Mia's Medieval 11th Birthday Party

I was so busy prepping for this party that I completely spazzed out and did not snap a single picture with my camera!  My psychological salvation came in the form of a very on task mother in law who took plenty of wonderful pictures of everything.  Thank you so much, Vickie!  

The picnic table was designated as The Jolly Dragon Tavern.  On Saturday, The Jolly Dragon Tavern was serving ale (sparkling apple cider), Claret (sangria) and some water (that would likely have not been too popular in Medieval Times.  I found the wooden jug for the ale on ebay for a steal at $14!  It was just what I had in mind for the party.

 The middle of this banner says Happy Birthday Mia, but I think the large candle holder in the middle is blocking that.  This was the gift table and had ribbons for kids to tie on to the twine for making wishes - a Medieval tradition.

 All the kids and Claire helped me tie all these ribbons onto the twine earlier in the week.  It really had a nice effect.  A very cheap way of adding a lot of pop to the decor.

 We were serving chicken wings, bread, apples, pears, grapes, carrots and celery with a traditional sweet and sour dipping sauce for the chicken called Camelyn (but we really just used bbq sauce.)  Shh!

 As people started to arrive the gift table looked a lot more festive.

 We had an epic scavenger hunt that was loosely based on The Hobbit.  Here the kids are completing a task given to them in order to receive the next clue.

 Lennon working hard on a fairy house with one of Bianca's good buddies, Maddie.

 Chloe looking cool as a cucumber.

 Mia saw a layered crepe cake in a Martha Stewart magazine months ago and decided then and there that whatever her party theme, this would be the cake.  It was layers and layers of crepes with a whipped cream/lemon curd mixture spread between each layer, all topped off with a whipped cream/mascarpone cheese frosting.  I'm not gonna lie.  This cake went faster than any cake I have ever served at a birthday party...and it was nut and gluten free.  No one even guessed.

 Mia is very lucky and has some wonderful friends who know her quite well.  She received several adventure books, including The Fellowship of the Ring, the Eregon series and the Artemis Fowl series. She also got several fairie figures, a journal and lots of art supplies among other great stuff.

Just some of her awesome loot.

 The morning after, this was the the stunning ensemble Lennon came up with.  T-shirt, undies, socks and camo shoes with a giant back pack filled with a sleeping bag.  

This is the cliff where Mia and nine of her friends camped out for the night.  Shelby slept in a separate tent right beside them.  They thought it was pretty awesome to be camping in the woods, on a cliff for the night.  In the morning, Shelby got up and made them a fire before breakfast.  Mia's a pretty lucky girl to have such a cool Daddy.  And I am pretty happy that I didn't have to sleep out there in a tent by myself.  I was up in my bed nice and cozy with Lennon for the night.

This morning the girls were up before 6.  They even thought up and filmed an entire movie that Mia started editing today.  I'm not exactly sure what it is about, but it seemed to involve lots of running and at one point Chloe gets tied to a tree and I think she may die and then come back to life?  I'll be interested to see the finished product.  I was very happy to see all these girls from such different backgrounds all play so well together.  There were girls at the sleepover ranging from 6 to 13.  From public school, private school and home schooled lives.  Mia's friends are pretty cool.  She's not bad herself.