June 18, 2017May 22, 2019 familyflourish

Knight Birthday Party for a Nine Year Old Boy

Parties

by Heather Bock

I was excited when Mr. C wanted to have a knight themed party for his ninth birthday (which was actually in February–a little late posting) because I knew it would be fun to make the decorations. I was also just excited that he’s still willing to have me decorate big for his parties and have it at home–that won’t last forever!Invitations had to look antique, so I did the old “burn the edges” trick. The burning also provided dirt smudges, adding to the authenticity, right? I did over-burn quite a few, but I eventually had enough made for all the kids. I got the idea for rolling them up here.

I greeted the guests with a dragon made of balloons (idea for this here) and a drawbridge leading up to the door (idea here). I spray painted the “stones” silver, which were cut out of cardboard, but I ran out of spray paint, so I was just a bit short when I went around the door–oh well! I was also still putting these up when my brother-in-law arrived, so I enlisted his help–thanks, Jeff! The chains were paper chains, of course.

As soon as the guest knights walked in, they could grab their gifts: a sword and a tunic made of felt. I used instructions here to help me make them–it was just a matter of cutting them out–although I used a little less fabric. It was fun to have a few different colors for the boys to choose from.

I made paper banners to hang, and we had a few toy castles, so we put them out around the house. I also made a bunch of torches to hang on the walls (idea here).

My two favorite decorations were the (paper) chains in the dungeon and the portcullis made out of duct tape. I still have the portcullis hanging in front of the door to my boys’ room! I got the idea for the portcullis here.

When the boys arrived, we had them make a shield out of thick spray-painted cardboard cut out of boxes. The handles on the backs were made out of regular duct tape. They used colorful duct tape and jewels to decorate them.

Next, we made catapults out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and plastic spoons (I used the instructions here, but we didn’t paint them, and I rubber banded spoons instead of hot gluing bottle caps). Then I let them have mini marshmallows, which they then launched at toy castles, trying to get them over the walls and knock over little figures. They had a LOT of fun doing this, but I admit, we found marshmallows for weeks, and some were smooshed into our rug. If I did it again, I’d use pom poms instead.

Next, we went outside for our tournament. We had several events. Archery…

jousting with pool noodles (idea here)…

…and jumping the moat while dodging cannon balls thrown by the enemy (original idea for jumping the moat here). Some of them used their shields to protect themselves.

They had a little too much fun outside, and they turned on one of the poor spectating moms!

Next was our banquet feast with pretzel swords made from pretzel rods, giant gummy lifesavers, and melting chocolate (idea here) and flaming arrows (idea here):

Pepperidge Farms Chessmen cookies were perfect, and we also had some cannon balls, along with cheese, crackers, and juice (which the boys called blood since it was red):

The cake was a very easy-to-make chocolate castle cake (idea here). I made the cake in a 9×13 pan, then cut it into two squares to make the two layers.

My son had fun decorating the top with his Lego knights:

After cake and presents, we went outside to wait for parents. Remember that dragon? I gave the boys some darts, and they had fun slaying him (popping the balloons)!

Can I just say what the perfect present is for a nine-year-old boy who loves knights? Tickets to Medieval Times! Mr. C’s grandma gave those to him, so in a few weeks, we were able to complete this party with a very fun show!