I was born in the wrong century. I should've been born a knight. Ask me what my favorite sport is and I'll tell you jousting. Not that wussie brand...
The authentic full contact kind where you attempt to hold a ridiculously awkward and heavy lance with one hand while balancing yourself on a racing horse, while wearing a 100 pound suit of armor and you try to knock your opponent not only off their horse but into the next best thing to a coma with aforementioned ridiculously awkward lance. THIS kind of jousting...
Yes, I've tried it. Yes, it can hurt. A LOT. But I still say I should've been born a knight.
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At any rate, a few hours south of me in Bristol, a Rennaissance Faire is held every year. If you've never been to the Bristol Rennaissance Faire...
So as the ale is flowing freely one night, my neighbors and I decided we'd all go to the Bristol Rennaissance Faire together. In full costume, of course because that's just the way we are.
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The more freely the ale flowed the more our medieval party took shape and took on a life of it's own.
"OK, we'll all drive separately and just meet there at the entrance?"
(Have another ale...)
"Well, that's silly, Let's just all go in our RV and ride together!"
(Have another ale...)
"We'll have to get up pretty early to get down there when the Faire opens..."
"Well, let's just have breakfast together then!"
(Have another ale...)
"Well, why don't we just do dinner at our house together after the Faire?"
(Have another ale, Pat..."
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You get the idea. And so our Medieval party came into existence. And I must say, an overabundance of ale can result in some pretty awesome parties!
invitations
We didn't need any formal invitations for our party, but if I were to do a medieval invitation I'd do something like the simple pop up card below - but without the romantic twist to it.
staging & props
This party took place in hubby's and my old house down south. The basement had been finished and included a bar and cooking area with stove. Off of the bar area was a room that used to be a billiards room. It was large enough to use as a dining area and had painted concrete block walls which were perfect for a medieval party.
At that time we had a mahagony dining table with chairs that sat 16 so that's what we used as our dining table. The chairs were upholstered in this fabric so we didn't have to do anything to them.
I wanted to create the illusion the room was actually bigger than it was, while at the same time giving one the feeling they were in a castle. To do this, I used a photo backdrop on one wall. $20.
I had a rustic sideboard that I put on the opposite wall on which to set food. I'd bought some Insta Theme Stone Wall that I was using to cover a corrugated castle I was making so bought enough to cover that wall. $25 for 2 packages.
I set a candleabra I'd gotten as a wedding gift on the credenza.
Remember, they didn't have electric lights back then!
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While disposable dinnerware would be used for breakfast, that evening was going to be a more formal sit down dinner.
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Ideally, I wanted to use pewter dinnerware but the local rental store didn't have any. Then the light bulb came on. My uncle collected pewter! Maybe he'd know where I could get some.
Normally I would've sewn the wall banners myself but this was an impromptu party so I didn't have time to do that. I purchased 3 wall banners for $33.
He started pulling out all of these place settings of pewter and asked me "You mean like these?" So I got my pewter dinnerware on loan from him! Score!
The didn't use tablecloths back then but I wanted to protect the top of our mahagony table so hubby made me some wood "placemats",
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This left the centerpiece for the table to contend with. I don't normally splurge but hubby said "Go ahead" on this one.
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I knew if I didn't get it then and changed my mind, sure as heck it would be gone.
Knights of the Round Table from Etsy, $200.
Hubby and I had built HO model railroad layouts which is what gave me the idea to do a whole diaorama around these knights - castle, moat, horses, you name it. I wish I still had the photo of it because it turned out looking so cool. Not that you have to do an entire knight diorama as your tablescape...
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Julie at Chic Party Ideas also threw a medieval party and did a fantastic job on her medieval tablescape.​​
There are so many ways to do medieval. I love what Julie did with the red berries and her place settings. Check out her blog for more photos of her medieval party.
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For staging our rec room I wanted to build a corrugated castle.
