Sweet Cheeks decided she wanted a Narnia Birthday Party. Considering that the C.S. Lewis series is one of my favorites, I jumped on the idea and began to plan. Who were the characters I wanted to represent? Which scenes needed to be used? HOW could I get a huge lion?
Once reality set in that I wouldn’t have a huge lion, I started thinking about what I could do in my awesome garage. There were certain items that HAD to be represented: the wardrobe, the children, Aslan, redemption, and of course…the White Witch!
Invitations for a Narnia Birthday Party
I used a picture of a lion and a lamp post to create simple invitations. On the invitations I wrote,
“Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve, your presence is requested at the 7th Birthday Celebration of ____________. Please join us on _______________, from ________ to ________ as we step through the wardrobe into the magical land of Narnia. Come dressed as your favorite King, Queen, or Narnia character. Narnian snacks will be provided.”
I printed out the invitations, rolled them and used pretty red ribbon to tie them together. Then we delivered the invitations by hand.
Decorations for a Narnia Birthday Party
The Wardrobe: I used brown wrapping paper and tape. I modeled it after the most recent version of the wardrobe. I’m not a great artist, but I did manage to draw the tree, which references to The Magician’s Nephew and the apple trees. I also drew the sun rising over the far sea because that’s where the Emperor is and where Aslan comes from.
All of the children, moms, and dads gathered in our dining area in front of the wardrobe door. Once everyone was present, my husband told a synopsis of how the children arrived in Narnia. He also took pictures of the kids in their costumes in front of the door. Then he opened the door and the magic began!
The Flags and Lamppost: I used twine, fabric glue, and red felt. In the picture below you can see the lamppost I borrowed from a friend. It worked perfectly! And I placed it on the other side of the wardrobe so the kids would pass by the lamppost as they entered Narnia.
Aslan’s Tent: I used a tent, large enough to put a table under, as Aslan’s Tent, or Aslan’s How. We used large paper binder clips to attach rich colored sheets around the sides. On one corner I attached a beautiful shimmery piece of cloth and used twine to tie it around the pole that stuck out into the garage. I have a large green plant I placed there as well. I put the food table under the tent and borrowed a great candelabra to put in the middle.
The White Witch’s Throne Room: It had to be white! So we placed a white blanket on the floor and put our gliding chair on one side of the blanket. We then covered the chair with a white satin sheet. So simple! {Thrift shops are a great place to find sheets!}
The kids were to enter Narnia and be greeted by the White Witch, who would offer them some Turkish delight and ask them to sit before her throne. She then told the story of her great nemesis, Aslan, and the two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve. She explained how Aslan sacrificed himself for Edmund and conquered the White Witch. She also told the plan of salvation and how Jesus died on the cross and sacrificed himself for our sins.
Food for a Narnia Birthday Party
The food consisted of Turkish delight (yes, the real thing!), apples and bananas, crescent rolls, white Christmas candy, white cheddar cheez-its…and evidently, I forgot the yogurt and cheese sticks in the fridge. Oops. My daughter isn’t a big cake person, so we did two round cookie cakes. One showing Narnia’s winter and one representing spring.
My son made a lego version of Aslan’s How for table decoration.
Costumes for a Narnia Birthday Party
Capes: I am NOT a person who sews. So for anything I make, it must have fabric glue….or be *very* simple. My girls wanted capes to go with their Narnia dresses, so I bought one yard of red, and one of shiny blue, material.
I measured the length of the material so that it wouldn’t be too long. I folded it in half and cut the hole for the head. Then I measured that hole on the girl to wear it and cut larger if needed. I used velcro squares to attach around the neck. The material did pull some around the neck, so I asked my mother-in-law to sew a simple hem.
I hand sewed one of the velcro squares onto a cape, but it made the needle so sticky that I didn’t bother to sew the other squares, which means 1 or 2 of them have fallen off. But I have the pack of velcro squares so I can put on a new ones.
Dresses: Since this was a December birthday party, I kept an eye on the Halloween displays at our local thrift stores. For Sunshine, I found a cute orange dress that was probably used as a fancy pumpkin costume. The original dress I found for Sweet Cheeks ended up being an official Disney Narnia dress, but when she tried it on, it was too small. We gave that one to a friend to wear to the party.
