword.

 How To: Knight Paper Dolls

I found this Knight Paper Doll Book when we were on vacation in Mystic, CT.

Buying one book for each kid seemed excessive, so we decided to give each child one knight, 2 outfits, 1 shield, and 4 weapons.

The book only came with 2 knights, so I photocopied the couple extra I needed on card stock.

Since the kids were ages 3-5, cutting them out would have been really frustrating (heck- it was frustrating for me!!!)

So I did the cutting ahead of time, but needed a way to keep them nicely together.
I created these little "bags" to package them in, using this tutorial for guidance.

I used the cover of the book on the front (so parents would know where to get more if they wished!)



My hubby was impressed- he thought the little packages were store bought!  hee hee!

PLAYLIST

Songs to consider for background music...

The Grand Olde Duke of York- 50 All-time Children's Favorites, vol. 1

Puff the Magic Dragon- Peter, Paul & Mary

We're Knights- The Backyardigans, Born to Play

The Ballad of the Brave Pink Knight- Backyardigans Groove to the Music

Dragon Mountain- The Backyardigans, Born to Play

A Challenge- The Backyardigans, Born to Play

I Just Can't Wait to be King- Lion King Soundtrack

Medieval Dances- Medieval & Renaissance Music

Sticks & Stone- How to Train your Dragon Soundtrack

December 1963 (Oh What a Night)- The Four Seasons

Rain King- Counting Crows

It's Good to be King- Tom Petty

OTHER IDEAS 

Things I've found after-the-fact, that I would have liked to use!
(isn't that always the way?)

Fairy Tale Finger Puppets

Medieval Rubber Duckies
Knight Garland

Knight Party- Games & Activities

GAMES & ACTIVITIES

-Shield making- we assembled the shields ahead of time, so the children were able to get to work decorating them with markers, stickers, gluing cut out pictures (printed some from this website), and stick-on gems.

Shield Making Supplies

Completed shields

-Get dressed in armor Tunic, helmet, and choosing their balloon sword.

Knight Costume

Going to storm the "castle" (playset)

Selection of Balloon Swords

-Pony rides- hired local pony to give children rides for an hour.  We took photos of each child in their Knight Costume riding the pony.

-Knight Tattoos- as children were waiting for their pony ride, they could chose a temporary tattoo.  We set up a kid-size chair and table as the tattoo station, and had goblets with water & sponges for applying the tattoos.

Tattoo station

-Storm the Castle- While waiting for their pony ride, the children could also play on the playset that we decorated as a castle.

-Dragon Tail Tag- Children stood in line with hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them.  The first child in the line had a dragon hat on, the last child had a green flag tucked into their back pocket or waistband of their pants.  The dragon head had to try to catch the dragon tail.

-Knight's Challenge- We set up two teams.  Each knight took a turn getting on the stick pony, grabbing their joust (a pool noodle cut in half, and white tape used to make spiral design) and running across the field, jumping over a paper moat (complete with fake alligators), to slay a toy dragon that was sitting on top of a wash basket.  Then the Knight had to rescue the princess doll that was trapped under the basket & return to the starting line.
We set this up with each team being across the field from the other, so that as one team returned with the princess, we had an adult assigned to stick it back under the other team's wash basket so it would be set up for the next brave knight to arrive!

Knight's Challenge supplies (x2)

Placed teams across from each other for ease of
the "reset" for the next knight.

-Story time- we read The Knight and The Dragon as the children ate their lunch.  There were other books on hand for the kids to browse if they finished lunch earlier than the rest.

-Pin the Sword/Shield on the Knight

-Find the Chalice- Split children into two teams. Played like capture the flag, but with silver goblets instead (the same ones used for holding the tattoo water/sponges earlier).  Each team hides their chalice and then they try to find the chalice of the other team.

-Slay the Dragon Pinata- we used a wooden sword (painted gold) to hit the pinata.


Additional game ideas:
Pin the tail on the Dragon
Sword in the Stone- place some cut out swords inside gray balloons and then inflate.  Kids get to pop the balloons and get a reward if they find a sword.