I wanted my castle to be a bit more ornate.
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After I finished building the cardboard structure, I wanted to install stained glass windows in it.On the interior of the castle I glued strips of styrene around the windows. I bought some thin plexiglass panels and covered them with antique pattern window film.
The plexiglass then got glued to the styrene strips on the INSIDE of the castle windows.
If you're going to attempt this with your own castle, get the sizing of your antique window film FIRST and cut your castle windows according to that size so everything fits when you assemble your windows.
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Then after you've done that, you can cut
some cardboard stones (red arrow above) to glue to the OUTSIDE of the castle windows as seen in the castle photo. This will hide any gapping that might occur.
When gluing the plexiglass panels in place use a strong bonding glue like E6000 and allow it to dry thoroughly.
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I wanted my castle to look realistic and aged so I gathered moss, sprayed it with floral preservative and hot glued it in places between the castle wall stones. I also draped vines from the top of the castle.
My castle was lacking a knight so I bought a 6' knight from PartyCheap for $15. I mounted him on cardobard to make him into a cardboard stand up.
My other rec room wall was decidedly UN MEDIEVAL looking. I found some red velvet furniture covers on sale for $60. Luckily for me, I guess the Early Bordelo style had gone out of fashion. My rec room now resembled a cathouse but it was a MEDIEVAL looking cathouse so furniture problem solved.
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I'd made a stone well out of styrofoam for another party. Hubby went and got some plexiglass to lay over the top of it and we turned it into a coffee table. I made some corrugated knight's weapons and medieval torches for that wall, then borrowed a floor candleabra from my uncle who lent me the pewter dinnerware.
We made a corrugated barrel I'd made into a side table next to the sofa.
food/menu
My neighbors and I all wanted to give authentic medieval food a try. I don't recommend you trying to serve a medieval dinner without plenty of help. Or have it catered.
We neighborhood gals got together and spent a day preparing most everything ahead of time so all we had to do was heat it and plate it during our cocktail hour after returning from the Faire.
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We had 2 medieval meals - breakfast and dinner. I'll start with breakfast.
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Breakfast wasn't called "breakfast" back in the medieval days. It was called "jantaculum" and was quite different than our breakfasts today. We served a traditional jantaculum on charcuterie boards.
Slide #2 - Poached Egg & Bacon on Sourdough Bread
The medieval method of cooking poached eggs—or pochee, as they called them—was almost exactly the same as it is today. “Take Ayrenn and breke hem in scaldyng hoot water.” Translation: Take eggs and break them into scalding hot water.
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To poach 4 large eggs, fill large deep skillet or sauté pan with water and bring to boil; add 1 TBSP white wine vinegar. Reduce heat to bare simmer. Carefully crack eggs, one at a time, into a custard cup and slip into water. Cook until whites are firm but yolks are still soft, about 5 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer eggs, one at a time, to paper towel–lined plate to drain. Cover to keep warm.
Fry the bacon, put it on the sourdough bread, top with the poached egg. You can garnish with some fresh parsley or I made Hollandaise sauce and put that on the side for anyone who wanted it.
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Traditionally they were served with a special sauce: Whisk together two egg yolks, sugar, saffron, ginger, and salt. Add milk, and cook until it thickens, not letting it boil. Then serve.
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Slide #3 - Steak Pie Recipe here
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Slide #4 -Assorted Cheeses Complete list here
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Slide #5 - Sour Cherry Scones Recipe here
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dinner
Dinner was a bit more complex. I think you'll see why I said don't try this alone without help.
Slide #1 - Best Sirloin Tip Roast Recipe here
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Slide #2 - Roast Cornish Hen Recipe here
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Slide #3 - Medieval Sansa Salad Recipe here
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Slide #4 - Pickled Roots & Cabbage Recipe here
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Slide #5 - Medieval Times Copycat Potatoes Recipe here
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Slide #6 - Bread & Butter Pickles Recipe here
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Slide #7 - Whole Wheat Rolls Recipe here (They ate a lot of different breads so you can substitute)
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Slide #8 - Apple Cranberry Tart Recipe here
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activities
Our activity was the Rennaissance Faire but here are some more medieval party activities:
costume contest
Have guests vote for their favorite costumes and award prizes.
