For his 6th birthday party, my son asked for a castle party. But, a castle party in an apartment for two hours?!  It worked! We had a wonderful time!    First stop -- the fabric stores! From the clearance tables, I bought girl and boy fabric and trim for capes; fuzzy animal looking fabric, leather thong, gauzy fabric to hang over windows, purple fabric, "drab" fabric and a big swatch of plaid fabric.  Clearance fabric looked and worked great! At the party store, I bought plastic shields, plastic swords, gold star plates and cups, purple plates and napkins, gold coins, a few gold stars and a special birthday boy crown.    At Target, I got crown making kits - cheap!, plastic necklaces, a dragon pinata, candy, small plastic toys, ribbon wands, poster board and pizza stickers. We safety-pinned gold stars to the fabric and hung the fabric over the windows -- the effect worked!  I sewed girl and boy capes, but frankly, you could glue gun these together.  I sewed on ribbon and flowers for the girls and military style buttons for the boys.  I also made girl and boy money bags.  The boys had a fuzzzy, animal look with leather draw strings and the girls' bags were pink with flowers and ribbons. I used the "drab" fabric to make spats and pants for my husband to wear (looks hard, but is so easy -- they only have to hold together for a few hours!) and a GIANT money bag.  He wore a plain white shirt, which we covered with the big swatch of plaid fabric and secured with an old, rhinestone pin. He had a blast!  We put the purple fabric on all the tables, even the craft tables. I taped the three shields to the wall, and I lit votive candles on the high shelves.  I also taped the boys' swords and the girls' ribbon wands to the walls for decoration.   My husband greeted everyone at the door with a horrible British accent, and handed each child their cape and money bag. He immediately let them dip into his giant goody bag to fill up their money bags. The kids loved this! His bag had candy, plastic toys and lots of gold coins.  Then, the kids had their picture taken under the swords and by a dragon we had colored on the poster board.  We had tables set up for making your own crowns.  The girls could either make crowns, or decorate "renaissance party hats."  (I threaded gauzy fabric through the top of regular purple party hats, then secured  the fabric with tape.)  Between twirling in the capes and really decorating the crowns, this took some time.  After crown and hat making, we opened presents.  The children got another dip in the money bag after presenting their present.  Then we lined up for the dragon pinata.   Being inside, we didn't wany any bat swinging, so we cut three sides of a rectange in the bottom of the dragon and taped on ribbon.  The kids pulled ribbon until finally the dragon opened, and they scooped more stuff into their money bags. At random times, my husband would yell, "Gifts from the King!" and the kids could swipe more stuff from his bag.  Dinner was hot dogs, fruit and chips, served out of crystal bowls with large pewter spoons. Cake was their choice of castle cake (white cake) or treasure chest cake (Chocolate with lots of chocolate gold coins), set on plastic silver platters. (I got both patterns off the Family Fun magazine web site.  The treasure chest cake looks harder but is easier to decorate).  After cake, the kids played "feed the dragon." (Like pin the tail, but we used the pizza stickers. We stuck the stickers to index cards, cut them out, and stuck tape on the back.)  When the kids left, they got either a ribbon wand and necklaces or a sword and shield, their cape, crown and money bag, and another dip into my husband's money bag.  The kids left so happy - a castle party is great fun!