Monday, January 28, 2008
Medieval Party
I know how you all enjoy hearing about my kids' theme birthday parties. On the weekend, my #2 Son and I hosted a medieval party.
Throughout, all of us in the family said to each other over and over: "Why have we never done this theme before?" It seems like such a natural for a birthday theme.
We launched the party with a Royal Proclamation calling for a tournament of knights to prove their valour so that the king (me) could assemble a company to fight a dragon. The invitations were written in a medieval-style font on faux-parchment coloured paper that was attached to and wrapped around a toy arrow.
As usual, we held the party at a local church hall to give us plenty of runnin' around room. The hall was festooned with cheap dollar-store table runners (meant to look like medieval tapestries and banners) and print-outs of the Bayeux Tapestry and the Codex Mannesse.
We had two further pieces of decorating luck: the Sunday school at the church hall had an old refrigerator box decorated like a castle tower; and one of Mrs. Mentok's teaching colleagues had a bunch of hand-painted murals used for teaching medieval and fantasy literature units.
This same teacher-friend also had a pair of hand-sewn faux-ermine lined capes which Mrs. Mentok and I used for our costumes. My costume was fleshed out with: a long white sheet of fabric with a hole for my head; a belt; a real sword I happen to own; a medieval crest printed out onto adhesive paper; some dress-trim material that looks like metal mesh (which I applied in various places to look like chain mail) and a cheap plastic dollar-store "gold" crown.
(Remember this formula next time you're invited to a medieval feast. Except for the cape and sword, the above cost me maybe $5 to assemble, versus the $50-$100 /day that costume rental places charge.)
As the kids arrived, my oldest son, playing the role of herald and sergeant-at-arms, announced each guest. During the arrival/warm up stage, we enjoyed a pop-n-chips "feast".
I had this terrible moment of dread during the warm-up that the 10-11 year old guests were too old for a make-believe party. But the kids were mainly long-time friends of #2 Son who had enjoyed many previous parties and were more than happy to play along. In any case, there is a huge difference between 11 and 12.
Festivities began with decorating their gear. Everyone got grey hoodies (local thrift store, $4 ea.) to serve as chain mail. Then they decorated their tunics (long white sheets of fabric with head-holes) and shields (corplast) with medieval-style symbols... or anything they liked, really. The outfits were then all sinched up with studded belts (3 for $1 at Liquidation World).
Once properly outfitted, the guests went through a knighting ceremony and issued foam swords. Then we had a big chaotic sword fight tournament.
Next up, riding lessons. After some build-up (#1 son, behind the scenes, making loud whinnying and neighing sounds), we unveiled a tray of coconut shells. Those, I tell ya, were a royal pain to get together. We bought fresh coconuts, drained them, put them through a band saw to ensure an even cut and then baked them so that the meat would shrivel and pop out "easily" ... or at least more easily than working with fresh coconut meat.
But it was well worth it. Several of the kids had seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail and said, "Whoa! Cool! Just like Monty Python!" right away. As for everyone else, it turns out that bashing coconut shells together is just a whole lot of fun no matter how old you are or how cool you think you are.
After just running around with coconuts for awhile, we staged a jousting match. The kids had to hold pool noodles steady under their arms while continuing to bash the coconut shells together with their hands. The whole exercise was whacky, awkward and, therefore, laugh generating.
Our last tournament event was archery, using cheapie dollar-store toy bow-and-arrow kits. The toy archery sets worked well when you used them right, but it was a bit tricky to hold the arrow just right. This only added to the fun, since most kids totally shanked their first arrow, which made them all the more determined to practice until they got it right.
After that, we mounted our "steeds" and set off in search of the dragon. #1 Son, hidden behind a curtain, did a masterful job of making the dragon seem very large and fierce. Of course, it turned out just to be a pinata, which got a lot of laughs.
Man, they sure make those damn pinatas hard to break. After we got it down, the kids stomped on it and I bashed at it with my real sword, but is still took a long time to crack it open.
To celebrate our victory over the dragon, we had a grand feast featuring tray after tray of all sorts of finger food. There is, after all, no surer way to a tweenager boy's heart than with food.
After the feast, cake and presents, we had about 20 minutes left before pick-up time. That is more open time than I normally like, but in this case it worked out great. All the boys worked up a sweat chasing each other around with the foam swords and pool noodles. Afterwards, #2 Son said he felt that was the best part of the whole event.
As usual at our parties, we didn't have treat bags per se, but the guests all went home with virtually everything they had touched: their hoodies, tunics, belts, shields, swords, pool noodles, archery sets, coconut shells, goblets and, of course, their share of the "dragon treasure".
The whole family had worked very hard to make the event a success. #1 Son sucked up his teenager cynicism and was a great right-hand man for me; #3 Son did an outstanding job as court jester; and my lovely Queen went above and beyond with decoration procurement, food preparation and professional (teacher-grade) kid-wrangling.
Sadly, this will probably be #2 Son's last make-believe theme party. That will leave me with just one event per year for the next four years, and then no more after that. It's scary how the time goes, eh?
posted by Mentok @ 10:09 a.m.,
8 Comments:
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At 9:09 a.m.,
Grumps said...
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The Mentoks have outdone themselves once again! Your seven -- four -- two -- um, THREE kids are lucky. I had to go to a movie to get away from BabyGrumps' last party.
BTW, belated wishes on your own special day, Mentok. -
At 1:12 p.m.,
Rick said...
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Killer party, by the look of it! But, who made you king, eh? (I know I didn't vote for you!) Oh, look! There's some lovely filth down here! ...
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At 12:44 p.m.,
CindyAdzuki said...
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thank you so much for the pictures. Ya know, had I grown up with such lavish parties, I think I would have been somewhat more socialized as an adult. At the very least the word "swank" would have been in my vocabulary prior to age 20.
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At 12:46 p.m.,
cchang said...
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Oh how odd...I had no idea I was still logged onto gmail...ah well.
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At 5:14 p.m.,
Unknown said...
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That is just amazing. The happiness from the party has radiated into then post and then out to those of us reading it.
I can't stop smiling. Its the thought of the recreation of the Holy Grail/Coconuts.
Absolutely priceless.
Thank You -
At 11:11 p.m.,
Mentok said...
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Grumps - thanks for the belated wishes and thanks for the praise
wankel - Off with his head!
cindy - you got it, babe, we're all about the swank...although this party was a little over the top in the swank department even by our standards
JC - thank you very much for the kind words. We really do pour our heart and souls into these things so it's gratifying that comes through on the web. The way I see it, my kids will be telling stories about my kickass parties long after every other accomplishment in my life has been long forgotten. -
At 7:53 p.m.,
Ookami Snow said...
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Make believe birthday party? That is an awesome idea. Am I too old to have one at my 28th birthday?
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At 11:03 p.m.,
Mentok said...
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Actually, right after the kid party, I observed to Mrs. Mentok that, with a bit of tweaking and a keg of beer, the basics of our medieval party would work perfectly well for adults.
Seriously, the foam swords and coconut-and-pool-noodle jousting are a hoot no matter how old you are.
