Celebrating Birthdays with Books, Featuring "The Chronicles of Narnia"

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Books are one of the great loves of my life (after my husband and kids, I guess…wink, wink). Seriously, one of the best anniversaries that Michael and I celebrated was when we spent a couple hours browsing a used book store and then visited the art museum. He won my heart again with that date plan.

As we homeschool our children, I delight in exposing my kids to the wide range of wonderful children’s literature. My absolute favorite is C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. The whole series of seven books is thought-provoking with it’s Christian symbolism. In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Aslan says, “This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” Seeing Aslan in Narnia prepared me to find God in my life. It had such a deep impact on me that we named our first son Peter, and a couple of our other children have Narnian-inspired middle names: Daniel Lewis and Timothy Edmund (Edmund is my favorite character). Another trivia fact about me: the lamp-post in my backyard was actually a selling point when we bought this house because it looks absolutely Narnian.

In my experience at school, when books were assigned to be read, I never seemed to fall in love with them. It was when I discovered a book on my own that it came alive for me. So, I’m still figuring out how to introduce wonderful literature to my children without turning them off to it -  I would be heartbroken if my children didn’t love them, too! And, that is why, as of this summer, I still hadn’t read or introduced the Narnia books to Peter even though he’s definitely old enough (we did watch the first movie). Finally, a few weeks ago, I decided to go for it. I didn’t want him to outgrow the books before we had begun! C.S. Lewis dedicated the first book to his god-daughter and said something similar:

“I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”

Before bedtime, I always read chapter books to Peter and William (after the four younger ones are down for the night). It’s a ritual that I hope we can continue for years because I connect better with my Bigs when we cuddle and read. So, we read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in July. Rereading this book is like a warm meeting with an old, very British, friend. I was pleased when both boys seemed to enjoy the book. But, I knew Peter had really liked it when he asked if it could be the party theme for his ninth birthday.

Just so you understand: I am not a party person. I’m too much of an introvert to enjoy hosting large groups of people - it's exhausting. So, usually, we only invite the grandparents and a few close friends to celebrate our children’s birthdays. However, something I really enjoy is decorating for our small birthday parties - I love to make each year exciting for the birthday child. And, as you know, I’m also passionate about introducing my kids to fabulous literature. So, I combine these two loves of mine to create memorable birthday parties for my family. When I think back about our parties over the years, I can’t remember how old the child was, or what we gave him/her, but I can remember the party theme!

I accidentally stumbled onto the idea of book-based birthday parties on Peter’s first birthday - we did a Curious George theme and bought a book to go with it (not the original story, unfortunately; it was just a cute little board book). But, I loved that idea so that’s what we’ve done for almost every birthday since. Some of my favorite parties have been Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (I made the sweetest bumblebee cupcakes and decorated with pansies in “hunny” pots); Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel (our frog cake was hilariously adorable); and Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges (the balloon dragon was super fun to slay).

I was actually a bit intimidated to do a Narnia party - it would be devastating if it turned out horribly (I’ve had my share of fails, like the time someone requested a Battle of Jericho theme and the castle cake was literally falling down...). Not that I procrastinate often (haha), but I definitely put off party planning because I was afraid. As the birthday deadline got closer, I began to search ideas on Pinterest and came up with a manageable project list: a costume, a cardboard wardrobe, and a lamp post.

Well, “manageable” got a bit stretched… because I ended up making costumes for all SIX kids. I’ve made knight costumes before (the Littles wore the old ones for this party because I didn’t think they would actually wear them - and, of course, they didn’t). From my craft room fabric stash, I picked out a knit material that wouldn’t fray so I didn’t have to hem the edges. I used a simple rectangle of fabric, cut a hole for the head, and sewed a red cross on the front. Johanna’s dress was basically the same - a large rectangle of knit fabric - but I cut flowy sleeves and sewed up the sides. Check out my Pinterest board for the directions I followed. I haven’t made a dress for her before, so I was mostly pleased with how it turned out. She loved spinning around and watching the skirt fly out!

I made crowns out of felt (another material that doesn’t fray) for each child. As a special touch, I changed up the color of the inside so that everyone’s crown was a different color. The dining table centerpiece was simple: just some mums that we had already bought for fall decorations. I hung up a Narnia-inspired banner featuring a rampant lion. 

My favorite project was creating a lamp post out of a broken lamp (the shade had been cracked). Michael cut a hole into the center of a square of wood and cut four corner pieces. I glued it all together and used vellum paper as the glass. Then, I built the top out of black paper. I used an LED bulb in the lamp so I didn’t worry about having paper too close to it. The lamp post, a red umbrella, and brown paper-wrapped gifts made the Lantern Waste, winter-in-Narnia table.

I procrastinated the most on the cardboard wardrobe - I couldn’t figure out how to make it functional and big enough with the cardboard I had available!  Michael and I figured it out together: we stabilized a long piece of cardboard by gluing smaller pieces behind it; then, I hung a tension rod in the front hall and taped the top of the cardboard to it. We placed our undecorated Christmas tree inside to surprise the kids as they entered “Narnia.” It was a great play area for them all.

For the guests, the main attraction of birthdays is the cake. I ordered a dollhouse-size lampost from Amazon, used a lion from our toy collection, and created trees by drizzling almond bark onto pretzel sticks. Powdered sugar dusted on top looked just like snow. The real challenge was fitting nine candles on there without melting everything!

By the end of the evening, not a single child was wearing their costume or crown, we’d devoured the entire cake, and decorations were askew. But it was fun to see the excitement with which my kids got into the spirit of Narnia. Thankfully, I have five months before I have to think about another party…
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However, if you’d like to see pictures of some previous birthday decorations, please sign up to my email list! In the next week or so, I’ll be sending out an email update with more pictures and details of some of my favorite book-themed parties I’ve thrown.