10th birthday party, fantasy theme: what fun ideas do you have?
April 2, 2015 5:46 AM Subscribe
My son is having his 10th birthday party later this month and the theme is 'fantasy' (witches, goblins, wizards, dragons, elves etc). What are some fun games/activities that you recommend for the day?
Have costumes for each of the different fantasy creature for kids to pick when they arrive! Nothing too crazy would be needed, robes, witches hats , walking sticks, maybe face paint? You could even tie it into the treasure hunt/quest (which you must do!) so different characters have different parts to play during the quest.
posted by Suffocating Kitty at 6:14 AM on April 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Suffocating Kitty at 6:14 AM on April 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seems pretty logical to me that one of the parents is going to need to be dressed up as a scary, if likely short-lived, dragon for the kids to ride and/or slay.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:31 AM on April 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:31 AM on April 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Dueling? Outdoors, with length-trimmed pool noodles. (and if he's super into this, consider the LARP party)
Dragon cake - there are varying degrees of difficulty, but something like this is not so impossible that I wouldn't try it.
Chocolate gold coins must be involved.
See also ideas for rigging up magic wand tricks (wave your wand at that box and say "leviosa" and it flies into the air - yeah, ignore the strings) at Harry Potter birthday parties.
posted by aimedwander at 7:00 AM on April 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Dragon cake - there are varying degrees of difficulty, but something like this is not so impossible that I wouldn't try it.
Chocolate gold coins must be involved.
See also ideas for rigging up magic wand tricks (wave your wand at that box and say "leviosa" and it flies into the air - yeah, ignore the strings) at Harry Potter birthday parties.
posted by aimedwander at 7:00 AM on April 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Design your own magic wand. Get a bunch of dowel rods and have markers, glitter glue, glow in the dark puffy paint, holographic star stickers, etc. This also counts as a party favor because they take it home with them afterwards.
100% agree with the quest idea. That's fantastic. If you want to do that and want some ideas for the hunt, let me know. I keep a list of puzzles.
If you'd like to have a dragon fighting/vanquishing component, you should have a dragon shaped piñata.
Themed food is definitely also a thing. The internet has 1000s of ideas you can copy. Pumpkin juice, cauldron cakes...just google [fandom] party recipes and you'll have tons.
I saw recently where someone had a Harry Potter themed party...they had a big poster decorated with Sirius Black's Azkaban prisoner number with a hole in the middle so you could hold it up and have it be like your Azkaban mugshot. Pretty neat. That one is obviously very specific to Harry Potter and less general fantasy, but it might give you another party idea.
posted by phunniemee at 7:02 AM on April 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
100% agree with the quest idea. That's fantastic. If you want to do that and want some ideas for the hunt, let me know. I keep a list of puzzles.
If you'd like to have a dragon fighting/vanquishing component, you should have a dragon shaped piñata.
Themed food is definitely also a thing. The internet has 1000s of ideas you can copy. Pumpkin juice, cauldron cakes...just google [fandom] party recipes and you'll have tons.
I saw recently where someone had a Harry Potter themed party...they had a big poster decorated with Sirius Black's Azkaban prisoner number with a hole in the middle so you could hold it up and have it be like your Azkaban mugshot. Pretty neat. That one is obviously very specific to Harry Potter and less general fantasy, but it might give you another party idea.
posted by phunniemee at 7:02 AM on April 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
This D&D-style party sounds pretty awesome, and she did it with 8- and 9-year olds, so your 10-ish crowd should enjoy it too. Doesn't seem to require the kids to have any prior D&D experience.
posted by resurrexit at 9:25 AM on April 2, 2015
posted by resurrexit at 9:25 AM on April 2, 2015
Back when my kids were little, Harry Potter was still big news and so we did Harry Potter birthday parties, but some of the ideas would work for any fantasy theme. We did "make your own magic wand" but I took large wrapped candy sticks (about 10" long, 1/2" diameter), and gave kids sparkly pipe cleaners, stickers, etc. to decorate the wands which they could take home and then eat.
I did the treasure map thing with chocolate coins, but did it in two stages. I tore the treasure map into 6 pieces and hid (not very well) the pieces, and then the kids had to find the pieces, put the puzzle together, and then find the golden hoard. The hoard was divided equally among all kids.
At the meal, I had containers of different coloured juices (cranberry cocktail, apple juice, lemonade, orange juice, blue raspberry, etc.) and told the kids to "make their own potions".
posted by angiep at 2:37 PM on April 2, 2015
I did the treasure map thing with chocolate coins, but did it in two stages. I tore the treasure map into 6 pieces and hid (not very well) the pieces, and then the kids had to find the pieces, put the puzzle together, and then find the golden hoard. The hoard was divided equally among all kids.
At the meal, I had containers of different coloured juices (cranberry cocktail, apple juice, lemonade, orange juice, blue raspberry, etc.) and told the kids to "make their own potions".
posted by angiep at 2:37 PM on April 2, 2015
We made wands out of sheets of paper using this instructable , and then the kids made up spells and cast them on each other. We thought of spells ahead of time "(spinnus fastus!) (sleepus snorus!)", and had the kids act out the effects of the spell.
posted by Philbo at 9:24 AM on April 15, 2015
posted by Philbo at 9:24 AM on April 15, 2015
Response by poster: The party went well. Here's the map that I drew and cut into six pieces which is a not to scale pictogram of my property for the mighty quest. Thank you so much for all the ideas!
posted by h00py at 4:23 AM on May 3, 2015
posted by h00py at 4:23 AM on May 3, 2015
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posted by gauche at 5:50 AM on April 2, 2015 [5 favorites]