HARRY POTTER BASH {Party}

I have a dear friend that I have known since we were both pregnant about 10 years or so ago.  We both had boys within a few weeks of each other.  Her first, my second.  Her name is Christene, and she is a total sweetheart.  She always has a smile on her face and a warm hug when you see her.  I just love her.  She is also very talented.  A few months ago she threw an amazing Harry Potter party for her son.  I asked her to share her party here on ReMarkable Home and she graciously accepted.  Enjoy!

Hey there! This is Christene from WhipperBerry. I’m so excited to have the chance to visit here at ReMarkable Home! I love the work that Emily does and have admired her party throwing and home décor skills since the moment I stepped into her beautiful home. Not only is Emily a gifted girl in home design, she is also a great friend. Thanks again for having me, Emily!

Late in August, my son turned 9 years old. He made it his goal to finish reading the Harry Potter series before the final movie premiered. By the beginning of summer he had accomplished it with flying colors. Deep in my heart I am a true HP nerd. I love the series, the characters, the whole magical world. It didn’t take much arm twisting for us to decide on an HP theme for his ninth birthday.

It all began a couple weeks before the party. We made delightful little invitations to resemble the letter Harry got telling him he was going to Hogwarts. We wanted the kids to feel like they were making the trip to the castle themselves.

 

We printed the letter on parchment looking paper, signed Professional McGonagall’s signature in green ink, addressed and sealed them with a wax seal. That was super fun! I now want to seal all my letters this way!

Next I made our Sorting Hat. If you remember, the Sorting Hat was old and patched. I used an old cowboy hat for the base and taped and stapled ripped pieces of a paper bag until it looked pretty good.

 

Wands were the following project and one I could have done for days! I read an idea on Pinterest about creating wands with hot glue. We painted our wooden dowel base (you can get these for about a $1 for 6  at a craft store) and then began making dots and squiggles with my hot glue gun on one of the dowels. Within moments, they looked something like this

After painting they looked stunning! I couldn’t believe what a little hot glue could do! Here’s our lot:

 

Let me tell ya, everyone needs to make a wand once! My next goal was to create a Potions Cabinet that would be Snape-worthy and just a little creepy. Using a handful of Glitter Bugs from the Dollar Store, I made a specimen board,

pickled and labeled other bugs and things to make the whole thing look just a little spooky. Here’s how it turned out:

I tucked a few photos in the entry to welcome our visitors

And we were ready for action!

The day of the party, our ceiling was glittering with over 100 little battery operated votives we’d strung up with fishing line and wire hooks. It looked AWESOME!

 

The kids each came in, were given a handful of gold galleons (butterscotch candies) from the cauldron

and sent to buy their wands, robes and class schedules from Ollivanders.

They were sorted into houses and given badges to attach to their robes. When everyone was in their new house,we went to class.

First was transfiguration, turning a clay cup into an animal. Then on to Divination where they each made a Fortune Teller and told one another fortunes. They did a great job and got a kick out of telling one another’s future. I remember there was a lot of impending doom foretold.

Potions was next. Our potion ingredients were all simple and edible from Kool-Aid to pudding powder. I wanted to be sure we worked with safe ingredients. The directions  for each of their potions were written in their class schedule

and they had to make three different potions and taste them. Their cauldrons were large purple cups for easy disposal. Some Wizards in Training were more careful than others, but all enjoyed the process of mixing, adding ingredients and trying the final concoctions. I think adding Pop Rock crystals to one of their final potions was a true hit. The bubbling and fizzing really made their day! This was their favorite class!

Their final class was Ancient Runes where they had to translate the ancient text to find clues to their next activity. That activity was the feast!

We sang Happy Birthday, had butterbeer, licorice wands, Bertie Botts Beans, chocolate frogs, and ate the Firebolt cake!

I think the beans were the most fun. Everyone took chances, getting good and not so good flavors. It is the height of entertainment to listen to 9 year olds talking about their bean selection. Ha ha!

Our final activity was Muggle Quidditch. Oh it would have been great fun if we could find a way to play the real way, but we had to settle for a variation on soccer with golden chocolate snitches being thrown in at random for the Seekers to find and catch. Everyone got a chance to be a Seeker and catch their own little snitch. We have some magnificent Seekers!

We wound down by opening presents and practicing spells with one another.

I have to admit, I probably had even more fun than the kids creating the class schedules, the wands and the décor. I hope this gives you some great ideas to take off from if you’re planning some Harry Potter fun. Several adults asked me if they could come, so I think that even adults would love this theme if done well (me being one of them!).

Thanks again to Emily for having me. I’m knee deep in publishing my first book “Nowhere Else to Run” so you’ll be hearing lots more from me soon! You can check in on my progress and read my latest work at Christenehouston.com. Until then, Happy Party-making!

Thank you Christene!  Now I want to throw a Harry Potter party for ME!

Let’s all show Christene some love by leaving her some comments!