Our Hobbit Coming-of-Age Party
"Frodo was going to be thirty-three, 33, an important number: the date of his ‘coming of age’.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
My husband and I are both 33 this year, so of course we had to celebrate with a coming-of-age hobbit party!
This was a lot of work, but totally worth it for the memories. My husband even said it was the best party of our married life! Haha. Here's how we filled it with hobbit-ty goodness.
This was a lot of work, but totally worth it for the memories. My husband even said it was the best party of our married life! Haha. Here's how we filled it with hobbit-ty goodness.
The outfits
We gathered simple three-piece outfits from thrift stores/our costume chest for each of us, inspired by the hobbit wear from the movies and Pinterest. It took a few trips to find what we needed, and I ended up only needing to order an apron from Amazon to complete the look (and fit over my pregnant belly). For the boys: looser pants pulled up/shortened, a vest, and a button up shirt. For the girls, an apron, blouse, and skirt/dress (a flower crown for my daughter, too). We stuck to warm and muted colors: browns, beiges, creams, greens, pinks/dark red. It was nice we didn't have to look for shoes!
The music
I made a small playlist that I sung and played at breakfast for the week before. It includes "In Dreams," "Far Over the Misty Mountains" and "Into the West." It was fun to be more familiar with the words and soak in the melodies that have a sacred, gorgeous feel to them, and sing them the day of together. We also played the Shire songs from soundtrack of The Fellowship of the Ring over and over during the dinner.
The food
I went for hobbit/LOTR themed food with some inspiration from British eats. The food was made the day before except for the salmon, new potatoes, whipped cream and strawberries. It took time but really made it an occasion.
"Fish so juicy sweet!" Salmon with new potatoes and dill sauce, recipe here. Oh my goodness, this was incredibly flavorful and delicious. I did add some Old Bay seasoning to the salmon as well. I used canned new potatoes to cut the cooking time.
I went for hobbit/LOTR themed food with some inspiration from British eats. The food was made the day before except for the salmon, new potatoes, whipped cream and strawberries. It took time but really made it an occasion.
"Fish so juicy sweet!" Salmon with new potatoes and dill sauce, recipe here. Oh my goodness, this was incredibly flavorful and delicious. I did add some Old Bay seasoning to the salmon as well. I used canned new potatoes to cut the cooking time.
Shire blackberry tart — I used Faithful Plateful's fruit pizza crust recipe for the tart crust, cooked the blackberry filling separately with this recipe, and then combined the two.
Bag End garden salad — Some basil, chopped tomato and cucumber spruced up some spring mix in a lovely way. That fresh basil, what flavor!
Lembas bread — I used this rosemary scone recipe but with salt instead of olives, and normal white flour because I don't have the kind of wheat flour it asks for.
"Po-tay-toes — boil em, mash em stick em in a stew." I made Faithful Plateful's "cheesy" potato broccoli soup, a favorite of ours.
Herb brew; Shire spearmint —I used Mint Medley herbal tea, although I wanted to find some fresh spearmint to add more life and zest.
Herb brew; Shire spearmint —I used Mint Medley herbal tea, although I wanted to find some fresh spearmint to add more life and zest.
A bottle of Martinelli's Cranberry Apple sparkling cider for some extra festive flair.
Sam's strawberries and cream—sliced strawberries.
And LOTS AND LOTS of whipped cream on the tart and strawberries! YUM!
The decor
I purchased some pre-made LOTR customizable printable banners, sign, and food labels from Etsy and these free lembas leaf printouts. I gathered our houseplants for a green Shire feel, and draped some fairy lights.
The movie
We also watched the cartoon version of the Hobbit on archive.org, but had to skip a lot for our six year old because there are lots of scary monsters and scenes, and we wanted to avoid nightmares! It was still fun and nostalgic.
We also watched the cartoon version of the Hobbit on archive.org, but had to skip a lot for our six year old because there are lots of scary monsters and scenes, and we wanted to avoid nightmares! It was still fun and nostalgic.
We took pictures the next day outside in our hobbit outfits. It would have been fun to go for a nature walk in our bare feet, and gather wildflowers in my basket, but it was too hot! Anyway, although I definitely had to recover from this effort, it was really fun and I'm so glad we did it!