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Lord of the Rings (9-14yr) Movie Posters & Stuff

April 2002

Stephanie in Deltona, FL   USA

Special Mention

A Lord of the Rings Sleepover (9-14 year olds)  In my opinion, the Lord of the Rings trilogy of books and movies are spectacular works...they are fascinating, involved, and capturing the imaginations of Americans everywhere. Me and My friends thought these sleepover ideas were a blast, so we'll share them with all Tolkien fans to enjoy! Note: J.R.R. Tolkien wrote this sensational trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, as well as the prelude the Hobbit). He was a staunch catholic author and in no way meant the magic and enchantment in his books to promote witchcraft!  Party Ideas: 

INVITATIONS: For the actual invitations, you can print them out on your computer dolled up with some Lord of the Rings (LOTR) graphics. Or, on a piece of light, golden paper, clearly print the party details, fold into a paper crane, and ship out to your guests. To truly delight, fold cardstock paper into half, and pull a sheet of aluminum foil over the front cover. Add glitter borders. Inside write, "Galadriel's Mirror reveals you have been called on this special Quest. Help _____ Celebrate her Birthday on _____ at __:__. Meet at _____'s House. Pick up; next afternoon, 2:30. Bring sleeping bag."    TO REMEMBER: Invite under 10 girls for a close-knit, super fun time. Less guests lets you pay more attention to the individual, lowers costs on food and favors, and makes for easier clean up. Eliminate names by those who have invited you to their parties, or your close friends only.  

DECORATIONS: Clean, roomy, brightly lit areas with fresh flowers on display and a few traditional streamers and balloons serve parties well. Now to spice them up  Tolkien style! Lay down a plushy green rug for the party guests to congregate on with snacks and chit chat at any time they wish. Coordinate decorations green, silver, gold, blue, red and other light, festive colors to offer the air of Rivendell and Hobbiton. Hang up posters, newspaper clippings, and any articles and graphics on LOTR. Play the soundtrack from the Fellowship movie in the background, and leave room for a little welcoming buffet in the middle of the quarters.  TO REMEMBER: Don't overkill ambience. A little carefully placed and selected decor goes a long way. Leave room for spontaneous cavorting.  

FAVORS/PRIZES: Prizes: Lotr posters, a book out of the Lotr series, the DVD of Fellowship of the Ring (the grand prize!!!!!), Lotr figurines, mugs, magazines, cards, costumes, anything Lotr! Also bandannas, movie passes, and gift certificates make good prizes.  For the goody bags, pack a metallic gel pen, a note pad, a Ringpop, a thank you postcard, and photographs from the party. Then for cute extras you could add a beaded bracelet you can make yourself, a homemade bookmark, candy, a collectible Lotr figure or card, a tube of lipshine, or a bottle of nailpolish. Favors and prizes can be cheap, cute, and pleasing.    

FOOD: Chips, pretzels, cookies, popcorn, and candy are starters. Have healthy stuff on hand too, like carrot sticks, corn-on-the-cob, apple or orange wedges, nuts, berries, and raisins. For dinner, serve pasta (quick and simple with store-bought chunky marinara sauce), fried chicken (fatty, but inexpensive and easy...just call KFC!), or try making homemade pizza dough and having the girls spread it with tomato sauce and their choice of popular toppings. Bake and enjoy! The birthday cake is where you get creative...Order one LOTR themed from your bakery or just ice a regular box cake with fluffy green frosting and stick miniature LOTR figurines on top for the air. Using a fine-tipped icing bag, write a celebration message atop too. 

GAMES/ACTIVITIES: 1) First of all, create an episode of LOTR Jeopardy, with the birthday girl as Gandalf the wizard, the host. All the girls can participate as contestants, assuming the aliases of their fave LOTR characters. Each correct answer is worth 5 points, partially correct 2 points, and wrong -1 point. Ask questions like this; 1. What is J.R.R. Tolkien's full name? 2. Name 7 kinds of creatures that roam Middle Earth. 3. Saruman is an Elf, t or f? 4. The dark lord goes under what titles? 5. Are Trolls immortal? And other such questions. Award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place to those who rack up points! 2) Of course, the girls at your party should know about Lotr. Then you can just sit, munch and talk about all the characters, all the settings, every twist in the plot, and the best parts.

You never know what you will learn about your favorite character or place.   3) You can probably hunt down or recreate the script to the Fellowship movie and everyone can have a blast choosing their character, creating costumes, rehearsing, and then performing their favorite parts of the movie (try to tone down the mass killings and floods!). Videotape for future get togethers!  4) Have a debate or mock trial...something like "Is Aragorn really ready to become King?" "Will Frodo desert Sam?" or "Who is most helpful to the Fellowship?".  5) Don't forsake ordinary party games like Hilarious Handkerchief, musical chairs, limbo, bingo, etc. 6)Try this variation on hot potato. First soften some chocolate melts, pour them into molds, add chopped nuts, raisins, or insert caramel centers, then freeze. But in one candy mold, put in a gold ring (a cheap plastic or spraypainted one will do). Fill a tight container with the homemade candies.

Then play hot potato with the container, except this time when the music stops on a person, they randomly pick a chocolate from the container. if they get the ring inside, the game is over and they win a LOTR poster. otherwise, they're out. Be sure to make the right number of candies! 7)Play Ringers, a simple, fun game that your guests will love to learn. Just drive a rod into the ground, and mark a line with string 10 or 20 paces away. Provide your guests with rings, which they can spray paint golden beforehand to represent the One ring. Check out the internet or a library book for beginner's tips on horseshoes which is similar to ringers. Pass the tips along to the girls, help them practice tossing, then Sit back and watch the competition! The object is to try to hook the ring onto the rod from a given distance.

Try arranging a tournament to search out a champ of consecutive ringers!  8)Of course, pin the tail on the donkey can be improved with these twists…help Frodo find a sword to battle the Orcs, Help Legolas find his bow, stick the wizard's hat on Gandalf's head, etc. 9) you'll have to wait till August to try out this idea, but the finishing touch to a LOTR sleepover is to watch The Fellowship of the Ring right when you're getting sleepy. Eat s'mores, popcorn, and pretzels while you engross yourself in the magic of Middle Earth on-screen! 10) don't forget to brush your teeth and do a little light tidying-up just before you drop off to sleep (or just pretend to sleep until your parents get to bed so you can talk about everything and everyone like normal…and discuss Lotr till you get a headache!) 

PARTY ETIQUETTE: pay attention to all your guests, be polite but firm about house rules, and make sure to make everyone feel comfortable. Take care of allergy problems, and make sure to help insecure and shy people open up. Find out what is lights-out time, which rooms are off limits, how high the volume on the radio can get, and more.  If you love Lord of the Rings, you'll love this sleepover!

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