Sunshine's 9th Narnia Birthday Party (food, decor, activites and more!)

At the end of February, we celebrated Sunshine’s 9th birthday party. She usually starts talking about her party in January. We tossed around various ideas for what to do this year. Finally, she settled on a Narnia birthday party. Over the past year, she read through the entire series herself (after listening to the radio theatre several times). Both my husband and I are huge Narnia fans too, so we had fun putting this party together.

A 9th Narnia Birthday Party

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The Invitations

A party starts, of course, with the invitations. I whipped these up on the computer in less than an hour. First, Sunshine and I did a quick Google search for Narnia images. We picked a picture we both liked to use for the front of the invitation. She wanted some images from the newer movies, while I preferred maps or more stylized images. We finally compromised.

Narnia birthday party invitation

Inside the card, I wrote brief birthday party details:

Daughter of Eve,

your presence is requested at the 9th birthday celebrate of Sunshine.

Please join us on Saturday, February 25th from 2 to 4 pm

as we step through the wardrobe into the magic of Narnia.

Narnian snacks will be provided.

RSVP to …

I simply created a Word document and adjusted the paper size to my blank notecard set. I put the picture at the top of the first page and the wording at the bottom of the second page. We ran a sample card through on regular paper in black and white, then printed the rest. I tinkered with the wording, font and size a little, but never noticed I’d left out the place until after we’d delivered all the invitations!

To make it quicker to print, I didn’t put the girls’ names on the cards. We just printed nine identical invitations for Sunshine’s guests. Then I printed envelopes with their names. If you have boys on your party list, address your cards to “Son of Adam.” Sunshine also pointed out that we gave two cards to two sets of sisters, and should have addressed those to “Daughters of Eve.”

Narnia Birthday Party Food

I spent the day before the party prepping food. Since we’d decided to have a mid-afternoon party, I thought I could keep the snacks simple. There’s actually quite a bit of food mentioned in the Narnia books (enough to fill a cookbook!).

Edmund’s Turkish Delight

I made Turkish delight, because what would a Narnia birthday party be without this infamous treat? I’d never tried Turkish delight before, but I can understand Edmund’s appreciation for it! It’s pretty easy to make, but does require time to set.

Tip: get treat bags and send some Turkish delight home with each child. (I may have had lots of Turkish delight leftover after the party because I didn’t do this… but I assure you, it was still greatly enjoyed…)

Mr. Tumnus’ Eggs and Mr. Beaver’s Fish

I made a dozen deviled eggs (because Lucy has a boiled egg with Mr. Tumnus). We served goldfish crackers a la Mr. Beaver (I figured most of the kids wouldn’t want real fish…).

Narnia birthday party food

Lantern Waste Cake

For Sunshine’s cake, I went simple. I can bake, but I’m not super talented at decorating. I made my mom’s vanilla cake, as per Sunshine’s request. We got some sparkly sugar and a lamp post at Michael’s and used that to create a winter scene on the cake.

Lamp post birthday cake for a Narnia birthday party

Party Decorations

I like being able to reuse decorations or repurpose items we have around the house. For Sunshine’s party, I made a felt banner. This was an idea I got from the DIY Mommy. I had a couple packs of bias tape already, so I got several sheets of felt. I picked purple and blue felt to match the girls’ room. Now, the banner hangs in their room and looks awesome!

The banners were pretty quick to put together; I think I sewed all three in under an hour on Saturday morning. (Yes, I’m a last-minute party person!) We strung them around the dining room to create a “pavilion” feeling. I would have made more banners, if I’d given myself more time to shop.

We used an adjustable closet rod to create a “wardrobe” in our front hallway. When the kids came inside, they got to push through the coats to “enter Narnia.” Before the party started, our girls had fun running through the hallway. I laughed when Jade (almost 4) popped through the coats and shouted gleefully, “Now I’m in Narnia!”

Through the wardrobe into Narnia!

Narnia Birthday Party Activities

Finally, with the invitations sent, RSVPs returned, food made, and house decorated, it was PARTY TIME! Sunshine’s friends trickled in around 2 pm.

Lucy’s Handkerchiefs

Our first party activity was embroidering handkerchiefs, like the one Lucy gives Mr. Tumnus. I bought a set of plain white handkerchiefs. The girls already had a large stash of embroidery thread.

This craft turned out to be a bit more work than I anticipated. Only a couple of the girls (ages 7 to 9) had any sewing experience. I had to help separate the embroidery thread (from 6 strands to 2), thread the needles, and demonstrate back stitch.

Sunshine embroidering her handkerchief

The girls each drew their initials on the handkerchief with a pencil, then chose their embroidery colour. While they stitched, I re-threaded needles, untangled knots, and gave sewing lessons. They really got into it, though! All the girls stitched very well and were really proud of their work.

For Jade, and one of the younger girls, I got out my fabric markers. Maybe I should have just done this, instead of sewing. Several of the girls, after they’d finished sewing, added more decorations to their handkerchiefs with the markers.

As I saw the time edging toward 3 pm, I started suggested we wrap up the craft. A couple girls who had arrived later were disappointed they couldn’t finish, so I tucked extra thread with their handkerchiefs so they could finish at home.

Embroidered handkerchiefs

The Witch’s Stone Animals

We transitioned into snacks and cake, then came back to our second craft: stone animals like the ones the Witch creates at her castle. I had a bag of rocks, plus pompoms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, foam sheets, and Sharpies for the girls to use.

Making stone animals for a Narnia birthday party

The girls loved this activity! It was fun to see how creative they were with the materials I’d given them. There were bunnies, snakes, ducks, mice, lady bugs, and more. Our only problem was the single glue gun. The girls were lined up, waiting for their turn to get their creatures glued together. Gluing was pretty quick, but the girls were quicker at planning their animals.

Narnia Party Games

When a few of the girls had finished their animals, I started a game of Statue. The kids pretended to be the stone statues in the Witch’s palace, while one of them was the Witch. This was lots of fun (two girls were very good at being statues!). Once all the girls finished their stone animals, we ran out of space in our small living room for so many statues.

So I sent them off to play hide and seek, as Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund are doing when Lucy discovers the wardrobe. We have a small, 3-bedroom condo, so it was fun to hear them trying to hide! Lily baffled all of us once by hiding in the laundry basket in my en-suite bathroom. We all looked in there for her, but nobody turned on the light or double-checked that the pile in the basket was just clothes instead of a kid. We had a good laugh over that!

As parents started to arrive, I called the girls out of hiding and gave them their handkerchiefs and stone animals to take home. I should have been more organized here, and had bags with their names on them to keep track of their crafts.

More Resources for Your Narnia Birthday Party

We had a lot of fun with our Narnia party. I had also considered playing charades (by having the girls act out various scenes or characters from the book), making snow globes, colouring, or watching The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In the end, we had more than enough to do for one afternoon!

If you’re planning a Narnia birthday party for your child, here’s some more ideas and resources: