Surprise party help!

[FolkyFoxFace]

I'm throwing a surprise party for DH soon. He's the type to love it, so I'm not worried about that...but I've never hosted a "real" party before!

There'll be roughly 20 people, and I wanted to do a mediaeval theme (it's his area of research, and he's quite obsessed 😁). We don't have a huge house but I've bought a few extra chairs so we'll muddle through.

Plans so far.

No fancy dress, just themed decor. No idea how. I've been considering wall hangings but not sure if that'll be naff.

BYOB, however I will supply a small selection. All our friends do BYOB so no worries there about etiquette.

Food - definitely not themed. Wedid that once before and while we're good cooks, there are only so many ways you can cook a turnip. 😂 We have allergies so I'll be making it myself. Thinking:

Quiche
Potato salad
Egg sandwiches
Cheese sandwiches
Cheeseboard
Olives, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.
Hummus
Guacamole
I make a few other interesting dips he likes
Crisps
Greek salad
Spicy sweet potato wedges

We're vegetarian (as are most guests) so no meats, but was thinking smoked salmon for the pescatarians.

It's basically a low key, fun, silly party with as many people he loves in one space. Due to logistics I can't make him leave and come back, so I'll be sneaking guests in. We have a 5 month old who'll be happy in the sling, he doesn't have a bedtime as he's happy sleeping on me, so it'll likely go on into the evening.

It doesn't sound much but I think he'll love it if I get it right. Any tips on decor, food, or general hosting?!

@grafittiartist

Wish I was going to a medieval themed party!! I am getting excited on your behalf !!

I'm so glad I posted now! I've been dreading this for weeks, this is just the thing I needed to get a bit of excitement going, and a good kick up the bum!

@FusionChefGeoff

You really need to get him out of the house to set up though!? It will take at least a couple of hours to do all the food prep and get everything hung up / set out etc.

How were you planning on doing all that with him in the house??

I was going to leave him upstairs with the baby, and tell him I'm prepping a fancy lunch and not to come down. He's quite well behaved. Then have everyone sneak in very quietly. I'd send him out but he'll know something is up then! I don't know how do-able that is though!

Doesn't he ever take the baby out? Visit friends? Could a friend call with some furniture that needs moving / a childcare emergency?

We did a surprise party for our dad. Won't go into it as its not important. But we bought salads from morrisons. You know they have the different types of salads in the salad bars, well, you can order bowls of them - different sizes. They went down really well. Bought quiches, made our own sandwiches etc. We then bought our puddings from Lathams. They are delicious and we could have served just those and nothing else and people would have been happy!!
Just buying some stuff took the pressure off a bit. There's a lot to do as the day gets closer.
You're going to have a great day. Very envious.

Could you make some tabards for your guests to put on with coats of arms on them to wear over their own clothes? You could design something to do with their name. But might be time-consuming and arty.

@fusionChefGeoff DS is ebf and a total bottle refuser. Literally woke up one morning and wouldn't even entertain one, so it would have to be somewhere that meant he could be back within an hour. DS gets like a limpet as soon as he's been away for longer than 20 mins at the moment. Hmmm. It's also difficult, as DH will want to relax in the morning - he's quite the homebody - so if he thinks people are trying to drag him out to do anything like furniture moving, etc. on his birthday, he'll just turn his phone off. 🤦

I did consider another location, but trying to cut any bigger costs out at the moment. Hmmm. Unless I have a sudden brainwave, everyone will just have to be as quiet as a mouse. 😁

@Haywirecity That sounds lovely, I bet your dad really appreciated that. I do like the idea of buying in some things - it's a lot for one person to do, especially if I'm up prepping the night before and the morning of. Especially good in terms of puddings - I hadn't even thought of anything sweet. Which has now just reminded me of a birthday cake! I really do have quite a lot to do, don't I?

Love the tabards idea. I think guests would like that, too. It's a little bit extra and hopefully would make them feel a bit more part of something. I could also give them to them (alongside wine!) when they arrive. Something to keep things funny and light while we have to be quiet and wait for everyone to arrive.

These really are wonderful ideas. I've ordered some props and bits of costume, and tomorrow going to write a food list. I might even go crazy and order from Morrisons through Amazon - just got myself Amazon Prime for the occasion!

🥳

@Atalune

There is something really inelegant and sad about egg sandwiches. I think you can do a better buffet!

I would instead do

5 bean Chilli with all the sides
Rice
Jacket potatoes

Serve on big platters with the chilli in a big cauldron like pot? Much more feast like and a bit of wowee/indulgent. Hello fresh do a great vege recipie online.

