Hobbit Day

Hobbit Day is celebrated on September 22, the birthday of two very admirable Hobbits: Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

I've always considered myself part Hobbit (somewhat on the Took-ish side, I'm sure), so celebrating the Baggins boys' birthday is a must.
Last year it was a bigger affair than usual, with six Hobbits, two Dwarves, a Human and even a Rohirrim celebrating the day in our garden.

A notice appeared on the gate at Bag End:

NO ADMITTANCE EXCEPT ON PARTY BUSINESS.

Then Thursday, September the 22nd, actually dawned. 
The sun got up, the clouds vanished, flags were unfurled and the fun began.

Setting the scene

	The main setting for the party was The Hobblin' Goblin, an inn similar to The Green Dragon, where we spent most of our time - you've guessed it - eating.
	The brilliant thing about this barrel is that you can open the back and put an apple juice box in there.
	My go-to last minute / low cost gift is cake sparklers. Wrap them up in brown paper, bind some twine around and write on it. Voilà, Gandalf's fireworks. The little ones got glow sticks.
‘Get up, old stone!’ he said, and broke his stick upon the stooping troll.	Though they are quite a way from Hobbiton, I really wanted to have one of the stone trolls from Bilbo's stories, so my mum and sister made Bill (William). We had him for another few months, 'till a crow 'killed' him.

Party Favours

Hobbits give presents to other people on their own birthdays.

As a welcome present everyone got a box with salt from the Shire plus an additional like a cross stitch pendant, a box of shortbread, or incense cones for 'smoking' pipes. Make your own Cross Stitch Pendant: round .eps | heart .eps Buy one of my Shire Salt Boxes.

Food

[...]Bilbo, had been specializing in food for many years and his table had a high reputation.

Food (good food at that, and lots of it) plays a very large part in a Hobbit's life.
So here's the most important bit of information you should know on Hobbit Day - your meals:

• Breakfast
• Second Breakfast
• Elevenses
• Luncheon
• Afternoon Tea
• Dinner
• Supper

Our guests arrived just in time for elevenses and from that point on most of the day was spent eating.
My sister baked and cooked the most, but almost everyone contributed something.

Bread & Sausages (& Butter & Cheeses)	Scones (& Cream & Jam)
Apple Pie .	Scotch Egg Pie (& Mashed Potatoes)
Victoria Sponge	Mushrooms

And no, this isn't anywhere near everything we had.

Games

Leisurely outdoor and old British Pub games seem to be best suited for Hobbits.
Nothing that is too exciting or too exhausting. (You won't want to move much after all the food anyways.)

Apple Toss A bushel basket is placed at a distance, players try to toss their "apples" into it. The player with the most apples in the bushel at the end of the round wins. Make your own Apple Toss Game: bushel basket - info | template 1, 2 | .eps 1, 2 apples - info

Pub Games Rings Ring the Bull Shut the Box Make your own Pub Games: Rings - info | template | .eps Ring the Bull - info | template | .eps

Parting gifts

There were several labels of this sort: [...]
For LOBELIA SACKVILLE-BAGGINS, as a PRESENT, on a case of silver spoons.

Bilbo believed that she had acquired a good many of his spoons, while he was away on his former journey.

The theme for the second batch of party favours was Bilbo's parting gifts.
I really like the part in the book and had a few prop 'gifts' lying around, labeled to various of Bilbo's relations and friends mentioned in it.
(Spoons and waste-paper baskets are quite easy to get hold of.)

As far as the actual gifts go, the grown-ups got a sack full of Bamfurlong vegetables, grown on old farmer Maggot's land, and 'Herblore of the Shire', a book by Meriadoc Brandybuck concerning pipe-weed.
(I'm not happy with it, but here's my handwritten version of Herblore if you'd like it. The rest of the book consisted of empty pages, so it's pretty much a journal. Also, here's the Bamfurlong graphic.)

Other parting gifts were wooden swords (only for those adventurous Tooks, mind you), Pecking Hens and Apple Toss games.

Shirelings and other people

Doro Littlebottom	Elderberry Littlebottom	Lily Littlebottom
Gimli, son of Glóin	Dandelion Proudfoot	Glóin, son of Gróin
Orangeblossom Gamgee-Took	Teriadoc Brandlbuck	Anna of the Rihirrim

Some additional shots

Functional clothing	Beautiful pipe with initials	Heart pendant
	Glóin's helmet

Enjoy your day!