This past Thursday Rascal turned 11 years old! For this birthday, having just finished reading (and listening to) The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, he asked if we could have a Hobbit themed birthday! It was so much fun (even if I did spend too much time in the kitchen!) and I've been so excited to share the pictures with you all.
.: Decorations :.
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort.”
For decorations I used a few things I had around the house to create a "Hobbit Hole" out of our dining room hutch! We covered the front with a green blanket, cut a yellow circle out of card stock, and then cut two pieces of brown paper to create the round door hole. We placed a green plant on top along with a black closet maid tote on top as the chimney.
The banner was inspired by Charlotte's lovely Lord of the Rings Banner! In fact, after hearing how slightly overwhelmed I was on Tuesday night (while talking to her during the girls Irish Dance class before going shopping) she kindly whipped up a document and emailed it to me! All I had to do was print it on parchment paper, tear the edges and glue the letters onto some 8"x5.5" black card stock! Thank you dear friend, you are the BEST!
(If she uploads her document I'll be sure to share the link. I also created a door sign using a "Party Business" font I downloaded online. You can download my document here.)
We also made a "tree" out of brown paper, which turned out out looking more like an Ent! :)
.: An Unexpected Journey :.
"Sorry! I don't want any adventures, thank you. Not Today. Good morning! But please come to tea -any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Good bye!”
We started the day with a quick trip to town for a Birthday Coffee Drink and found some beautiful golden rings while we were at the store to bring back for 2nd Breakfast!
.: Defeating Smaug :.
"[S]ome of the younger people in the town openly doubted the existence of any dragon in the mountain, and laughed at the greybeards and gammers who said that they had seen him flying in the sky in their young days."
We spent some of the afternoon playing The Hobbit Boardgame!
"The mere fleeting glimpses of treasure which [the dwarves] had caught as they went along had rekindled all the fire of their dwarvish hearts; and when the heart of a dwarf, even the most respectable, is wakened by gold and by jewels, he grows suddenly bold, and he may become fierce."
"The dragon is withered, His bones are now crumbled; His armour is shivered, His splendour is humbled."
.: An Afternoon Adventure :.
“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone.' I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”
As an extra snack, while I finished making dinner, I gave the kids baggies of Mountain Trail Mix and sent them outside to find their own adventure.
"Then something Tookish woke up inside of him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking stick."
“There are no safe paths in this part of the world. Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild now, and in for all sorts of fun wherever you go.”
"Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To find our long-forgotten gold."
.: Hobbit Hole Door Cookies
"It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle."
As I was thinking about what to do with the leftover Green Sugar Sheet and Sixlets (I only bought one package from the store) from the birthday cake, and decided to try and make Hobbit Hole Cookies (inspired by these) using the leftover Fudge Stripes from this year's Candlemas Cookie Candles with Drip Plates!
I used my circle hole punch to cut the sugar sheet and added a yellow Sixlets in the center with a dab of yellow sparkle gel. They only took a few minutes to make!
.: Dinner :.
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
~ On the Menu ~
Hobbit Stew in Bread Bowls
Tater (Po-Tay-Toe) Casserole
Gandalf's Cold Chicken and Pickles
Shire Garden Salad
Farmer Maggot's Mushrooms
Red Wine Grapes
Cheese Wheels
Mountain Trail Mix
Gollum's Gold Fish
Gandalf's Smoke Rings
Dried Apple Rings
Hobbit Door Cookies
Bilbo's Seed Cakes
Bifur's Apple Tarts
Buttered Scones
Raspberry Jam
Root Beer
Tea and Coffee
"Some called for ale, and some for porter, and one for coffee, and all of them for cakes; so the hobbit was kept very busy for a while."
I had also picked up various "ring" shaped snacks... The boys said the Snack-O's reminded them of Smoke Rings!
"He was blowing the most enormous smoke-rings, and wherever he told one to go, it went- up the chimney, or behind the clock on the mantlepiece, or under the table, or round and round the ceiling; but wherever it went it was not quick enough to escape Gandalf."
"Quite a merry gathering! I hope there is something left for the late-comers to eat and drink!"
"The dwarves ate and ate, and talked and talked, and time got on. At last they pushed their chairs back and Bilbo made a move to collect the plates and glasses. "I suppose you will all stay to supper for cake?" he said in his politest unpressing tones. "Of course!" said Thorin. "And after. We shan't get through the business till late, and we must have some music first. Now to clear up!"
.: Hobbit Music :.
"Now for some music!" said Thorin. "Bring out the instruments!"
The Hobbit Party. Shire Folk Music
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (soundtrack)
.: Birthday Gifts :.
We wrapped his birthday gifts in brown paper, tied with string, and attached gift tags and a beautiful new Hobbit Bookmark hand painted and ordered from The Fig and Thimble! (NOTE: The wonderful dwarf hoods the children are wearing were also all made by The Fig and Thimble!)
Gifts from Twinkle Toes, Chiquita (and Snuggles gift bag in the back), and Captain
The older children also wrapped up gifts for their brother! Twinkle Toes choose a couple mini-figures from Series 9 (and was very happy to discover that one of them was the Forest Maiden with a bow... Yep, Mom is getting good at "guessing" what's inside the packages! lol), Chiquita wrapped up the PB&J Candy Bar that the tooth fairy had recently left under her pillow (inside a little hobbit hole box she decorated!), Snuggles wrapped up some of his coins and we picked up some trail mix when we were at the store to add, and Captain did many extra little jobs and chores to save for a little lego set (the one that comes with Samwise Gamgee) for his brother.
Rascal's other gifts include the next four books in the Tales of the RAF series (since he enjoyed the first book which he received in his Christmas stocking so much), The Hobbit Lego Game,
Hobbit Attack of the Wargs Legos, Lego Empire State Building, and a World War II Discovery Kit.
.: Bilbo's Hobbit Hole Birthday Cake :.
The birthday boy loved his cake and added the finishing touches just before we sang Happy Birthday!
"You are a very fine person, Bilbo Rascal, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!"