Fantasy Medieval Birthday Party

Welcome, one and all, to ye olde 30th birthday partie!

Theme: medieval/fantasy

We will let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Everyone received scrolls as invitations

A Jolly Dragon Tavern sign welcomed gypsies, monks, messengers, elves and barbarians to the festivities

Entrance to the House of Nell / Jolly Dragon Tavern

Party set-up: bunting, candles, and shields everywhere

Some details on the main table

Chocolate coins for ambience and dessert

A useful bin to store your weapons while you feast

Entrance to the rest of the house

The interior of the Jolly Dragon Tavern

Various fantasy-themed shields

What is a tavern without a fireplace?

A glorious feast awaits weary travellers at the Jolly Dragon Tavern

Some more food. The pancakes were based on an actual medieval recipe.

Marius tapping into his inner barbarian

Action shot of the vicious barbarian

Annalene as the elven ranger showing off her throwing dagger

Elven huntress ready for action

Some details on Annalene's costume

The elven quiver

Elvish makeup

A happy monk showed up at the Tavern

An emissary from afar stopped by the Tavern on his travels

Playing around in costume

The barbarian clashes with some other tavern-goers

The Elf tries to teach the barbarian a lesson

Having fun as an elven maiden and a barbarian

The Tavern patrons seem to be getting along

Marius shaved his head for the party. It is the barbarian way.

Intimidating the knight at the entrance

Robin Hood showed up with his Gypsy lady 

A well-travelled and dangerous Assassin also stopped by

Christoffius the Brave brought his war hammer

A messenger from a faraway kingdom brought a message for the Elf

The gentlemen work up an appetite outside the Tavern

Group photo

The fantasy band of merrymakers pose for a magical picture

Action shot - two groups facing off

Looking epic

And finally... the feast!

Alien Party

Before we jump into another dress-up party description, let's get one thing straight: you do not have to spend thousands in order to look cool for a dress-up or cosplay. All it takes is some creativity, effort and commitment. Of course, it helps to buy a few things, but you don't have to order a R5000 costume online if you can make it work with some household items!

Last year, we were invited to an Alien-themed birthday party (based on the Alien movies, not just any old alien you felt like). We rewatched all the movies in preparation, and since we usually go big, decided to go for some of the more challenging characters: Annalene would be a xenomorph, and Marius would be a chestburster victim.

We seriously considered making the chestburster using a stuffed sock and some googly eyes from a craft shop, but we came across these in Red Claw Comix and just couldn't resist bringing them home:

Aren't they adorable?

We spent at least an hour playing with them and taking pictures when we got them.

After buying the facehugger and chestburster, we decided to use what we had at home for the rest of the outfits. Marius found an old shirt and cut a chestburster-sized hole in it, splattering the area with some red fabric paint for added gore. The result looked quite painful:

Luckily, the chestburster toy has quite a long tail which could wrap around Marius' body and tuck into his belt, keeping the creature in place. 

For Annalene's xenomorph, we had to take some creative liberties - a true-to-life one is very tricky to pull off!

We used an old Alien bandana and the facehugger soft toy around the face area, and then added to Annalene's black outfit by using Halloween skeletal rubber gloves that were lying around in the props chest. She finished off her look with black eyeliner on her lips and an alien 'tail' made from cardboard in her hair. It looked pretty scary, and we think people got the idea that she was a xenomorph.

At the end of the day, it was a pretty decent party dress-up. It helps to have a collection of odds and ends from previous dress-ups lying around, but if you think and plan ahead, you really don't need to spend all that much in order to look awesome. We could have found a way around buying the plush facehugger and chestburster, but we kind of wanted them around. 

Here are a few more action photos from that night:

Ripley and a xenomorph facing off

The chestburster finds a new victim

Marius has finally succumbed to his wounds

Calling all superheroes

Birthday time is party time!

For Annalene's 29th birthday, we decided to have a superhero-themed party. All the wonderful superhero and comic book hero movies constanty being released make us very happy, and what better excuse to pay tribute to the genre than a birthday celebration?

We decided to make it a 'create your own superhero' theme, to shake things up a bit and move away from just dressing up like Superman or Batman. Marius was Powerslide, a villain who controlled people through his music and shot lightning from his electric guitar, while Annalene was Meteora, an ordinary human being who happens to possess the recipe for an invincibility potion created in a certain little town in ancient Gaul.

Our guests also went to great lengths to come up with costumes and back-stories. We had time-manipulating parallel universe 'twins', a nymph who can control nature, a martial artist who uses ties as his main weapon, a student who fought crime at nighttime, and a brightly dressed asthma-inhaler-wielding hero who eliminates heavy feelings.

From left: Niya Antarie, Meteora, Super Student, Tieman, Lady Huffpuff, and the Hopps (bottom)

As always, we decorated our flat to suit the theme. It helps to be into geeky stuff and superheroes in general, as we could use quite a few items we already had in our possession!

After some snacking and chatting, we played a round of Superfight, which created quite a few laughs as unlikely superheroes with unbelievable powers faced off against each other. We also played Lieswatter, Fibbage and Drawful on the PS4 as part of Jackbox Games, which is a collection of really well-designed party games that allows people to join in using their cellphones.

Here are a few more photos of the party.

Backdrop to the lounge area

Budget party tip: draw pictures/symbols on balloons

This poster on the gate welcomed our superhero friends to the party

On the way to the front door

Welcome sign on the front door

Snack table. Yum!

Some of the snacks

Radioactive jelly

Mjolnir (Thor's hammer) snacks

Meteora and the Hopps

Niya Antarie chilling with Meteora

Tieman, Meteora, and Super Student

Meteora and Lady Huffpuff

Group photo: Niya Antarie, Meteora, Super Student, Powerslide, the Hopps, and Lady Huffpuff (Tieman not pictured)