Sword in the Stone Birthday Party

He was turning 4. My little sword lover. My boy who loves to dress up as a knight or as a dragon. And when he climbed up on the stone at Magic Kingdom last summer and tried to pull the sword out of the anvil, I knew exactly what we would be doing for his birthday party in February!

We started with hanging banners that said "Daye Castle" and "Happy Birthday, Sir Gibson!". We reused the purple sun streamers that we used for Lindsay's Tangled Party~ 2 years ago. And this set the stage for our celebrations...

Each knight would receive a Splash bomb sword and each princess would receive a bubble wand. We hung these on the chairs.

The table was decorated with a knight scene surrounding the Sword in the Stone cake (food details and recipes found here). Each child had their own place setting with a 12 x 12 piece of paper and their name. I purchased a "Once Upon a Time" paper stack a couple of years back, so I was able to use the paper from that for the place settings and for the streamers. Party planning tip- whenever you see paper stacks on sale and it is paper that you might possibly use, buy them! You will be surprised at how often you will use special paper for different projects!

As the guests arrived, my knights and my princess invited them to play in the "Daye Castle"- a tent set up with Imaginext Castle toys- my boys absolute favorite toys!

Then all of the kids had an opportunity to make shields (these came in handy when they were able to retrieve their swords from chair backs later in the party!). We used 12 inch cake rounds for the shields and duct tape for the handles.

Princesses received a tiara made from star streamers and curly ribbon.

Each guest received homemade playdough (recipe found here) and had the opportunity to make their own stones with a toothpick sword to stick in it (you can find sword picks at party stores or online).

Gibson wanted to share his favorite movie with his friends, so we watched "Hassle with the Castle" also from Imaginext. I enjoyed snuggling with my 4 year old while we watched.

My nearly 10 year old daughter has become quite the illustrator, so rather than reading a copy of "The Sword in the Stone", my daughter and I wrote and illustrated a book for Gibson. You can find the story here. It was sweet to be able to make this homemade gift for my boy and then to read it as his party was priceless!

After the book, it was time for some cake! I am thankful that I made a practice cake to figure out all of the things that I didn't want to do. The real cake turned out great!

Rather than blowing out candles, we decided to sing to the birthday boy and then let him try to pull the sword from the stone. Daddy tried first and failed. Gibson succeeded and was the true king!

After cake, the sword fighting ensued. The shields came in handy and the kids had a blast!

It was finally time to slay the dragon (piñata that is!). Instead of hanging the piñata from the ceiling, my husband attached it to a broom stick to be able to "fly" the dragon. Each knight and princess had the opportunity to sit on Skip the horse and try to slay the dragon with their sword. This was so fun to watch!

Does it surprise anyone that the princess was the one who was able to defeat the dragon?!!!

The kids scrambled for candy and filled their goody bags. Each bag had a picture of the birthday boy with a thank you to the guests for making his birthday magical. In addition to the candy, they received their playdough, swords (or wands), and shields as their take home gifts.

Even though we had to postpone the original party date which meant that most of Gibson's friends were unable to attend, the party was still a wonderful success!

Happy Birthday, Sir Gibson! We love you!!!