My little man just turned 4 a couple weeks ago. He wanted to have a Knight Party. I LOVED this party theme and had a great time putting everything together! The following is just what we came up with for this age. There are probably so many more things you could do! And if someone figures out how to simply make a good "sword in the stone" that kids could try pulling out, please share that with the rest of us!
Invitations
I just printed these on computer paper, rolled them up like a scroll and tied with a ribbon. The text of the invitation said:
Invitations
I just printed these on computer paper, rolled them up like a scroll and tied with a ribbon. The text of the invitation said:
Hear Ye, Hear Ye!!
All ye Knights of the Royal Court!
Your attendance is requested
at a tournament
in honor of
Sir Isaac’s 4th Birthday!
Your skill, strength, and courage will be tested!
Glorioso Castle Courtyard
April 3, 2012
3:30pm
The Cake
If you look at ideas online, most cakes are castles. Our little man associates swords and shields with knights more than castles though, so we went that route. I baked the cake in a 9x13 and in a 6x9 or so pan. Then we just cut the pieces out. The shield first, then the 4 pieces of the swords. I did a crumb coat of white icing to get it all stuck together, then I used a decorating bag and star tips to do the color on top of that. You could just spread the icing too, but I had so many crumbs from the cut cake that this was my only option! This cake is far from perfect (see the swords that aren't straight?!) but he loved it!
Get in Character!
Here in China, all curtain stores and cloth markets sell a silver "black out" material for lining curtains with. I bought a few meters of this. Each meter was 145cm wide. So I cut each meter of material into 4 strips, folded each in half lengthwise and cut a hole for the head. Then I had some silver ribbon that we tied around their waists to hold the armor in place. It was also the perfect place to stick their swords when the weren't using them! You could also make shields out of cardboard but I did not do this.
Games
The games could go all kinds of ways on this party. You could have the knights complete tasks on a quest. Or they could have a tournament. Since our knights were on the small side, we treated it a little more like knights in "training!"
Tug of War--In order to practice their strength we divided the kids into two groups for tug of war!
Jousting--We put together some simple targets for the kids to practice jousting on. They had a stick horse and a pool noodle as their lance. So fun!
We made these very simply. We cut shields out of cardboard. I found a few coat of arms type symbols online for coloring that we printed. Isaac colored them and we cut them out to glue on the shield. Brian took two small pieces of wood and tacked one on top of the other with a loose nail so they would spin.
Slaying the Dragon--We made a dragon pinata for this activity. It worked great. In fact we had trouble getting him to bust--Daddy had to finally do it!
I had never made a pinata. I used this idea and this idea for inspiration and direction. You need to start this 4-5 days before your party. Isaac helped me do the wings and all the painting. He loved getting to help!
Knight the Knights--Have the king or queen (mom or dad) knight all the birthday guests as "Sir So-and-So."
Decorations
We only came inside for cake and gifts, so I decorated very simply. I did a black table runner with the cake, some knight plates and napkins (the only thing from the US), and some of our knight toys.
Favors
Our favors were the knight costumes, foam swords, and the candy collected from the pinata. Super easy!
Online Resources
I bought the foam swords from this Taobao site.
What about you??? Give us your knight party ideas!
Games
The games could go all kinds of ways on this party. You could have the knights complete tasks on a quest. Or they could have a tournament. Since our knights were on the small side, we treated it a little more like knights in "training!"
Tug of War--In order to practice their strength we divided the kids into two groups for tug of war!
Jousting--We put together some simple targets for the kids to practice jousting on. They had a stick horse and a pool noodle as their lance. So fun!
We made these very simply. We cut shields out of cardboard. I found a few coat of arms type symbols online for coloring that we printed. Isaac colored them and we cut them out to glue on the shield. Brian took two small pieces of wood and tacked one on top of the other with a loose nail so they would spin.
Slaying the Dragon--We made a dragon pinata for this activity. It worked great. In fact we had trouble getting him to bust--Daddy had to finally do it!
I had never made a pinata. I used this idea and this idea for inspiration and direction. You need to start this 4-5 days before your party. Isaac helped me do the wings and all the painting. He loved getting to help!
Knight the Knights--Have the king or queen (mom or dad) knight all the birthday guests as "Sir So-and-So."
Decorations
We only came inside for cake and gifts, so I decorated very simply. I did a black table runner with the cake, some knight plates and napkins (the only thing from the US), and some of our knight toys.
Favors
Our favors were the knight costumes, foam swords, and the candy collected from the pinata. Super easy!
Online Resources
I bought the foam swords from this Taobao site.
What about you??? Give us your knight party ideas!
You are amazing!
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