Once Halloween was over, I hunted online and found the blue dress you see in the picture above. It is a Maleficent movie costume, which worked great with the blue cape! My daughter made her own headband out of pipe cleaners.
White Witch: Yes, I dressed up as The White Witch. Normally, my husband does all the dressing up for our birthday parties, but this time it was my turn!
For the crown: I used a white foam wreath, 2 boxes of different sized icicle Christmas ornaments, and 2 fuzzy white boas. I took a knife and trimmed off some of the styrofoam from the middle of the wreath so that my head would fit. It fit snuggly, but once the icicles were in the foam, it became a little heavy. As long as I didn’t jerk my head around, the crown stayed put. I stuck the icicles into the foam and then weaved the boas through the icicles. I also wrapped them around the wreath so that I covered as much of the wreath as possible.
Wearing this crown made me walk slow and methodically around Narnia, which helped my character. At the very end of the party, I dipped my head too far back and the crown shattered on the floor. While the crown fell apart, the icicles did not break, so I can use them again. Next time I make this I’ll need to come up with a different idea for the base, OR glue the icicles into the foam so they don’t have to be pushed so far into it which caused the styrofoam to weaken and break.
The dress: This was a basic white tunic made out of satin. My husband, the costume person that he is, came up with the idea for how to make it. (He’s totally a problem solver!) So this is a pattern-less original, but it’s basically an angel costume.
The make-up: If I had been thinking ahead with this like I did with the girls costumes, then I would have grabbed some white Halloween make-up while I could find it. Instead, I bought the lightest shade of foundation I could and used white baby powder on my face. I was pale, but not white, which may have worked out better. I also put on white mascara and white fingernail polish. A long, white wig, which I braided, finished the look.
The wand: I used a cut cane pole and wrapped it with tin foil. Simple! I even spoke in a really bad English accent!!
Art Project for a Narnia Birthday Party
I really wanted to find a large lion for Aslan, but it’s hard to find a large lion. Instead, I set up art tables and the children created an Aslan as their party favor. I wanted to do something that would not be tossed into the trash when the kids went home.
Preschoolers – We had a few younger brothers and sisters come to the party, and I did not want them left out, so they made paper plate lions using crayons and scissors to cut the mane. Original idea is from here.
Older kids – I bought white 8×10 art canvas which came in packs of 4 or 5. Other supplies were: pencils, paint (orange, yellow, white, and brown), paintbrushes, rubber cement, and black sharpie pens. I also took a quote from the novel Prince Caspian and printed it onto paper and trimmed it down.
Using the pencils, I had the kids follow my directions for drawing the lion face. Then they painted the face and mane. Once the paint was dry, they were to take the pens and outline the lion face. Lastly, they were to glue the quote at the top or bottom of the canvas. Original idea is from here.
Once everything dried, the kids all had something nice to take home and hang on their wall. And I hope the quote will make more sense to them as they grow and learn more about God. If you would like to print out the Aslan quote, then CLICK HERE.
Schedule for a Narnia Birthday Party
11:00 – 11:10: Gather in the dining area in front of the wardrobe until everyone arrived. Took pictures in from of the wardrobe of the kids and costumes. Only a few really dressed up. I had some Narnia coloring sheets on the table, but no one really did them. My husband told a synopsis of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
11:10 – 11:30: The children met the White Witch as they entered Narnia. They were all offered Turkish Delight until the White Witch told what happened to Edmund. Then they refused to eat any!! (They ate it later during food time!) The children sat on the blanket and heard the story of Aslan and the gospel.
11:30 – 11:50: Paint and make Aslan Lions.
11:50 – 12:20: Eat
12:20 – 12:40: Open presents. Sweet Cheeks sat on the throne to do this. She enjoyed that immensely!
12:40-1:00: Finish lions. We found that some of the kids had put on so much paint that they weren’t dry yet. So I had to send everything home with them. I heard from moms later that they had finished their lions and they looked great!
We had a great time with this Narnia birthday party!!
