Medieval Birthday Party Invitations

by Jennifer Chacos
(Nashua, NH)

A medieval themed party, whether it is a princess, king and queen or knight party, can be an awesomely creative party to throw. The decorations and games are all fantastic. You can be creative in absolutely every aspect of the party, invitations included. Sending out the invitations gives the attendees their first glimpse of the theme of the party and sets the mood and tone for what to expect. A lot of times it can have a hand in deciding if the person will want to go or not. In other words the invitations should be as great as the party itself. I have a great homemade invitation idea for one that I made, and although it does take a little time it is well worth the effort!

As with every announcement in medieval times it is a scroll. It looks real but is made out of paper and wood. You need a few supplies for this project. You will want to get some craft paper; I like the marbled parchment paper. You also will need some 1.4 in. dowels and dowel caps from any craft store. The dowel caps are just anything that will cap the dowel in a decorative manner. You can find ready made ones with all the little wooden embellishments.

First thing you need to do is to either stain the dowels and caps a wood tone or paint them whatever color you want. Next is to write out the invitation wording on the computer with a cursive type font. I use wording like "your presence has been requested..." or "announcing the birthday of the mighty king...” Use your imagination and have fun with the wording. Then print them out onto the paper, now it’s time to make it look old! Rip the sides of the paper in a wavy pattern. If you have the edges to straight it won't look good, it will just look boring. You then want to burn the edges carefully and wipe away any charred bits. This make the paper look really old and cool! You can also find deckled edge paper or kits for making these look old from any craft store. Take some glue and put it onto the top of the paper. Glue the dowel onto the top and bottom of the paper rolling it a little to glue all the way around the dowel. Add a little glue to the tips for your dowel caps and voila, you will be transported back in time. Roll up the two ends to meet in the middle and tie with a ribbon. There are several options for mailing these out (I would check with your local post office) or personally hand delivering them. I promise they will be a hit; you will hear tons of compliments and people will be excited to see what other creative ideas you have in store for this event, just make sure you have enough food because everyone invited will want to come!