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The awesome thing about these DIY Medieval party decoration ideas is that they can be used for so many themes: princess, knights, anything royal or Medieval they really are so versatile! We did all this for my son’s Knights & Dragons 7th birthday party and I just love how everything turned out. I’m excited to share it with you. If you want to see the full party post with everything including games and shopping list etc check that out here. So let me show you how I made castle, torches, banners, tablescapes and more for our Medieval bash!

DIY Cardboard Box Castle

The “crowning” jewel (get it??) of our Royal party decorations was a wall sized cardboard box castle. It took some brainstorming and some arm-fatiguing cardboard cutting (but now I have the best hack for that!) but once I figured it out it really wasn’t that hard! Let me show you…

• The first thing you’ll need to do is collect or purchase 11 cardboard boxes, they need to be the same size/shape. I was able to collect some from my husband’s work that seemed about the right size.
• You’ll want to start with your base, for the base you need 4 boxes. Begin by taping the flaps of those four boxes open. The bottom of the box can stay closed but the top needs to be taped open so the flaps do not come down. I used duct tape.
• Next take 4 more boxes and stack 2 on top of the bottom 2 and 2 more on top of the top 2. Be aware that you’ll need to leave a gap the size of one box in the middle of your base 4 boxes. You can leave the middle boxes closed. You do not need to duct tape those flaps open (yet). You can add a little duct tape to the base of these boxes so that they are somewhat attached to the base.
• Next you can add your 5th box to this layer that will serve as the arched doorway. Draw an outline of what you want your arch to be and you can cut it out. I HIGHLY recommend this cardboard cutting tool. It’s very inexpensive and a huge game changer. I cannot emphasize this enough.
• Next you can take the flaps of the three middle boxes (not the one on either end) and open one flap and cut off the edge of either side of the flap to create the “turrets”. You will need to use duct tape to tape them up so they don’t flap down.
• Next you can add the final two boxes on either sides of the castle. You can tape the flaps up and cut the turrets in these two end pieces like is shown in the picture.
• Now you get to cut all those windows out! I did 4 windows total. Again, you’ll want that cardboard cutter for this step!
• This is when I hauled everything outside to spray paint it gray.
• Once it is try locate it where you want it for the party and you can add some more duct tape to the tops and bottoms of the boxes to keep it all somewhat attached.
• If you really want to be extra you can cut out a tunnel in the bottom row (can you see it in the photo?) that way the kiddos can actually go INSIDE the castle. If you really want to be extra extra you could cut through the middle boxes on the furthest left and right that have the windows so they could crawl through and then pop their head out through the window. I did not do this, this would also start to create a lot of structural instability, but I think with enough duct tape it could be done!
• Lastly I added some fun touches like those vinyl dragons and some torches I made out of cardstock and tissue paper. I also hung a balloon garland over the castle.
• If you want to see a video of me assembling the castle you can check that out here. (and give me a follow while you’re over there!)

DIY Drawbridge

I was pretty proud of my drawbridge I made with just some cardstock and again- cardboard boxes! This would have been a lot easier to pull off in a doorway, I was using my dining room however so I had to think through it. I ended up using fishing line that I attached to 3M hooks on either wall to hang the drawbridge from so it looks like hanging in midair.

I started with making two very long paper chains with black construction paper. Next I used my cricut to cut that top part of the drawbridge that looks like the gate that comes down (I learned this is called a portcullis). I then used a cardboard boxes to create little “walls” and also the actual drawbridge portion on the ground that the chains would connect to. I hung the paper chain from my fishing line that I had strung across the entrance to my dining room and then stapled the other end to the cardboard box. Then I added the second chain on the other side. Finally I taped the portcullis to the fishing line. It was a little fragile, but it held up ok for the duration of the party. And doesn’t it look pretty dang awesome?

A Royal Tablescape

The highlight of our medieval table decor was most definitely the hand crafted dragon egg centerpieces. My mother-in-law hand painted each thumbtack with nail polish before putting them into a styrofoam egg to make these. I think you could also just spray pain the whole thing and save some time 😉 but they did sure turn out amazing!

I layered two wreaths on top of each other to make a nest and then filled it with some twigs and moss, and of course the eggs on top. I also hung some dragon balloons overhead to protect their nest. All along the center of the table I used brown shredded paper (the kind they sell for easter baskets) to keep the nest theme going and we added some more eggs. I used golden Easter eggs to fill in around the main focal point dragon eggs.

For the place settings I got the cutest paper products from a cute little shop that looks like it may be out of business now, but I found these on amazon as a good alternative and thought they were pretty cool and matches this tablecover. Mine also came with cute little knights helmet party hats, I found some masks here that would be fun for the kiddos to have instead.

At each place setting they had their own dragon egg & riddle. The riddle told them about their dragon and what their task was. I got these hatchable dragon eggs, the dragons inside do have to be assembled a little bit, you attach their arms and legs and wings. The kids seemed to really like getting their own “pet dragon” and it doubled as a great party favor. Along with their dragon they got this riddle-

I printed these on some ivory colored paper and then burned the edges the same way that I did the invitations. You can download this dragon riddle for free (along with the invitation template) with the form below-