Middle School Middle Earth

But you can come in of course, old friend.

Through the green door...just speak "friend" to enter.

"And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of simple jests at all times, and of six meals a day (when they could get them). They were hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents, which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted."

~J.R.R. Tolkien

Last Saturday we had a party of special magnificence to celebrate the 13th birthday of two of my favourite young hobbits. There were 8 uproariously happy guests, and my sister and brother in law were on hand to help with serving all those Hobbit meals, and manning the bar at the Green Dragon. Our menu consisted of mini sausages, cheese pastries, Lembas, roast chicken, crudites, pumpkin bread, cookies, cake and ice cream. All egg, nut and long list of allergies free, made with love by yours truly, and served in six small "meals" as the boys played video games. (I'm not at all convinced that Halo and Minecraft were thematically correct choices...but I guess Hobbits do love games as per canon.) Meanwhile the Green Dragon served up a wide variety of drinks from Rohirrim Meadow Mead (pale green vanilla milk) to The Old Winyards (cranberry/pomegranate/cherry juice combo) to our Gollum Special (root beer, limeade and gummy fish) and many more. It was our longest party yet at 5 hours, and I was a little concerned about everyone being happy and entertained for that long without any structured activities, but the evening went really fast and the boys were groaning at their parents' arrivals before we knew it. 

Bag End Door Cookies

Lembas

Travelling pouch party favour bags made from craft foam to look like leather, containing a copy of the Hobbit, some  Lord of the Rings Heroclix, and Lembas for the road.

The cake of special magnificence. My first go at painting fondant, as inspired by this marvellous blog - The Groovy Craft Chick. It wasn't perfect, and I had to force myself not to paint a second (no time), but overall I was really happy, and the kiddies were wowed.
Note: I did make a second ring for the other birthday boy, so there would be no tears or severed fingers...

And with that we have now officially hit the teen years! Wow.