Birthday Theme Dinner of the Month

This is a magical tale of adventure that takes place in Sherwood Forest and Nottingham Castle. It’s an easy theme to tailor to boys, girls, or both. For past ideas, check out our blog archive.

Robin Hood Party

Menu
  • The Forest:  Create a hummus river lined with standing broccoli florets. Dip and dipper – voila!
  • Archery Targets:  Place a grape tomato in the middle of pineapple rings to make fruit bullseyes.
  • Turkey Legs:  Bake or grill the leg part of chicken wings as kid-sized ‘turkey legs.’ Before cooking, brush legs with barbecue sauce to add a flavor most kids enjoy.
  • Target Cupcakes:  Make our Chocolate-y Banana Cupcakes (see recipe on page 97) ahead of time and have party kids decorate their own cupcakes like targets with tubed icing.
Decorations
  • Forest:  Hang brown and green streamers around the party room and use earthy colors for your tablecloth, napkins and plates to create Sherwood Forest ambiance. 
  • Fort:  Use huge appliance boxes to create a fort or drape bed sheets over strings tied between chairs in the party room.
  • Trees:  Cut out trunk shapes from cardboard and tape them to the walls.  During the party, have blindfolded guests play ‘Pin the Leaves on the Tree’ with tape attached to cut leaf shapes.
  • Castle:  Cut a door and windows into an appliance box for Nottingham Castle.  As party kids arrive, get them started with decorating the castle with crayons, stickers and tissue paper as window curtains.
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Bright Idea! Many appliance stores have refrigerator and stove boxes to donate so be sure to ask for them.  Call early in the morning to see what is available.
theme dinner parties
Activities
Keep the kids busy with these:

  • Robin Hood T-shirts:  Cut neck and waist in V-pattern and let kids decorate their shirts with t-shirt markers from a local craft store.  Tie around their waist with twine.
  • Treasure Hunt:  Depending on how much space you have, keep this game small or larger.
  1. Hide pennies in a sandbox and let the kids dig away.
  2. Hide nickels around the party room Easter Egg Hunt style.
  3. Plan a progressive scavenger hunt where the first clue leads to 2nd, and the 2nd leads to 3rd, etc. The final clue guides kids to a hidden ‘treasure chest’ of pennies or nickels.
  • Target Practice:  Make targets with hung-up hula hoops, plastic cups stacked in the hallway, or poster board with holes cut out. Then, let kids practice their aim.  Nerf type arrows or homemade slingshots made with long rubber bands and damp cotton balls are safe options. 
  • Movie Time:  As the party winds down, put on the animated Robin Hood movie to play in the background.  This will help to calm party kids and reduce chaos when it’s time to leave.
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  • Bright Idea! There are companies that rent Nerf darts if you go this route and need plenty. 
  • Bright Idea! To avoid chaos, make it clear from the beginning that kids & pets are not targets.
Invitation
To save you time, feel free to print our template.
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  • Bright Idea! For some creative fun, use dampened tea bags to give the invitation edges an old-time look. ​
​For more birthday party ideas, download a copy of Need Help Mom? on Amazon!

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