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