This is something we have done on an annual basis in the spring in our ward as well for the past 4 years, ours is also one of the most attended (next to our Halloween festival). We have families make a family crest (on poster board or fabric) for their family night the Monday before and display it on the table they are sitting at or on the wall behind their table in the cultural hall. We started at 6:15 on a Saturday so we have time to get into the gym to decorate. We have some crowns from burger king there and some costume jewelry rings for the little girls. (Last year we got the crown’s and had some jewels and glue so they all could create their own crown.) We have the ward members dress up in costumes from the times and we have a costume contest: Best family costume, Most Handsome Knight, & Loveliest Lady.

We give them a certificate (sample below) and a movie ticket to the knight and lady and a $20.00 gift certificate to a restaurant (like pizza hut). We have everyone find a table and put up their family crest. Then we tell everyone to stand for the king and queen last year it was king Garth-er and queen Elizabeth! (We appoint a couple to be the king and queen.) We have a prayer then we eat. (We also have fried chicken, jojo’s (seasoned French fry wedges), veggie trays with dill dip and rolls provided by the committee, and we have the ward members sign up to bring finger desserts, such as brownies, banana chocolate chip squares, etc). After we eat we have an older Page announce the program then we have the king and queen with a goblet in hand say let the games begin! We added some new games last year.

We had Ring Jousting last year.  It consisted of four pvc pipes...about 8 ft long 2in in diameter.  Feed a piece of string through to one end at the other end there is a large ring tied on it the ring is about 6 inches in diameter and we ask 4/12-13 year boys to be Pages to hold the pvc pipes up.  Two pages stand on the left side of the gym one ½ way down the gym and the other ¾ the way down the gym the two pages on the right side of the gym so the same so they are staggered and not directly across from each other.  The ring is to hang low enough to ring it with broom handles and the string is to be long enough to go to the other end the pages hold on to the string just enough to keep the ring hanging in the right spot and loose enough so that when the knight rings the ring the string comes right out of the pipe.  Then we ask 8 guys from the ward to be knights (4 adults and 4 young men) they dress up in knights costumes we give them the mop handles (or broom handles) and each knight takes a turn trying to get all four rings on their handles by starting on the opposite end of the gym so they can get a running start and try to ring the two rings on the left side of the gym and then when he gets to the other end of the gym gets a running start again and tries to ring the last two rings. The winner of that gets a certificate and a choice of a candy bar or a 2 ltr. Soda. We then had a family in our ward do some juggling.

We had some one in our ward make a catapult and some beanbags in the shape of catheads decorated. And we have the kids do the catapult and have a couple of bulls-eyes each circle has a prize. (like they get 1 gold Chocolate coin or 2 depending on where they land the bean bag. We do that for about 20-30 minutes and then we do the Ring the Lance: This one we use the 8 knights again and we toss 5 rings to each knight and they have to try to catch the ring on their mop handles. The one with the most wins. And we give a certificate and a choice of candy or soda. We have the jester jugglers again and start the Sword fight. The swords are made of wood with foam pvc pipe on the out side. They fight and the winner gets the same prize and certificate. The king then gives a prize to the knight who won the most events. And the king and queen toasts all the noble participants and announce the last of the activities for the younger folk. Jousting: We made platforms out of pressed wood we started with a 1- 1½ inch thick piece and made a 2½ ft. in diameter round. On one side we screwed on two pieces of wood to make a X the center of the X was about 5-6 inches high so it stood about 1/2 a foot off the ground. Starting about 1 inch from the center of the X round and shorten to about 1 inch at the tips of the X it would tip back and forth and the person on the platform had to balance on it. Then we got pvc pipes 1½ in around and 4½ to 5 ft. in length and on one end we placed a soft soccer ball (like a nerf ball or foam ball) and made a small hole in one end. Then duck taped on a swatchet of knit material over the ball so it would stay on the pvc pipe. We made two of each of these and placed the platforms about 3 ft. apart, had the jouster stand on the platform and balance then they were handed the jousting stick. Then they try to push off their opponent with the long pvc pipes and the soccer balls were soft enough..

The rules were: you could not hit them from the waist down or in the head or they were out. We did it in age groups (4-7, 8-12, 13-17, and adult) I made simple smocks a long piece of fabric with a hole in the middle of it to go over the jouster’s head and I sewed on shoelaces to tie each side. I made them out of 4 different colors of broad cloth. Then I cut out small swatches of each color and when each family came in the received a color of fabric and that was the color of team they cheered for when it was time to joust. Before the two jousters get on the platforms they put on a different colored smocks so the crowd can cheer for the color of jouster the received when the checked in.
 

Congratulations to the __________________________ family for having the “Best Family Medieval Costume” at the __________________Ward Medieval times in the year ______!
 

Congratulations to _____________________________ for being the “Most Handsome Knight” at the __________________Ward Medieval times in the year ______!
 

Congratulations to ____________________________ for being the “Loveliest Lady” at the __________________Ward Medieval times in the year ______!
 

Congratulations to ____________________________ for coming in “First place” in the
jousting competition at the __________________Ward Medieval times in the year ______!