I had a knights and princesses party for my twin boys who were turning 6. I made a program for the party, with a schedule so that I would know what activity came next, and what materials were needed. I also had a "script" with lines that I read out, and music ( a CD with medieval trumpet fanfares) that I played at appropriate moments.  My husband and I had made swords and shields out of foam core and colored "foamie" sheets. We also made princess hats from foamie sheets, tulle and ribbon. When the kids arrived they got to decorate a sword and shield (boy) or a princess hat (girl) with plastic gems and pre-cut foamie shapes. We played Handel's "Water Music" as the guests arrived to set the mood. I made "armor" out of black garbage bags on which I painted a coat-of-arms design of either a lion or a hawk. The girls had been asked to come in their princess costumes and they wore the princess hats that they had made.  Only the boys had the armor on but both boys and girls participated in all the games and activities. I made curtains out of plastic tablecloth and hung two toy shields on each side of our sliding doors leading to our backyard where we held the party. My boys were dressed in knight costumes which I had purchased. I had them go inside the house, and after I  made an announcement and played a trumpet fanfare on the music CD, they made their "royal" entrance: "Welcome to the Zimmerman Castle. We have come here today to honor Sir Brent and Sir Cole on their 6th birthday. My lord and my ladies, Sir Brent of Zimmerman......" Then we brought out the castle cake which I had created - a two tier chocolate cake with four towers made out of chocolate donuts piled one on top of the other and a chocolate ice cream cone at the top. The window, front entrance and drawbridge were made from graham crackers and I decorated the whole castle with spice drops. After that we had an announcement for the Quest for Knighthood ( preceded by a trumpet fanfare) and the acts of bravery, honor, skill and loyalty that had to be performed. The test of skill was an activity using a foam sword that had a toothpick stuck at the tip. The children formed two lines and ran to the two balloon "trees" (balloons on sticks wrapped to a pole stuck into a bucket of sand) at the other end and they had to pierce a balloon in the test of "skill". The test of honor was a jousting tournament. The jousting lances were foam swimming "noodles" and my husband made the 2 posts (from which the rings hung) out of plastic pipes. I cut the rings out of plastic party plates and attached crepe paper ribbons to them. The kids ran, two at a time, towards the hanging rings and aimed the lances through the rings and pulled them off the posts. The test of bravery involved retrieving the royal jewels which had been stolen from the castle. A fierce dragon ( my husband in a dragon puppet head mask ) was guarding the jewels ( lite-up flashing stars).The children had to cross a bridge (2 planks on bricks)and climb up a mountain ( steps leading up our patio deck) to reach the dragon's lair where the jewels were kept, next to the fiery dragon who spit out balls of fire ( my husband under the head mask throwing soft rubber balls at them.) They used their shields to ward off the dragon's attack. Finally , we had the last test: loyalty, which was a table game that I had made up called "Return to the Castle". I had 4 toy knight on horses, each sporting a different color. The children were given little colored flags representing the color worn by the knight they were rooting for.I spun a color wheel and whichever color  the pointer stopped at, the corresponding knight advanced one step. At the end of the table, I placed a toy castle, and the first knight to make it back to the castle won the game.   After all the loyal knights-to-be had "returned to the castle", we had a toast to the birthday boys. I had hotglued plastic gems onto plastic wineglasses to make "goblets". These "goblets" were filled with red grape juice and all the kids kids raised their goblets in a toas: "Long live Sir Brent! Long live Sir Cole!" Lastly we had a knighting ceremony where  the birthday boys became princes, the boy guests became knights and the girls exchanged their princess hats for tiaras. My husband was the king, decked in a plastic crown and a gold curtain for a robe.As he knighted them, the king mentioned the name of the street or town they lived in, e.g. Princess Lauren of Sagamore (she lives on Sagamore Rd.) Each child took home their sword and shield/princess hat, jewel (flashing star), goblet, tiara (girls) and a "fairy tale" themed craft project as well as ring pops in their take-home goody bags.