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Back in April, it was my oldest son's seventh birthday. We were
looking for some place different to celebrate, since we'd already done
the McDonald's and Chucky Cheese thing. We settled on the Higgins Armory
Museum in Worcester. The Museum was founded in 1929 by John Woodman Higgins,
who spent a lifetime building a private collection of several thousand
pieces of arms and armor from Europe, Japan, Greece and Rome. The festivities started out in the children's activity room on the second floor, just down the hall from the special party room. For the first half hour, the arriving party guests were directed to the activity room where they can engage in all manner of fun. You haven't lived until you've seen a bunch of seven-year-olds trying on medieval styled clothes and real honest-to-God helmets. The only thing missing were the swords and maces, but wait, those came later. Once everyone arrived, the museum staffer who poses as a Lord (or Lady) led the kids up to the third floor for a tour of part of the museum's collection. Gasps of "cool" and "awesome" were heard almost immediately. Numerous examples of full suits of armor were on display, along with a few selected swords, maces, and pikes. But the display which seemed to get the most attention, was that of an armored knight sitting astride an anatomically correct male horse. The horse's member was apparently the talk of several conversations once the kids were back at school. After the tour, the Lord (in our case) brought us to a small auditorium for a talk on armor and weapons. Many more gasps were heard as he brought out a pike, a mace, and two different swords. He let the kids take turns holding the swords, which of course delighted them to no end. He also had a couple of kids volunteer to demonstrate how effective chain mail is at preventing a sword from cutting your hand. The talk culminated with my son being dressed up in the upper half of a suit of armor including the breast plates, collar plate and helmet. The Lord then knighted him with the long sword. The Lord then led my newly knighted son and the rest of us back to the party room for a bit of crafting. My son chose building castles out of clay as the activity for the group. Let me say that though the kids had fun doing this, the results were generally less than impressive. Then it was time for cake and ice cream. We had brought our own cake (along with other castle and knight themed decorations). The final round of gasps were heard when the Lord brought out a sword and help my son hold it high above the cake. Seconds later they slammed it down, neatly cutting the cake down the middle. Before we knew it, it was time for everyone to leave. We actually didn't have enough time for my son to open his presents at the party. All in all, a fine time was had by all.
I highly recommend visiting the museum (even if you don't have any
children for a birthday party). It is one of the best little known museums
that happens to be right in our own backyard. For more information about the
museum, visit their website at
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