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Do you remember reading about a magical land that you could get to only by wardrobe? And when you were little did you try to get to the wonderful world of Narnia by checking your closets? If so, you’ll enjoy this simple and fun DIY Narnia Party that you can throw for any occasion! Whether it’s for the holidays, a winter celebration, or just a fun way to end your lessons, this party will make you feel like you’ve stepped into a magical world! Read on to check out our budget-friendly ideas on decorations, food, tables, & more!
INVITATIONS
While the art of physical invitations has mostly given way to evites and messages, it’s still nice to add a little note about the party to get everyone excited about the theme!
For this party, we let everyone know it was Narnia themed & that they could come dressed up as their favorite Narnia character! And since Narnia is a magical world with woodland creatures and knights and princesses, it’s quite a range that everyone can choose from! (Note: if you have some elf ears, they’d work well for some of the magical creatures found in Narnia too!)
If you are handing out some physical invitations, it might be nice to sprinkling some Snowflake Confetti into the envelope for a wintry touch!
DECORATIONS
The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe has quite a few scenes that you could pick from to create your party. We opted for snowy, woodland decorations to give it the magical Narnia feel from Lucy’s first look at Narnia! If you’re more drawn to the prophecy and the battle portion, a medieval setting could work too! Check out our Magical, Medieval Party for some ideas!
A Narnia party would not be complete without a wardrobe! And what better way to welcome guests into the party area than to have them enter in through a ‘wardrobe’!
If you’re lucky, and you have a doorway or a large enough cardboard box to decorate as a wardrobe, that would work great! We did not have one and so set up our entrance area with a simple adjustable rolling garment rack (which was also incredibly useful so guests could hang up their coats). Then we hung up some Sheer Silver Snowflake Fabric at the end of the ‘wardrobe’ so guests could pass through a snowy landscape! We also had some old white sheets that we laid on the floor for “snow” as well as some Glitter Snowflakes to complete the snowy look. If you have little ones that love balloons, you could also add a TON of white balloons that they would have to walk through 🙂 Also, if you don’t have any old white sheets lying around, you can find some White Plastic Table Covers (12 pack) or a few from the Dollar Tree.
We also hung up some Snowflake Tissue Paper Hanging Decorations from the ceiling to complete the ‘snowy’ look. If you have little ones, you could have them create some of their own paper snowflakes before the party & hang those up too!
For our activities and our tables, we created a few Narnia Inspired Signs and Labels. Feel free to take a look here and use them for your own personal use!
PHOTO AREA
Photo backdrops are a great way of setting a theme and double as a nice and easy activity! Pick a backdrop that functions as decorative, add a few props to the scene and you’ve got a great place to hang out!
For this party, we brought out our Winter Backdrop which has worked very well for several parties & activities (Polar Express Movie Party, Frozen Party, Frozen 2 Party, and Snow Forts Imaginative Play). We set this up towards the party entrance to help complete the immersive entry experience 🙂
We did have grandiose ideas for creating a DIY lamp post, but time got the better of us. So, we ended up just having a printout of a lamp post. If you’re looking for instructions, we did intend to follow the steps from How to Make a Street Light by Snazzy Little Things.
Note, you don’t have to go all out with a photo backdrop stand either. Grab a few pieces of tape and an empty wall & you’re all set!
THE TABLE
Since we were going for a wintry, woodland look, we picked up a set of Wood Grain Plates. For each setting, we also added a glitter pinecone and a mini lantern. In the center, we added a small tabletop tree as well as some more glitter pinecones.
PARTY FOOD
No party is complete without some party food! When our parties are inspired by books, we like to add some signs with quotes as special nods to the authors’ works! This party was no different – there’s quite a few references to food in the C.S. Lewis books, which works out nicely! We based our party food from the first book but there’s quite a few food references throughout the entire series if none of these appeal to you 🙂
- Tea (hot and iced) – tea appears in quite a few places throughout the book, first with Mr. Tumnus then with the Beavers.
- Hot Chocolate – While it’s not 100% clear what the Snow Queen gives Edmund on their first meeting, it’s described as “sweet and creamy” – We took this as free reign to serve some of our favorite winter beverages – hot chocolate!!! (If you have an espresso machine or milk frother, you could also serve up some warm milk or lattes!!!)
- Milk – When the children meet the Beavers, they’re served milk with their meal.
