Give your young party guests the royal treatment when you rent our Castle jumpers! The castle brings to mind images of princes and princesses, flame-breathing dragons and magical unicorns, knights in shining armor and medieval feasts. Build your castle party around those themes! The castle jumper is also suitable for a Harry Potter party or a Lord of the Rings celebration. Below, we're provided general party-planning tips to get you started.

We've provided ideas here most suitable for children 8 and under. Younger children seem to appreciate the role-playing of princesses and knights better than older children, and they have the best ability to suspend all disbelief for an afternoon. However, many of the ideas below can be adapted for older children as well.

Invitations - Purchase invitations at your local party supply store, or use our free DYI Appian personalized invitation script! These feature the jump you rent (links are available at each jump page) and can be printed or saved for emailing.

Alternatively, you may want to craft your own invitations. Print or hand-write them on parchment paper -- enlist the help of a friend who knows calligraphy for maximum effect! Roll the invitations into scrolls and tie with ribbon. Hand-deliver, or mail in small tube mailers or small boxes.

Your party will be a regal affair, and you should word the invitations accordingly: "Hear ye, hear ye! By order of the King and Queen, Lady or Princess/Lord or Knight (guest name) of the House of (guest's last name) is summoned to the Royal (your last name) Castle to celebrate Lady/Princess/Lord/Knight (your child's name)'s regal (age) birthday." Include date, time and address of the "royal celebration."

Decorations - Purple and gold are generally thought to be the most "royal" of all colors, but by no means are you locked in! If you purchase any of your party supplies from the store, you are most likely to find princess-themed party ware in shades of pink, so compliment those supplies with streamers, long curly ribbons hung from the ceiling, and balloons in other pastel colors.

If you choose to make the princess hats described in the Party Favors section below, purchase extra tulle or chiffon and use generous swaths of fabric to wrap around staircases and drape from doorways or around door frames. For extra "enchantment," tuck strings of white Christmas lights inside the swaths. The fabric can also be tied around chair backs so every child feels he or she is sitting on a throne at lunch/cake time.

Other fabric decorations might include a red "carpet" laid at the entrance to your home, or felt royal pennants hung from your front door or windows. If you can't easily hang the felt pennants --which can be made from large rectangular pieces of fabric -- use two wooden brooms set in sand-filled pots draped with more fabric to hide the broom bristles. Leave the pennants plain or decorate with a coat-of-arms, felt shapes or your child's initials.

Arrival Activities/Icebreakers - Guests should be properly announced as they arrive, and presented with their crowns or swords (see Party Favors, below).

Party Activities - Your party guests will spend much of their time bouncing around in our castle-themed jumper, but you may want to have a few other activities planned. For a simple scavenger hunt, tell the children the King's royal treasure has been scattered throughout the kingdom and must be found. Hide chocolate coins (or cardboard circles wrapped in foil) around your house or yard. Divide kids into two teams. Whichever team collects the most coins for the King is then in "the King's favor." Announce that the king has decided to reward his loyal followers by giving each guest a coin from his stash. Place all the collected coins in a fancy box or bag and allow the winning team members to go first in choosing their treat.

Hold a coloring tournament using coloring pages printed from the Internet (see Links section below) featuring unicorns, dragons, princesses and knights.

If you choose to have a pinata at your party, look for a dragon pinata and inform children when it's time to "slay the dragon." Or, rent our Spin Art machine and choose red, orange and yellow paints which will allow children to create their own fantasy "dragon's breath" paintings.

You might incorporate your Appian castle jumper into a race and call the event "Storm the Castle." Start children out from a point far away from the jumper and see who can reach it the fastest. For additional fun, add a few obstacles to your race -- instruct children to run around the house twice, stop behind the pool and hop three times on one foot, crawl under the picnic table … whatever sounds fun and makes the race more interesting!

Food and Beverage - Quite possibly the most popular party food of all time, pizza dates back to the year 1000 A.D., when nearly every known civilization belonged to one kingdom or another. For centuries it was mostly a peasant food served simply as flat bread with herbs and sometimes cheese, until 1889 when Queen Margherita of Spain popularized the modern pizza by favoring the addition of tomato sauce. Explain this legend to your party guests and serve them cheese pizza!

Or, for another kingdom feast, recreate a child-friendly medieval menu by serving a silverware-free lunch of chicken drumsticks and grapes served on the vine. Kings and queens and other well-to-do citizens in medieval times ate a lot of bread, so incorporate the legend of pizza by also serving mini pizzas on crustini (sliced baguettes). Brush with olive oil and top with mozzarella cheese. Toast in the oven until the cheese has melted. Omit or include tomato or tomato sauce as you choose!

You can always purchase a ready-made princess or knight themed birthday cake from a local baker or grocery store, but for a truly spectacular royal homemade birthday cake recipe, see our Links section below.

For your menu's finishing touch, serve beverages in plastic goblets purchased from your local party store. Serve apple juice, ginger ale, or a ginger ale-based punch -- float any flavor of sherbet in ginger ale and call it "princess punch."

Party Favors - To really get kids in the mood of the party, present them with accessories that match your theme. See our Links section below to purchase pre-made crowns, tiaras, swords and knight's helmets; or prior to the day of the party, make princess hats for the girls and swords for the boys. A princess hat is easily made from 15x24-inch sturdy poster board rolled into a cone shape, leaving an opening the size of a quarter at the top. (You'll need to trim the bottom for a level edge). Use hot glue or staples to secure the shape of the cone. Next, use hot glue or staples to affix a train of sheer fabric such as tulle or chiffon on the inside of the cone. Gently pull the fabric through the top opening and fluff. Staple a chin strap in place, made either of elastic or other string which can be tied.

To make swords, draw a sword pattern on large poster board. This will serve as your model, to be traced on more poster board or cardboard. The design does not have to be complicated -- think of a very tall lowercase "t" with a point at the bottom. Double up poster board or cardboard for thickness. If you want, you can wrap silver electrical tape or aluminum foil around the blade for color and extra sturdiness. Even easier swords can be made from old gift wrap tubes.

If you wish to hand out party favor bags of treats, see our Links section below.

Music - Royal Brass, Empire Brass Quintet, Telarc Records (1990).
The Three Musketeers: Mickey Donald Goofy, Disney (2004).
Disney's Princess Favorites, Various Artists, Disney (2002).

Related Links - A variety of pre-made crowns, tiaras, swords and knight helmets are available at http://www.shindigz.com. This site also sells a selection of party decorations, including party favor bags, table centerpieces and very impressive castle-themed entryways for your front door.

If you really want a spectacular treat that will knock the kids out, make the castle cake at http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/
cookingschool_castlecake_09282002.xml. Don't be intimidated by its fanciness -- it's not as hard as it first appears!

Visit http://www.coloring.ws/fantasy.htm for a selection of printable coloring pages featuring dragons, unicorns, princesses and knights.