- Image via Wikipedia
Today is September 22nd, otherwise known as Frodo and Bilbo’s birthday for those of us more hobbit-minded. What, you don’t have anything planned yet? Well, no worries. While not (yet) a nationally recognized holiday, here are seven easy ways to celebrate the day with your kids!
- Cook some hobbity food. This is easy! Mushrooms, potatoes, anything delicious, really. Make it hearty and healthful. Visit your local farmer’s market, and find some traditional English recipes. Contrary to popular belief, much English food is absolutely marvelous. A real simple approach (that we tend to do every year) is a Ploughman’s Platter.
- Work out some riddles together. “Riddles in the Dark” was always one of my favorite chapters in the Hobbit, and with the magic of the internet, you’ve got thousands of choices.
- Draw a map. One of Tolkien’s biggest draws continues to be the world that he created. Take some time with your geeklets and create your own map, pad and pencil style, or something fancier.
- Watch this.
- Do a back-to-back showing of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. Then, if the kids haven’t seen the Bakshi and Rankin-Bass versions, show them as much as you can endure, trying to give them a frame of reference for what the world was like before PJ. (This might take a couple of days, but come on, you can’t just watch one film!)
- Take a hike in the woods and learn about the trees. Tolkien loved trees, and marveled at their mystery, a theme very apparent in his works. Take your kids out to the trail and collect leaves and seeds, then bring them home and try to identify them.
- Read some passages of The Hobbit aloud, or try some of Tolkien’s lesser-known poetry together. Stoke up the fire, pour yourself some cider, and enjoy the company of your own family. That’s probably the most hobbity thing you can do!
