Medieval Banquet Ideas

It seems like a lot of you mers are also into Renaissance Faires and so I wanted to get some ideas for a Medieval Banquet that will be taking place at a church camp that I am going to be a counselor for. The camp is later this month.

Basically the youth minister asked my boyfriend and me to dress up in our Renaissance attire for the banquet. The youth minister was saying how he was wanting everyone to go all out for this event. Well I started thinking about ways to make this one of the best camp themed nights ever. The local Ren faire we have here isn't nearly as impressive as some of the ones with buildings and castles, etc and not many people really dress up nor do they really talk old English. I wanted to make this night super exciting for the campers especially since it is going to be probably the last full day of camp and the last camp dinner before we all head home.

Since I raise peafowl I have bundles and bundles of peacock feathers, and I know that in Medieval times they would serve peacock and put the feathers back on the cooked bird to make it look fancy. We certainly won't be eating peacock, but I will be bringing peacock feathers to decorate the mess hall.

While my boyfriend and I have really good Renaissance attire (thanks to my Mom who bought the costumes years ago when a theater group was selling some of their costumes) we are not that well versed in Ren Faire or Medieval Faire things. I have been looking up words and their meanings and compiling a list and I thought it would be fun to try and learn some of these words. I was also thinking I could make a few copies of the list and put it on a few of the seats so that people can speak a little old English if they want.

Other than that, is there anything you all can think of that would be a good addition to the banquet? The mess hall is very plain looking - nothing like a banquet hall - so it would be nice to transform it somewhat. The transformation has to take place after lunch of that day so whatever I do it can't take too awful long.

I will need to re-read the camp rules (seems they get stricter every year) but my boyfriend was excited to bring his sword and then I remembered that they don't allow weapons. To me his sword is hardly a weapon. I don't think it is sharpened at all and he can just keep it in the scabbard most of the time. I guess we will have to see...

I have been rooting through my costumes trying to see if I have anything medieval to bring incase a girl or a guy doesn't bring something. I found a wench top and I need to find a skirt for it.

Anyways, I hope you all have some ideas! In the meantime I will be looking for more costumes in my room and also I will be researching some more ideas for the banquet. The youth leader told me to feel free to bring whatever for it so I am taking him up on that haha. :D

As side dish, some sauerkraut (I guess that's the same in English), some horseraddish for decorating. As main course roasted pork, roasted chicken (yup, they did that back in those times ;) ) or, if it is especially for children, a stew of chopped beef cooked in an alcohol-free sweet beer-like drink. In German it's called "Malzbier" and is often translated as "root beer", which unfortunately is not the same, as far as I know.

Basically a good start for food ideas is looking for Bavarian cuisine and leaving out the potatoes. ;)

Sorry for not having more information, but the few medieval cookbooks I have seen so far are in German, and I'm not that good in kitchen vocabulary.
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You are making me hungry! :D

I am not a part of the kitchen staff so I have no idea what their meal plan is for the banquet. I will have to check and see what they are planning. I think I know the couple that are in charge of the meals and the husband is really good at cooking a whole hog so it would be cool if he did that for the banquet.

The stew sounds good too. I will see who is making the meals and let them know of all the foods you recommended. :)

Not an expert on the period, but I was raised by Ren Fairers and went to my share of themed parties. My best suggestion for decor is candle holders. You don't need to light the candles if fire safety is an issue, but having lots of shiny candle holders, especially candelabras, can really make it look fancy. Also consider your options for table cloths. Rich colors and pretty trim can do a lot.

If you can find and don't mind shelling out for enough of it, there are printed plastic backdrops that come in stone wall styled prints that can be taped to cover walls. That would make the room look more like the interior of a castle.

Thanks Cirium! I will definitely have to look into the candle holders especially candelabras I agree! I love the look of melted candles so maybe we might have a few melted candles or I could light some candles and let them drip a good bit and then put them out.

We definitely need table cloths perhaps in red, blue, and black with maybe a yellow trim or at least the trim cut out in that castle-like pattern.

It is funny that you mentioned stone wall printed backdrops because today the church was putting up that kind of backdrop all over for the kids VBS program. They are making a castle with a draw bridge and everything so I am hoping they will be done with VBS before the camp trip so that we can re-use all of their cool decorations!

Today I learned a little more about some of the things planned for camp:
Everyone will be split up into teams and each team will make their own boat and their own catapult to compete with! Each team will get their own flag that they can then paint their own unique emblem on.
Since this is a new youth minister I don't know how he will structure everything, but the teams will probably also compete against each other in team sports such as volleyball, kickball, and basketball.

Don't call it dinner or a banquet; call it a feast.

If there are competitions, awards should be handed out as part of the feast; just make sure each team gets something. If you have teams and they can create an emblem, somehow recreate the emblem by their table; colors work if you can't do the emblem. Make tabards for everyone. Fleece doesn't ravel when cut and tabards are very simple - pretty much a rectangle with triangle for the head. Have another piece of fleece as a belt.

Music and fanfares do a lot to enliven things - know any trumpet players? Have the meal brought out or announced in courses/removes.

Meet outside and give the "rules of the road" before inviting them in (by team?). Royalty is always a big hit. Either have the King/Queen oversee the meal, or come in for a visit.

Entertainment between courses is always fun - jugglers, musicians (old-sounding folk songs work - they don't need to be authentic 1500s).

As far as the sword, if he has just a hilt and it is peace-tied, it would like like more than what it is.

Don't forget that kilts can also be worn.

Come up with a back story - why are you having the competitions; are the teams from different areas of the land?

Sources: past Renaissance Festival performer (I had two positions: individual musician as well as sounding trumpet fanfares for Royal Court); coordinating a Medieval Feast for my son's fourth grade year; attending Medieval Times

Great advise nightdiver! I really like the idea of making tabards.

Do you have any music you recommend in particular? I was looking into some music and dancing. I think we can find a trumpet player too.

I like the idea of a good back story! I might get together with the youth group and offer to help them find garb if they so wish. I have been putting together some of my own clothes to bring for others to wear and I have come up with 1 really good full costume and the others are just pieces.

Here is a photo of the outfits we have. The girl on the left is my friend wearing her own garb and the girl in the middle is me. The guy is my boyfriend. I don't really know what class our clothing is? Is it in the middle of middle class and upper class?
Attachment 31206

There were three classes: peasant, merchant, royalty that we used when I worked at the Renaissance Festival. I would say yours are upper merchant class / lower royalty because of the fabric, colors, and trimmings. The lower class you were, the plainer your clothes, rougher your fabric, and usually more drab. Purple, because it was an expensive color, was usually reserved for royalty - they were the only ones who could afford it. I would also put your costumes as mid Renaissance period. Yours are very nice. Good looking footwear is always the hardest thing to come up with, especially for guys since women's shoes were generally hidden. China flats / kung fu shoes work well. I used riding boots or moccasin boots (with the fringe cut off) until I was able to get myself a nice pair of custom boots. (www.catskillmoccasins.com)

For music - any old sounding Scottish/Irish folk music works really well. I had also learned a few authentic pieces that were fun and found some good folk tunes from Europe as well. (I called myself Thomas the Traveler. I traveled all over so that explained my eclectic music selections.) If you were going to try some dancing, some of Bach's minuets, though he was after the Renaissance, would work. Dancing back then was similar to our group dancing now - not so much couples, but partners changed and you worked your way around a circle/square.

One thing I remembered about the Medieval Times joust I attended - we ate with our hands. They gave us wet wipes to clean up with. They served bread, tomato basil soup, roast chicken, potato wedges, corn on the cob, and an apple turnover. (www.medievaltimes.com)

This sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

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