Theme-
What about asking the guests to wear medieval colours and maybe even a cheap medieval ball style eye/face masque? So everyone in burgundies and deep greens and navy’s etc.

You could do scrolls for the food menu
You could have music and candle light
You could have swathes of fabric and make a big table scape with greenery.

Depending on how crafty you are this could be done quite cheap with a big of artistic know how.

Could you have enlarged photos of the birthday boy and his family and make a big ye olde family tree and give everyone silly/funny medieval names-
Lady Alice of … mother of ye birthday child

You could use a font from a laptop or just use a slant tipped large marker to do the writing?

This is all excellent advice especially re the food. It is also much easier to make that than lots of sandwiches.

Goblets are a must as are cake stands with fruit, especially grapes. At least that is what they have in films!

Is there one efficient friend who can sneak in and help?

I'd just order in a load of veggie pizzas.. but then I'm pretty lazy !

For my birthday I did a good deal with the local pizza place who delivered at the agreed time.

I'd also do hot food instead of sandwiches, due to preference, but if you decide to do sandwiches, second the Morrisons suggestion, their platters are excellent value and they do a vegetarian one.

But your original menu is good but if you're doing a few dips, I'd suggest some nice flat breads or pitta breads (if you're going to Morrisons, their own brand pitta breads are by far the best normal supermarket ones) and some crudites.

These are lovely ideas, thank you all for inspiring me! Today I've dug out some material, I did actually find a flag (no idea what it's supposed to represent, but it looks cool 😁), and I found a piece of velvet that I'm going to turn into a table runner. Ordered some cloth (hassien is it called? The sack material?) bunting, a great big garland of foliage with roses in that I think will make the bay window look a bit fancy, some more flags, goblets...and now I'm after some cauldron style pots. 😁

And the Guinevere dress still fits!

Very excited indeed.

@CanIPleaseHaveOne I do have a sister who might give a hand. She's as badly organised as me, but even so, two clumsy pairs of hands are better than one! Fingers crossed she's available. Might bribe with mead...

Could you hire a court jester as entertainment? If these don't exist I think its a definite gap in the market

It all sounds fantastic! Well done.

@Janaih I'm soooo tempted to ask my BIL to do it. 😂 He'd make a cracking jester, he studied clownery in France yonks ago as a theatre student!

@Atalune Thank you! I hope it turns out as well as I imagine it. It'll be fun whatever happens; I've had awful PND since March, so it's lovely to have something I can get excited about with minimal pressure, and lots of creativity!

Could you not ask him to take your child for a walk (if the weather is decent) that way you won't get caught sneaking people in).
I'd be tempted to ask people to dress up though, if your DH is into medieval, it will make the party more memorable.
Was there any entertainment games / dances that you could all do aswell

Buy him a title off t'internet. Lord Fox-Face of Folky Towers type of thing.

@MrsMoastyToasty

Buy him a title off t'internet. Lord Fox-Face of Folky Towers type of thing.

This is absolutely effing brilliant. Done. He's going to LOVE it.

@HalzTangz

Could you not ask him to take your child for a walk (if the weather is decent) that way you won't get caught sneaking people in). I'd be tempted to ask people to dress up though, if your DH is into medieval, it will make the party more memorable. Was there any entertainment games / dances that you could all do aswell

Unfortunately with the little one being ebf plus teething, he's not tolerating being away longer than an hour at the moment. I say an hour, but when it reaches 20 mins is when he starts to howl. So, I think we're a bit stuck on this one!

My plan is to have them text when close and I'll let them in. Plenty of music upstairs and downstairs. He won't come down if told not to, so hopefully I can cram them all in and he won't hear anything!

Definitely going for costume now. Had a few pleased responses which I didn't expect from friends!

Games is definitely a good idea. It'll be silly and I think we're all close enough for it not the be that excruciating kind of organised fun - rather just friends having a really good laugh!

https://www.craftcompany.co.uk/shop-by-category/non-edible-cake-decorations/cake-toppers/cake-star-knight-cake-topper-decoration/

You could get a plain cake from a supermarket and buy this little guy and some flag cake toppers to go on top? Or a dragon cake topper and make some fake grass by colouring some desiccated coconut to stand them on.

You need some of these! https://partypieces.co.uk/products/dragon-knight-party-silver-shield-party-plates?nosto=searchpage-nosto-2

Omg! Look at this page.... https://www.partypacks.co.uk/collections/medieval

You can get stocks, a stone tablecloth, inflatable knights costume, photo props, the works!!

And get some goblets to drink out of..lots of places have Halloween stuff in that you can get cheaply.

How exciting! Good luck and enjoy!