How To Plan A Medieval Party: A Modern Guide To A Renaissance Event

How to Plan a Medieval Themed Party

If you love themed parties, then an excellent and straightforward, not to mention popular themed party idea, is one you can center around the medieval period – just think Robin Hood, merry men, and Maid Marion!

So, what exactly is a medieval party?

The medieval times were all about royalty, knights, ladies, and castles, which make it easy to come up with party ideas to tie into all aspects of your party planning, whether it's for a birthday, a wedding, a historical event, or any other excuse to have a personalized and unique celebration.

There are simply hundreds of fantastic party ideas to make your medieval soiree unique and memorable.

With a fantastic choice of every possible costume for beautiful princesses in their gorgeous free-flowing robes made of every conceivable color, and knights and kings in their shining armor brandishing their swords and shields - not to mention the wizards, dragons, witches, queens, and peasants – you can really go back in time and have a party to remember!

And no one can claim they have nothing to wear!

Whether the medieval theme is for your birthday or a party for a friend, your guests will love finding a medieval costume to search for and dress up in… So, if you relish the thought of a theme party with a difference, you love a bit of history, you adore dressing up, and you're in the mood for a bit of medieval romance - then this is a themed party idea with the wow factor!

Party Ideas From The Middle Ages

The great thing about having a themed party, whatever the medieval party ideas that you may have been, is that there are lots of party supplies to search for.

Everything from food to decorations, costumes, invitations, and napkins can be found on-line, and all you have to do is to fill up the cart, send your email address with what it is you want, and then – hey presto – your medieval party is on underway and personalized for you and your guests!

Maybe the idea for a medieval theme party is for your wedding day – perhaps you fancy yourself as Queen Genevieve and your fiancé as King Arthur? Or maybe Sir Lancelot?

This can be a truly magical day with a difference - definitely not one to be easily forgotten!

Just think of the fun you could have with your wedding costumes - with your ladies-in-waiting being in the same beautiful gold or white color as your own medieval bridal costume with matching bridal headbands and garlands of flowers and tonnes of ribbons.

The best men could be knights in their costume armor with swords, shields, and helmets, and the setting could be a castle with an abundance of paper bunting, plaques, and even straw matting!

You could even have a jousting, a hog roast with a table set like a banquet, an old cart with straw - the options are endless...

Medieval Themed Party

For a really great medieval theme birthday party or any medieval celebration, you have to do your research about what the medieval period was all about.

This was a period of chivalry and castles– where romance was always in the air.

Poetry, plays, songs, and dancing were all about love and war - use these as part of your theme.

But there was also the less pleasant side to this romantic age – it wasn’t always swooning ladies wanting favors and the brave, handsome knights wielding their swords - life wasn't always easy.

No, there were also stocks – so a great party idea that you could have as a game is putting someone in the stocks and throwing things at them, which is always great fun for kids and adult guests alike. However, wet sponges are the only recommended weapon!

Stocks are also fabulous as photo props! Definitely one for the album.

Fantastic costumes and accessories like coned hats and veils, crowns, invitations, and table decorations can really get your creative juices flowing.

The renaissance period is a great time to re-enact.

By doing your research, you can find out all the information you need to ensure kids and adults alike will find that they like the medieval period as a themed birthday, wedding, or celebration party, which you can personalize to make everyone happy.

Get Started With Your Medieval Party

Whatever the themed party you decide on, your decorations, food, music, party games as well as other party supplies are essential.

Your medieval party will be fantastic fun if you stick to the party ideas around the theme – if you are a dab hand with the decorations, you can always make them yourself, but if you’re like the rest of us, cheat and find your supplies from the party planners!

 Invitations you could use scrolls as a form of your invitation – literally, roll up your handwritten or supplied paper invitation and wrap a piece of ribbon around it for authenticity. If you really want to go all-out and create a masterpiece, you could slightly burn the edges to make the invitation look really old and genuine. Kids will love to help you make these - let them share in the making! Alternatively, you could use a cut-out of a castle or a medieval character as a form of your invitation - again, work together with your friends and family.

Crowns are a really medieval theme – ladies can have ribbons and flowers, or tiaras, and men can wear crowns or caps.

 No party will go well without food and drink – this is when you have to prepare a feast fit for a king. You don’t have to go mad and cook a boar, but lots of chicken drumsticks and finger food are essential – remember, medieval people didn’t use cutlery!

Medieval cuisine tended to focus particularly on meats, cheese, and vegetables. So, a great appetizer idea is a cheese plate with crackers, cured meats, and fresh olives. Perhaps for the main dinner, serve chicken and beef skewers with garlic mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley.

A drink could be served in gold goblets – not real ones, of course! Medieval men and ladies drank mostly wine and beer or cider together. Apple juice is a popular choice for kids.

Decorations for your castle could include bunting, banners, and medieval crests.  Your backdrop for your party should really be a castle or a banqueting hall. Flowers and ribbons are very medieval and look great strung up around your medieval setting and on the table. Try and use a lot of gold around the castles.

Banners of coats of arms, candles strewn around the room, lots of greenery for décor is the order of the day.

Your tablecloths could be paper, or plastic stone tablecloths spread over trestle tables laden with food.

Adorn your party venue with flags printed with the distinctive rampant lion motif - very popular back in the day, as well as decorative plastic ivy vines. Add more pennant bunting, gold, green, red yet, and orange hanging paper decorations, tavern signs, crepe streamers, perhaps add a stone path floor runner, suites of armor cardboard cut outs, add yet more red and white garlands, balloons, crests and Fleur de Lis simply everywhere for real medieval authenticity.

Party Music - Start your party off with medieval music to set the tone – this can obviously change as the party progresses.

You could encourage traditional medieval dancing with old-fashioned court music to get the party off to a great start…. You could hire someone professional to give dancing demonstrations or practice yourself to show your guests what to do.

Medieval party games are a must. These can include jousting (loser is put in the stocks), sword fights, best costume prize, crown the king and queen of the night, medieval quizzes, truth or dare …

Party Supplies

There are lots of party suppliers who can provide you with every sort of prop you may want for your medieval party. So, if you are in the market for perhaps hosting a theatrical banquet, or if you are attending a historical re-enactment, throwing a knights and dragons themed birthday celebration is a great idea. Some endless suppliers have a wide variety of fantastic medieval party supplies suitable for an array of both adult and children's events and who can help make your event truly memorable. Whether you shop online, on the high-street party and costume shops, or decide to create your own, you can buy everything you could possibly ever want for the most amazing party ever. Remember, a man’s home is his castle, and with the exquisite range of themed medieval party supplies, decorations, props, and tableware, yours too quite literally can be transformed to be the backdrop of your fantastic party. So, step back in time and glimpse back into bygone years with sumptuous fabric hanging banners, or novelty swords, helmets and shields, plastic jeweled gold goblets, gems of every conceivable color, and a stock which can also stand in as a photo prop, adult dragon costumes,adult dragon costumes, and fancy-dress accessories can all add to the fun.