The Best Harry Potter Birthday Party! Part 3: The Hogwarts mystery and wizardry classes.

Because only a few of Peanut's friends know the Harry Potter stories (Yes, there are kids who haven't read these books.  Shocker!), we decided to add a mystery element to our party that all the guests could enjoy whether or not they know anything about Harry Potter.  We also wanted them to attend "wizardry classes", so we needed to link the two.

Making potions and reading tea leaves were just a couple of our activities.

Setting up the Mystery

Just before the feast, McGonagall (me) asked all the new "students" to leave their pets and supplies in the Gryffindor Common Room (our living room) during the meal, explaining that it's not sanitary to have dragons, owls, and cats on the table while you are eating.  I told the kids that The Fat Lady (The painting which is the door to the Gryffindor Common Room) retired and that we now had The Thief and a new password, which I whispered to the first girl, then she whispered it to the next, and down the line.  Every time they passed the painting, the girls said "Lucky Charms".  They kept it up even once the organized part of the party was finished - so cute!

After the feast, the girls found their pets locked in an enchanted cage (not even McGonagall could open it!), so we looked around for clues.  They found a letter from Hagrid hidden in the room which explained that there was an imposter (which apparently is more commonly spelled impostor, although both are correct... who knew?) at Hogwarts and that he had left to meet with the giants.  They were instructed to find the four founders items:  Helga Hufflepuff's cup, Godric Gryffindor's sword, Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, and Salazar Slytherin's ring (Oops!  My bad!  This was supposed to be a locket as Peanut pointed out to me after the party.) to get clues on who the imposter is and how to defeat them.  He also said not to trust any of the Hogwarts staff, to go about their normal business.

Click Here for Hagrid's Letter

Once the girls read not to trust the staff, they immediately ran to the bathroom (now the "Girl's Bathroom", home of Moaning Myrtle), and we could hear them plotting and giggling.  They ended up spending quite a bit of time in there throughout the evening - that was their go to place whenever they needed to talk to each other about the mystery.  Seriously, I think they spent half their time in the bathroom!

After they emerged from the bathroom, we started the wizarding classes.  Here is a brief (hopefully!) summary of each class and what the girls found:

Professor Bins (Middle Child) - History of Magic

Bins droned on for a few minutes giving a very boring history, then gave the girls a quiz.  The answers gave the clue "Find Myrtle".  Guess what - the bathroom again! I put a picture of Myrtle on the inside of the toilet lid while they were with Bins with voice bubble that read "Really!  Of course it's not hidden in the toilet, but the item you seek is in this room.  Close the lid now - I WANT PRIVACY!".  I just didn't want anyone searching the toilet!  Gross!

They searched the room and found the ring (or locket, if I didn't goof up), which said

Clue:  You have seen them today
Spell Part 1:  Expelliarmus

At this point, the imposter could be McGonagall, Binns, Trelawney, Snape, or Dumbledore.

Click Here for History of Magic Exam

Professor McGonagall (filling in for Hagrid) - Care of Magical Creatures

McGonagall told the students Hagrid's Doxys (squishy light up aliens from Dollar General) were loose in the Gryffindor Common Room.  So that each girl would get only one, they were told that Doxys are gentle unless you pick up more than one, then they bite!  Each Doxy had a tag with a number and letter on it, which the girls arranged in order to spell "D office".  In Dumbledore's office (the study was changed over from Gringotts), they found the cup, which said

Clue:  Not a woman
Spell Part 2:  Stupefy

Now the imposter could only be Binns, Snape or Dumbledore.

Professor Trelawney (The Oldest) - Divination

The Oldest was great as Trelawney!  She talked to the girls about calming down, getting centered, and finding their inner eye.  She also played a wooden flute while they sat with their eyes closed. Once they were "centered", it was time to read tea leaves.

