Nursery rhymes and fairy tales have both been around for centuries, and can therefore legitimately be considered ‘historical’, but unless teenagers or middle graders want to do it for laughs, this is for the eight and under set.
COSTUMES
For costume ideas, visit:
http://www.grandmasnurseryrhymes.com/homemadenurseryrhymecostumes.html
DECORATIONS & OTHER PARTY ITEMS
If your local shops don’t carry anything that fits this theme, try:
http://prettyurparty.com/party-themes/unisex-themes/nursery-rhymes.html
FOOD
As always, be mindful of guests’ allergies & religious observances.
Punch & Judy Party Punch
Tea
Fish Sticks or Tuna Fish/Salmon Sandwiches (for the various rhymes with ‘fish’ in them)
Roast Beef Sandwiches (or all-beef hot dogs): Have kids sit round the table and count them off using the Little Pigs rhyme, bestowing a sandwich on the little piggy who got roast beef, repeating with a different starting point until they all have one, and no little piggy has none.
Bread & Cheese wrapped up in a handkerchief – the standard ‘lunch’ of many fairy tale heroes.
Humpty Dumpty Eggs: hard boiled eggs perched on an on-its-side brownie ‘wall’ them so kids can knock them off to crack Humpty Dumpty.
Little Boy Blue Blueberry Muffins
Jam Tarts made by the Queen of Hearts.
Hot Cross Buns (and ‘pennies to buy them with)
Peter-Peter Pumpkin Eater mini pumpkin pies
Star-Shaped Cookies
Glass Slipper-Shaped Cookies
Cupcakes decorated to look like Toadstools
For other ideas, visit:
http://www.forkly.com/food/8-fairy-tale-themed-party-recipes/
And as regards the cake:
Little Miss Muffet
Humpty Dumpty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlTaE5BMa7E
Fairy Tale Castle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb6SGK_ufek
Jack & The Beanstalk
https://veenaazmanov.com/jack-and-the-beanstalk-cake/
Alice In Wonderland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BuBOhib7UM
CRAFTS
Castle Building: Supply kids with large cardboard boxes, paint, and tape.
Mittens: Supply children with cardboard mitten shapes and decorating materials so kittens can have mittens.
Edible Three Little Pigs Houses: Supply kids with yellow gummy worms (straw), pretzel sticks (sticks), and chocolate squares (bricks).
Nursery Rhyme/Fairy Tale Mural: Have children draw and colour characters onto a mural, or colour in ready-made scenes to cut out and paste on a mural (several are available at http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/color-index.htm)
Beanstalks: Children paint or colour paper towel rolls green & paste on green construction paper beanstalk leaves. (Visit http://www.dltk-teach.com/t.asp?t=http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/beanstalk/images/cfeltboard.gif for templates to supply them with a Jack & other characters to glue on.)
For other craft ideas, visit:
https://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/nursery-rhymes/
http://www.thethings.com/15-fairy-tale-diy-crafts-that-will-have-you-and-the-kids-entertained/
GAMES & ACTIVITIES
Theatrics: Have children act out nursery rhymes like ‘Little Miss Muffet, ‘Humpty Dumpty’, ‘Georgie Porgie’, ‘The Queen Of Hearts’, and ‘Jack Be Nimble’, and fairy tales like Goldilocks & The Three Bears, or The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
Standard party games like ‘London Bridge’, ‘Musical Chairs’, ‘Hunt The (Glass) Slipper’, ‘Ring-Around-The-Rosy’, ‘The-Farmer-In-The-Dell’, ‘What Time Is It Mr. Wolf?’,
Bobbing For Non-Poisoned Apples
Sandbox Seven Dwarves Diamond Mine seeded with ‘diamonds’ kids can dig for.
Humpty Dumpty Egg ’N Spoon Race
Find The Sheep & Boy Blues: Hide small plastic sheep for little Bo-Peeps and Boy Blues to find.
If teens are doing this, challenge them to find the original meanings of some of those old nursery rhymes
https://wehavekids.com/education/The-True-Stories-and-Meanings-Behind-Nursery-Rhymes-and-Lullabies
Time Travelling With Kids 