Related Posts:
Knight Party- Invitations & Decorations
How to Make Armor Tunics
Knight Party- Food & Goodies 

Knight Party: How to make "Armor" tunics

For the Knight Party, I wanted to make little tunics for the kids to wear as their Knightly Garb.

Since I still don't really know how to operate the sewing machine I received for my last birthday, sewing 12 of these was too daunting of a task to take on!  So I cheated, and used iron on hemming tape.

Once I got going, it was really easy!  Each one took approx. 15-20 minutes to make.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial...

Purchase: 

• gray material for tunics
• contrasting color for decoration (I got red satin) 
• iron-on hemming tape
• heat bond (easier than the tape for adhearing the decoration)
• Ribbon

You'll also need scissors and your iron.

-Cut gray material to size (roughly 2 ft x 1 ft)

-Iron crease for "hem" (approx. 1 inch all the way around)

-Place iron-on tape inside folded material
-With iron set to high heat, with NO STEAM, secure hem (hold iron in place for about 8 seconds)

Sorry- A little hard to see,
because my ironing board cover is gray too!

-Trim excess material at corners, if needed

-Fold tunic in half and cut rectangle for neck hole

-Cut small diagonal slit at each of the four corners of the neck hole

-Fold edges of neck hole to the inner side of the tunic and iron crease

-Apply iron-on tape inside fold, and secure "hem" with iron

When laid flat, with "inside" facing up,
it will now look like this

-Get red decoration material and apply Heat & Bond to BACK SIDE of satin, with iron

-One side will now be satin, the other is the Heat & Bond paper

-On paper side, trace desired shape & cut (I chose a crown)

-Decide which side of your gray tunic will be the front

-Peel paper from back of crown, and position with glue down on front of tunic

After, peeling the paper- the glue will be exposed.
You want to make sure the glue is facing the gray tunic
when you apply your iron.

-Iron into place (approx. 10 seconds of heat, since satin is thick)

-Cut ribbon to lengths that can be tied (approx. 8 inches)

-Position ribbon with the glossy side facing out, on the sides of the tunic, making sure the ribbons will line up for tying later

Use as small piece of the hem tape to secure the ribbon to the tunic.

Done!

Tunics set up on back of each child's chair:

Related Posts:
Knight Party- Invitations & Decorations
Knight Party- Games & Activities
Knight Party- Food & Goodies (Coming Soon!)

Knight Party Invitations & Decorations

DETAILS

This party was for a 4 year old boy.

INVITATIONS

We printed the invitations on 5x7 card stock paper, & placed them in envelopes.

For the kids at school, names were written calligraphy-style on the front of the envelope, & we used a dragon wax seal on the back.

Note: we also put a seal on each of the mailed invitations, but unfortunately it fell off before it got delivered.

Seal on back of envelope

DECORATIONS

Foyer walls covered with "stone"

Foyer/Entry

-Personalized Knight Banner

-Banners from printed dragon, knight & shield images

-Created castle walls with gray tablecloths purchased by the roll. Drew stones with sharpie marker.

-Placecards around mini knight statue

Place cards put out on table

Dining Room

-Red & Blue streamers and balloons

-Silver tablecloth on "Feast Table"

-Silver & gold-toned serving trays
-Table set with "goblets" and "gold" plates
-Hang knight cut-outs to chandelier

-Replace photos in all frames with print outs of knight portraits-"Armor" tunics on backs of chairs, and party hat helmets set on plates

Decorations hanging from chandelier

These party hats were the best!
The kids LOVED them!

Replaced photos in frames with images of knights

Living Room

-Toy castles, dragons & knight figures, books & castle puzzle (toys we already had)

-Place shields, swords & helmets on mantle and shelves (toys we already had)

-Dragon pinata hanging in fireplace until ready for use

-Hang dragon gliders from chandelier

-Change chandelier candles to fake ones that light up on a timer (safer than open flames)

-"Armory" sign above the balloon swords

-"Royal Privy" sign pointing way to bathroom
-Green & yellow balloons

Outside

-Use cut out cardboard to make play set into a castle

-Store games supplies in red IKEA "trunk"

-Gray tablecloths on outside tables

-Balloons

Related Posts:
Knight Party Games & Activities
How to make the Knight's Tunic
Knight Party Food & Goodies