We chopped herbs from the garden and glued them onto paper plates in various shapes.  More "tea leaves" were then piled on top of the glued leaves and an overturned cup covered all the leaves.  The girls were instructed to gently shake off the excess leaves and "read" the design.  Our Trelawney was very disorganized, so she had her drawings and meanings written on napkins and various scraps of paper.  The girls had to look through them to find their picture.  Some examples were heart = love, moon = imposter, cup = drink, teardrop = candle, fish = food... you get the idea and can see examples in the photos above.  The girls pictures meant imposter, together, food, candle, steal, four, star - all of which led them back to the great hall where they found the sword taped under the table which said

Clue:  Not a ghost
Spell Part 3:  Petrificus Totalus

We're down to Snape and Dumbledore as the imposter.

Professor Snape (Dear Husband) - Potions

The last class was potions, where the girls measured out and made the following potion:

1 ~ Clear Cauldron

1 ~ Measuring Spoon

1 ~ Medium Measuring cup

1 ~ Small Measuring cup

½ oz. ~ Lobalug Venom

1 spoonful ~ Wartcap Powder

1 oz. ~ Horclump Juice

Pour Lobalug Venom into clear cauldron

Add spoon of Wartcap powder

Stir 34 times

Add Horclump Juice

Horclump Juice was vinegar with yellow food coloring.  Lobalug venom was water with blue food coloring.  Wartcap Powder was baking soda.  You guessed it - when mixed together they got a green fizzy mess!  The girls all added the Horclump Juice at the same time, so all the bubbling happened at the same time.  

Snape then showed them a solution to make messages appear (Dear Husband used Middle Child's chemistry set to achieve this).  I believe the message was something like "Snape is great!" or "Slytherin is the best!".  He let them try it on another paper, which revealed the message "Ravenclaw hang out".  The girls ran to the Ravenclaw Common Room (basement family room) and found the Diadem which said

Clue:  Not a teacher
Spell Part 4:  Accio key

The imposter is Dumbledore!

After practicing the spell a few times, the girls confronted Dumbledore who was disarmed, froze, fell over as if petrified (he was near a couch), and the key was flipped to the girls.  They saved Hogwarts and freed their pets.  Hooray!

We ended the party with cake and ice cream, presents, and a showing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Everyone had a great time and Peanut said she felt like she was actually at Hogwarts.  That's just what we wanted and we put it all together in 5 days - Success!

The Best Harry Potter Birthday Party! Part 2: The Hogwarts Express and Sorting Ceremony.

Here are more photos from our Harry Potter party for Peanut.  All the details of our Hogwarts Express and sorting ceremony follow the photos.  Enjoy!

Our Hogwarts "Great Hall", complete with house banners and house points.  We made the banners and purchased dollar store vases that we filled with colored popcorn for the house points.  During the party, points were added to or taken away from the 4 houses...  Professor Snape (Dear Husband) kept finding excuses to reward Slytherin and penalize everyone else. The girls loved teaming up against Snape!

Check out the sorting hat I made!  I found the directions here:

http://littlefuryous.tumblr.com/post/99683184657/paper-bag-sorting-hat

I think her paper was thinner than mine and her sorting hat turned out more wrinkly, but I love the way mine turned out.  I added a paper pocket (about halfway up, on the inside back) for my cell phone, so that the sorting hat could talk.

After the guests purchased their supplies in the shops on Diagon Alley (quill, notebook, wand and pet- see my prior post on this), they were instructed to go to platform 9 3/4 where the Hogwarts Express would be leaving shortly.  They made a "train" line behind the conductor (You guessed it - Dear Husband again!) and wound around the house making train noises, periodically being interrupted with "Aaaanything from the trolley?".  We made a "trolley cart" with a laundry cart, tablecloth and large tray.  They could buy Licorice wands, chocolate frogs, lemon drops, jelly slugs and Bernie Botts Every Flavor Beans with their remaining wizard money.

Upon arriving at Hogwarts, the girls were taken to the great hall for the sorting ceremony. Dumbledore (Middle Child) greeted them and after a short welcoming speech, turned the floor over to Professor McGonagall (me!).  One by one, the guests sat on a stool and had the sorting hat placed upon their heads.  The sorting hat commented on their attributes (bravery, wisdom, dedication, ... or whatever) and called out their house.  

