Potter Party

If you're not a dork, or if you think stories about young wizards are unraveling the fabric of society, you might want to go away and come back tomorrow.  I'm warning you for you own good here because today we are going to talk about the boys' Harry Potter birthday party. 

Since Nico and Linc both have October birthdays, we often have one big combined party for both of them.  Eventually, I'm sure, they will each insist on having their very own special day, but for now it works out well for everyone.  We get do something on a little bit larger scale than if we had to throw two parties, and we don't have to invite, plan, prep, and clean for two separate parties just a couple weeks apart.

This year, when we were considering ideas for a party, Nico was adamant about picking the theme.  It was a close tie between Star Wars and Harry Potter for a while, but since he had recently finished reading the first Harry Potter book, wizards won out in the end.

So, last night we welcomed 17 kids (and their parents and a few friends) to an evening at Hogwarts.  Everyone entered past a "Platform 9 3/4" sign, gathered in the Great Hall, played in Hagrid's Hut and ran around beneath the Whomping Willow.

My favorite to recreate, and the kids' favorite to shop at, was Honeydukes Candy Shoppe.

We had a sorting ceremony, where Nico (of course in his Halloween costume for the event) announced that he had been sorted into, what else, Gryffindor House.

The kids made ties in their house colors to wear, decorated their own wands, and made Buttterbeer in potions class.  This "potion" was supposed to be potable but given the creepy names we gave some of the ingredients (troll snot, Hippogriff dander),  it wasn't a popular beverage for most of the potions students.  Finally, we had a scavenger hunt that sent the kids through Hogwarts castle in search of a treasure, wizard gold to be used to buy treats at the candy shop.

 

Admittedly, it was a lot of work in the days leading up to the party, but I have to say it was really a great celebration for the birthday boys and their friends.  In fact, Linc was having so much fun chasing his friends around the yard and shoving sugar-laden goodies in his mouth, I realized this morning I didn't get a single picture of him at the party.  Oh well, Nico Potter was around to pose for a quick photo in front of Honeydukes.

Happy Birthday, sweet boys!  I love celebrating each new year with you.  You have both made my existence make sense, and in thanks for that I will spend hours baking cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties and flobberworm casserole any old day.