- (Root) Beer – While the children were served milk, Mr. Beaver had some beer. Depending on the age of your guests, you could serve the younger ones some root beer or root beer floats!
- Eggs – Mr. Tumnus has quite a spread with his tea with Lucy, including eggs. While the book references boiled eggs, any egg favorites would be well appreciated by your guests (deviled eggs, egg salads, quiches, etc)
- Bread – Also featured in Mr. Tumnus’s tea and the Beaver’s House, bread and bread rolls are perfect pairings for parties!
- Potatoes – The children enjoyed some boiled potatoes with the Beavers, so any potato dishes would work great here (mashed potatoes, baked or twice baked potatoes, potato salad, etc).
- Fish – Depending on your guests, they may not be fans of fish dishes. If they are – then serve up your favorite fish recipes! If not, goldfish crackers are always a hit with picky little ones!
- Ham – The Beavers had a stash of ham which they packed for their journey with the children. Serve up some nice ham with your spread!
- Sandwiches – Or if a ham is a bit too time consuming for your party, you could also opt for sandwiches, which the Beavers made out of their sliced ham!
- Cake – Lucky for all those cake lovers out there, Mr. Tumnus serves some “sugar topped cake”. We served a few mini cakes to give our guests some choices, and topped one of them with an adorable mini lamp post.
- Marmalade Rolls – We opted for some simple cinnamon rolls but there are some mouth-watering recipes for marmalade rolls if you do a quick search!
- Turkish Delight – And last but not least, a Narnia Party has to have some Turkish Delight!!! This can be a bit difficult to find (we checked out a few local grocery stores and sweet shops with no luck, but we found and ordered a small box online – Turkish Delight! Woohoo!!! If you’re talented in the kitchen, there are a few recipes online as well!
ACTIVITY TABLE
We typically set up an activity table for kids to keep entertained while everyone arrives AND after all the games are done. These activities are simple and easy and typically don’t require too much supervision!
- Lion Crafts – There’s some easy ones that you can find but also some all-in-one kits (Lion Tube Craft) that are useful to pick up if you’re running out of time.
- DIY Crowns, Shields, and Swords – We also had some paint pens and markers so that kids could decorate their own Paper Swords and Shields (though if you’re brave, there are some wooden or foam ones that you could pass out).
- Mini Snowy Dioramas – For the creative bunch, set out some craft supplies to create a mini snowy diorama to resemble Narnia: wood slices, mini lamp posts, cotton balls (snow), rocks (stone table), trees, pine cones, & any other items you can find on your nature walks 🙂 If you can’t grab some wood slices – you could always use some upcycled cardboard or reinforce some Wood Slice Bulletin Board Cutouts for a larger group.
GAMES
Games! Games! Games! What is a party without a few games 🙂 We had a few simple ones that kept the kiddos busy throughout the party! Since we had quite a few crafts that we knew everyone would want to focus on, we had just a few games
- Seek & Find: There are tons of symbols and meaningful objects in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe! For our younger guests, we created a seek and find treasure hunt where they had to find a few images of some items! (Link coming soon)
- Treasure Hunt: For the older ones, we created a much more challenging treasure hunt! This one followed the events of the movie and had the kids racing around the house to find their next clues 🙂 (Link coming soon)
- Movie Night: And last but not least, to calm everyone down, we passed out some popcorn and cuddled up in front of the TV to watch the movie 🙂
And we didn’t have these at our party, but they are some really fun ideas you could add to yours as well!
- Narnia Heads Up: a variation of the Heads Up Game where you try to guess which name is written on the paper on your forehead – this one is specific to only characters that appear in the books/film!
GOODIE BAGS & GIVE WAYS
For our goodie bags, we pick up some Camp Memory Boxes (these were a hit from our Camping Party) but took out the camping stickers. Instead, we filled it with some Snowflake Foam Stickers, Snowflake Stickers, Christmas Tree Stickers, and some sweets! They also got to keep any crafts they made throughout the party!
THANK YOU
Thank you so much for checking out our holiday article. Hopefully this has helped or maybe even inspired more ideas! If so, we’d love to hear it! Let us know in the comments below or follow us on Pinterest.
Also, if you’re looking for other Holiday Ideas, check out our other posts here!
Happy Creating & Happy Holidays!