[While the guests were on the train, I called Dear Husband's phone, put mine on speaker, then put it into the pocket in the hat.  That way, he could sit in another room and be the voice of the sorting hat.  We "sorted" the kids based on a short quiz that they took as they arrived at the party.  There are many sorting quizzes online and we just modified one to work for the ages of our guests.]

After the sorting hat called their house, McGonagall fastened on their house tie (felt ties we made). We ended up with 2 Hufflepuff, 3 Gryffindor, 2 Ravenclaw and no Slytherin which worked out well. Peanut was thrilled to end up in Ravenclaw...  she was so worried!

Once the sorting was done, Dumbledore announced the feast (pizza).

Stay tuned for part 3 - attending wizarding classes!

The Best Harry Potter Birthday Party! Part 1: Diagon Alley

I don't have a post about painting today because I've been totally immersed in planning (and recovering from) Peanut's Harry Potter birthday party.  We finally settled on a date the Friday before Thanksgiving, which was the following Wednesday.  That left only 5 days to plan and prepare - Yikes!

The family really came together in making this event amazing!  The Oldest had 4 costume / character changes and Dear Husband even wore paper goblin ears (which looked awesome!) to play a goblin at Gringotts.  Middle Child was fabulous as Ollivander, Professor Binns and Dumbledore.  We left Peanut out of the planning and numerous run-throughs of the characters, plot, and behind the scenes changes, which left her plenty of time to fret over which house she would be put into.  

I'm getting ahead of myself...  Today I'm only posting about Diagon Alley.  If you're not into Harry Potter or birthday parties, you can skip all my babbling and just take a peek at the pictures.

Our version of Diagon Alley - complete with a dementor!

The line-up of wands that we made for Ollivander's Wand Shop.  I'm particularly proud of these!

A few days before the party, an "owl" dropped letters onto everyone's porch saying that they had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and to meet at Madam Malkin's in Diagon Alley at 4:00 the following Wednesday, rather than platform 9 3/4.  That way the kiddos could shop for their school supplies together before boarding the train.

Click Here for our Hogwarts Letter

The stops the party guests made were:

Madam Malkins - Our coat closet was cleared and filled with any robes, capes, hats or gloves we could find.  Madam Malkin (The Oldest), measured each girl and helped her find a robe or cape to wear.  Because they hadn't visited Gringotts yet, she told them they could borrow the clothes for the day.

Gringotts - The next stop was Gringotts (aka the study), which the girls LOVED!  As I said, Dear Husband wore paper goblin ears, plus a sport coat and glasses at the end of his nose.  One at a time the girls approached the goblin and he gave them a hard time about why they were there, a lack of identification (an ID or a wand), and not knowing their account number.  Eventually, he dug into his desk drawer and pulled out a fabric bag filled with wizard money (poker chips).

Flourish and Blotts -  Once they had their wizarding money, the girls proceeded to buy their school supplies.  First on their list was a notebook and a quill, which they could purchase for 5 sickles at Flourish and Blotts.  The quills were made using cheap pens, ribbon and craft feathers and the notebooks were ones I had around the house that I covered with scrapbook paper.

Ollivander's Wand Shop -  Of course no wizard is complete without a wand, and for 7 galleons (or 7 blue poker chips) they each purchased one.  We made the wands shown above by sanding down the tip of a wooden dowel,  adding handles and designs with hot glue, and painting them with acrylic paint.  The Oldest and I got better at making them as we went along, eventually adding more elaborate designs like vines or a snake twisting around the wand.  Of course we had to go further and add tags with the wands' specifics - birch, veela hair core, 12 ", slightly bendy.  They were so fun to make!  The girls were told by Ollivander (Middle Child) that the wand chooses the wizard, so each girl put on a blindfold and approached the table of wands and let the wand choose them.  

Eeylop's Owl Emporium - The last purchase was to choose a pet from Eeylop's.  We had unicorns, dragons, owls, and cats.  We purchased Beenie Boos - a favorite of Peanut and her friends - which the girls could purchase for 5 galleons.  The dragons were particularly popular!

With their armfuls of supplies and a few extra knuts, the girls were ready to board the train to Hogwarts.  They were so excited when they realized that they could keep what they had just "purchased"!