Confession: I am kind of a nerd at heart. I love to read. I love that my kids love to read. I especially love that they are getting old enough that they are reading some really great books, and it makes me kind of giddy.
For Jacey's birthday this year, she decided that she wanted a Harry Potter birthday party. Some years we have done big parties that end up out of control, and other years she has opted to just invite one good friend to come on a family outing with us. This year was my favorite party ever. It was a lot of work, but I justified it because Broden has already asked for a HP bday party in January, so I get to reuse all of my ideas:) I have had a lot of questions about this party from other moms, so I will attempt to answer them here and provide as much detail as I can. Some things worked out great, others I wouldn't waste my time on again, and I already have some other ideas for next time:) Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures of the decorations before the party. Hopefully you can see enough from the party pictures and your imagination can fill in the rest!
Invitations: I should start by telling you that this whole party was possible with great thanks to Pinterest. I will do my best to credit the blogs for each idea, but you really should check out my HP pinterest board. Ok- back to invitations. I'm so sad that I didn't get a picture. They were darling, but we were in a rush to get them delivered before kids would be in bed and before they lost their helium. We typed a formal looking invitation on Hogwarts letterhead (there are a lot of cool HP fonts on dafont.com) The invitation said:
Dear Miss _________________,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to a special preview session of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in honor of J's eleventh birthday. The session will be held on Friday, September 13th from 5-7 p.m. You will have a chance to sample a few classes and attend a grand feast!
If you accept the invitation, you are to report to Platform 9 3/4 at 5:00. (Muggle address: *****************) You will be transported to Diagon Alley to purchase school supplies, and then to Hogwarts where sorting will commence promptly at 5:10.
Please RSVP by owl to reserve your place. (Or use your muggle telephone to call or text.)
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
We printed the letter on parchment paper, rolled it up and attached it (with a vintage key for weight) to a white balloon which Jacey drew an owl on. Delivering the invites was super fun.
Delivery idea (and photo) courtesey of
Kara's Party Ideas
When the kids showed up, we had them enter our gate into the backyard. We had the gate opened, and I painted a sheet red and drew bricks on it. We then cut a slit in it so the kids could jump through our very own Platform 9 3/4
They made a brief stop in Diagon Alley where they shopped for their supplies. We had a few small card tables with different shops set up:
Ollivander's Fine Wands and Wizardry - I made these wands I found on Pinterest, made out of rolled paper, filled with hot glue, painted and then decorated with hot glue swirls and painted again. They looked cool, but I wouldn't do it aga in. They took forever, took a ton of glue, and weren't as strong as I hoped they would be. Maybe I just did it wrong. Next time I think I will just get a couple of long dowels and cut them the length of wands, decorate them with the glue swirls, and paint them. It sounds much simpler to me:)
Flourish and Blotts - I made them each a "textbook" to use during our different "lessons". It had a crossword puzzle and a trivia page for them to work on while they were waiting for all of the guests to arrive, there was a list of spells and what they did to use during our Spells class, and a page for our divination activity as well. Then at the end there was a thank you page with a HP quote on the back. I sewed them together using a piece of brown felt as the cover. It was super simple, and my kids are still playing with them a month later.
Broom Rental Shop - This was one of my favorite finds. I had read on several blogs about women making brooms out of sticks and twigs and twine and thought I would have to do the same, but was dreading it. Funny story: In our family scripture study one morning, we came across the phrase "Tender Mercies" We talked about what Tender Mercies were (the sometimes small, often overlooked blessings in our life that show us that Heavenly Father is aware of us and loves us) and encouraged our kids to look for Tender Mercies in their lives. That day, after stewing about making these dumb brooms, I went grocery shopping at WinCo. There, at the end of one of the aisles, was a box of 10 brooms for $1.80 each. I think Heavenly Father was aware of me that day:)
We had a table set up on the back deck for their lessons. After shopping in Diagon Alley, they went to the table and started working on their HP trivia pages while waiting.
After everyone arrived we went inside to be sorted. We had a walkie-talkie hidden behind one the red Griffyndor House banner (aka dollar store plastic tableclothes). My husband had the other one upstairs and sorted all the girls into their houses.
After sorting, it was time for the feast (Costco pizza:) in the Great Hall.
 |
| B couldn't pry himself away from his studies long enough to eat. |
Beverage choices were Butterbeer (cream soda with a little scoop of ice cream) or Pumpkin Juice (orange Kool-Aid) You can find real Butterbeer recipes online, but I've hear they are gross.
Our first class after the feast was Spells and Enchantments. We had each girl (or sibling:) get a partner and start out back to back. Then they took 5 steps away from each other, and when they got to 5 they turned around and pointed their wand while yelling (as fast as they could) the spell of their choosing. Dan and I got to judge. We had all of the winners compete against each other until we had one winner.
After Spells and Enchantments it was time for Divination. There were a lot of fun ideas for potions involving fun ingredients and chemical reactions, but it sounded messy and like a lot of work. For Divination, I got small clear plastic cups and put a small drop of food coloring on the bottom. I covered it with ice and put the cups in the freezer. When it was time we brought the cups out, poured some lemon-lime soda in it, and they stirred it. They had a key in their textbook to help them match up the color of their drink with their fortune (health, wealth, love, success, etc)
Presents!
Quidditch was the highlight of the party! My husband did all the prep work, and I am so grateful. It wouldn't have been the same without it. He got 6 hula hoops, some 2x2s, and nailed the hula hoops into the wood. He then spray-painted the whole thing gold and stuck them in the ground 3 on each end of our lawn.
 |
| Explaining the rules |
I realized as we were splitting into teams that I hadn't hid the snitch (gold christmas ornament) yet. I told everyone to close their eyes, and this is my 4-year-old being oh-so-obedient. She melts my heart:)
We had a quaffle (beach ball) and 2 bludgers (smaller rubbery balls). If you don't know what to do with them, break out book 1 for the rules of quidditch:)
K found the golden snitch!
There are a lot of fun cake ideas out there: Fondant owls, Golden Snitches, etc. Jacey wanted owl cupcakes. Done:)
After cupcakes and ice cream, the kids filled small bags with candy from Honeyduke. We had:
Chocolate covered frogs (chocolate peanut clusters)
Bertie Botts Beans in Every Colour (Jelly Bellys)
Dragon Eggs (Peanut M&Ms)
Gummy slugs - (gummy worms)
Golden snitches (butterscotch candies)
Acid Pops (suckers)
Decorations: We spent a lot of our time outside. Our main decorations were the house banners with the house crest on them, Honeydukes, The Three Broomsticks (our beverage station, etc. ) For props we used a lot of owls, books, and halloween decorations. I found a lot of printable bottle lables on pinterest, and stuck them on bottles and jars I raided out of my friends' recycling bins and filled them with colored water. I spraypainted some lids, covered some bottles with glitter in fun colors, and hit up my local goodwill for some extra halloween-ish decorations. I made floating candles for the Great Hall out of rolled up paper and tissue paper flames, to be hung with fishing line from the ceiling, but I forgot:( I also bagged the idea of making fleece scarves for each kid in the house colors which they got sorted into because our weather forecast ended up being crazy hot. I'll save that idea for HP party round 2 in January:)