Both kids and adults like this one!
no horse jousting
Believe it or not, adults can do No Horse Jousting too!
All you need is a divider of some kind between your 2 jousting lanes, 2 lances and a couple of exercise balls.
You try to unseat your opponent off their exercise ball "horse".
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Note: When doing this with kids, both jousters were wearing padded safety vests and eye/head protection and their lances were broomsticks with a rounded end on them.
target practice
Knights had to be able to hit targets accurately with their lances. I modified this game using broomsticks for lances kids could throw at the target. The child who scored the most points won the game.
a search for the chalice
To make this treasure quest exciting, you’ll need many theme-related party favors (for example plastic swords or shields, gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins, miniature plastic horses, fake jewelry, wax seals printed on small pieces of paper, and any other regal items).
Hide the treasures in many locations throughout the party area and with each item hide a clue about the location of another item.
Send your knights and princesses off individually on their quest to find the chalice. When the chalice is found reward all of the knights and princesses with a favor.
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You can use a coffee mug for your chalice but I used a plastic one I found at the dollar store.
gutsy knights
See who’s got the guts to be a real knight. For this cool child party game, place about three pounds of cooked spaghetti in a deep large cauldron. Color it green with food coloring and make it slimy with olive oil. Drop inside colored gumballs and one eyeball gumball (with the wrapper on). The kids have to reach in the guts and pull out gumballs until they grab the eyeball gumball. You can also use peeled grapes instead of gumballs.
kiss the princess
This can be a hilarious game to play with the boys. The kids put on red lipstick and are blindfolded and spun around, then they try to kiss a picture of a princess. Whoever is closest wins.
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If you have a girls party just switch it and have them kiss a knight.
run the gauntlet
Do you remember watching a knight run the gauntlet in a movie?
Set up your own obstacle course "gauntlet" and let your knights run it!
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Here's an obstacle course from PAR-TAY LIKE A CHERRY.
She put a spin on her obstacle course. The boys had to run the obstacle course in order to earn a turn at her Slay the Dragon activity - hits on a dragon pinata.
For each time they ran the obstacle course, the boy earned one hit at the pinata.
medieval trivia
This was a game I did for an adult medieval party. I made up a medieval trivia quiz.
For example, who was the castle Privy Keeper and what was his job? Who was the Norman Nobility Chamberlain and what was his job?
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For the guests who got the answers correct, we handed out appropriate gag gifts.
For example, if a guest correctly guessed what the castle Privy Keeper was, we gave them a knight toilet paper roll holder. ​
go to a medieval dinner
I attended one at Medieval Times and would certainly go again. While initially the event might look to be a bit on the pricey side, I discovered when I crunched the numbers that I would spend nearly the amount of admission if making my own medieval dinner party - sans the entertainment Medieval Times provided. Or have each guest pay their own admission fee and you throw a pre-dinner cocktail party to get things rolling.
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Knights in the Middle Ages were entertained by banquets that lasted for most of the night until the early morning hours. After feasting, entertainment might be provided by minstrels, troubadours, jesters, acrobats, fire-eaters, and conjurers. Dancing was also important as part of 'courtly love' entertainment, and knights were expected not only to fight but also to dance. In addition to feasts and entertainment, there were also knightly tournaments, where people in costumes of animals, monks, jesters, and men and women's clothes roamed the streets of the city. Some common games and sports of the Medieval Times included archery, bowling, dice, hammer-throwing, wrestling, and more, which involved fitness and battle skills. And let's not forget the jousting! So you have a wide array of activities to choose from for your medieval bash!