In “Throw a Party to Learn History,” episode #073, Meredith Curtis shares with teens and their parents a fun way to learn history while enjoying life and making friends. We look for any excuse to throw a party in our house. Studying history? Let’s celebrate with fun and festivities. Meredith explains how much learning goes on in the process of planning a party and how to keep things as simple as possible. Join us and learn to enjoy history the fun way!

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Show Notes

I love history!

I even pick up history textbooks and read them for fun. There! I admitted it!

How about you? Do you love history?

However, not every teen is born loving history. So, I have looked for ways to bring history alive. We read historical fiction, make timelines, look at maps, watch movies, make crafts, time travel in the kitchen, create radio dramas, and write poetry.

We also throw parties to study history!

Yes, we do!

We have had medieval banquets, archaeology digs, luaus, 1950s sock hops, Victorian teas, and Ancient Greek Olympics.

Is that a lot of work you ask.

Well, yes and no. We love parties, so I am motivated if it means people I like, good food, and lots of wholesome fun! My kids love parties, too.

How We Learn History by Planning a Party

We have to research history to create an authentic experience. We dig deeper than normal to find out what they wore, what they ate, exactly what they did, where they did it, and why they did it.

When we planned our Ancient Greek Olympics, we learned that the games were a form of worship to their idol/gods. They opened each day by committing everything to one or more of the idol/gods or idol/goddesses. We decided to open our ceremonies in prayer and commit the whole event to Jesus. Then we learned about all the events and how they competed. In the process, we learned about Greek city-states and their relationships with one another. We discovered some funny stories along the way.

The same thing happed when we planned our medieval banquet. We learned all about nobility and the different titles to discover who would sit “above the salt.” We also learned about knights, jousting, and tournaments, even though we ended up using pool noodles for our own jousting tournament.

History Party Ideas

Ancient Times: Archaeology Dig, Ancient Greek Olympics, Passover Feast,

Middle Ages: Medieval Banquet, Morality Play & Pageant

Modern Times: Luau, Victorian Tea, Sock Hop (1850s), Square Dance (wild west), Come as Your Favorite Decade Party (20th Century), Miniature Golf Tournament (1920s), Disco Dance (1970s), English Country Dance (1700s)

How to Plan a History Party

Plan the time and day
Choose location (keep in mind how many people will be coming and the weather if it’s outside)
Plan Outfits (it’s always fun to dress up)
Plan Decorations
Plan Activities
Create a Flexible Timetable
Plan the Menu
Put one person in charge of the flow of the event

Making It Work

Delegate where you can

Put one person in charge of the flow of the event
Put one person in charge of set up/decorating
Put one person in charge of tear down/clean up
Put one person in charge of the menu/sign-up

Have everyone pitch in

Borrow decorations (we gather everyone’s wooden salad bowls for our medieval banquet)
Let everyone who come bring food
If everyone helps set up and clean up, it will go much quicker

Remember that we all have an imagination. I created a huge meatloaf because we couldn’t afford to roast a whole pig. Even though the meatloaf looked like Alf (an old TV character), I told everyone to imagine it was a roasted pig. We still laugh about the Alf meatloaf today.

Resources for History Parties Ideas & Recipes

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