Narnia Party

Warning: you might have to be a Narnia geek to understand a lot of the references in this post.

We have been in Narnia lately. Luke and Nat have read all but the last book together (which we started tonight) and it is about all Luke talks about lately. We are happy to imagine with him, discuss our differing theories about where Aslan actually comes from, and mourn with Luke as each of the Pevensie children grows too old to return to Narnia. It was a logical choice for Luke's sixth birthday party. He didn't, however, want it to be themed around The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as that is not his favorite book. So we wandered into his other favorites, creating a Cair Paraval cake, a throne room in Cair Paravel, and the Dawn Treader. We also stopped off to explore the Lone Islands, Felimath-- to be exact.

We invited three families who have children close in age to both Luke and Noah. It simplified things quite a bit to just have the three families coming.

Here are a few pictures of the preparations and the party

Invites, complete with sealing wax:
The throne room in Cair Paravel:
The tunics-- created for each of the kids with Aslan painted on the front:
The table, fit for a high king:
Luke excitedly explaining all his favorite parts to his friends (who were, I am sure, completely lost, as none of them have read the books):
His friends, patiently listening to the ramblings of a Narnia obsessed six year old:
High Kings Luke and Tade:
With High King Harrison:
Exploration of the Lone Islands:

Painting their very own Dawn Treaders:
Cair Paravel cake:
Luke and Noah did a good deal of the decorating for the cake. They lined the gum drops up, created the flags and helped me position everything. They also helped consume it. It was a pretty delicious cake, if I do say so myself.
Presents, complete with the Donaldson tradition of letting the giver bop the receiver on the head:
One of the things that I love about watching kids give each other presents is how excited they get to give the presents. Tade is showing off all the details of the dragon he gave Luke. So cute. When Luke was saying his prayers the night after the party he prayed that, "all the kids that came to my party will get great presents like I did when it's their birthday."

There were some games and activities (put the bracelet on Eustace, the dragon) that I didn't get to and it was too hot to be out on the Dawn Treader (the deck). But, none of the kids seemed to mind and they were all happy to play, paint, imagine, eat cake, and play with Luke's gifts.