Sofia as Hermoine Granger
Sofia and Olivia in their adorable new Harry Potter costumes! Sofia as Hermoine Granger and Olivia wanted to be called Amanda, Hermoine's little sister! So cute!
On Friday afternoon I started setting up, even though I'd played a doubles tennis match in the morning and a singles match at 1:30pm in 104 degree heat for the play-offs that my USTA team were in. I was completely spent, but knew I couldn't get it all done on Saturday morning. CK took the girls out to see the Shaun the Sheep movie at the theater so I'd have a few hours to set up without interruption. A few days prior, I'd moved the girls' art table upstairs and set up Honeydukes without putting the candy in the containers, since I knew it would disappear. I set up the black sheet as a backdrop for the "wanted wizard poster" Sofia and I'd made and also hung the floating candles in the dining room. I put up our "owlery" using all of Sofia's stuffed animals and a few other owls we had, but didn't blow up the owl balloons we'd made. We'd do that just before the party. The transfiguration table was set up with a black table cloth and different tubs of play dough as well as the list of shapes the kids could try to make. Next I started setting up the potions' classroom which would be in the garage. In all the planning our neighbor Marco became really excited and planned on dressing like Professor Snape and agreed to lead the Potions class! I set up two long tables next to each other as well as a square table at the end since we expected 17 kids for the party! July and August is such a hard time to throw a birthday party because so many families are out of town. Originally I wanted to host the party on August 1st which is the Saturday directly following Sofia's birthday, but of my four closest friends, three planned to be out of town, so we decided on the following week. Through Pinterest, I'd found great invitation covers and a Hogwart's seal to add to the "acceptance letter" we sent out. The invitations alone took me most of one day to write individually to each child, glue and cut each letter to size and then write out the address in cursive. Months prior, Sofia and I had stained the envelopes with tea so they looked old and weathered. We then added a red wax "H" seal at the back. They really looked great and I was so excited for everyone to get one. We sent them out three weeks prior to the party so I'd hopefully get a good head count. Unfortunately, about half of her friends planned to be out of town for her party, so we ended up asking a few other school friends who we didn't initially include because there would then be too many kids. Anyway, it all worked out, as I was hoping to have 16 kids.
The official birthday invitation and one-way ticket to Hogwarts from Platform 9 3/4
The acceptance letter
The invitations all set to go in the mail
The "H" wax seal
We first came up with a Harry Potter party months before her birthday and Sofia and I had fun exploring Pinterest for ideas. We actually got started doing a few things to prepare at that time too. Sofia and I saved old glass jars from spaghetti sauce, jelly, pickles and anything else with a good shape. We washed them out and spray painted them outside with leftover brown, bronze and black paint we had in the garage. Once the paint was dry, I hot glued "Potions" ingredients and then drizzled hot glue over the sizes so it looked like the contents. Some of them I even hand painted different colors. They all really turned out great and were fun to make. Also months prior, I made 16 wands out of wood dowels, hot glue, marbles, paint and varnish. The wands took a long time just because of the time to dry between coats of paint and varnish. On most, I glued a marble at the end, but soon found they fell off very easily, so I changes some so that they had a rounded end instead. At that time, Sofia and I also made labels for the wands like "Hair of a Dragon" or "Phoenix Feather" or "Tear of a Unicorn" because each wand has a different core. We also spent an afternoon tea-staining the envelopes for the invitations and the acceptance letters for Harry Potter that would be coming out of our fireplace. Sofia had so much fun staining them and they all looked great and really old.
Sofia tea staining envelopes
One of the Harry Potter acceptance letters
The wands being made...
Painted but not completed.
On the Tuesday before the party we finally painted our Platform 9 3/4 brick wall using a cloth drop cloth, big sponges and red paint. Again, I'd bought all the stuff months prior but we just never got around to doing it. When we did, it was fun and Sofia did one side of the wall while I did the other. Then we cut it right up the middle. Most of the party preparations were done in the last two weeks, aside from the jars, wands, and tea-staining the envelopes. So essentially the two weeks prior to the party was pretty solidly focused on preparations and getting everything ready. I ordered the Professor McGonagall outfit pieces from Amazon and a long-sleeved flowing green dress from a really cheap site since everything that is "officially" Harry Potter is super expensive. For CK, I ordered a merlin-type robe and wig/beard that looked crazy on him!
Sofia making the "brick wall"
All finished. It only took us about 2 hours to do.
The Hogwarts sign
The wizard sign Sofia and I decided to make a few nights before the party. The kids really had a ball with this!
Testing out the sign!
On Saturday morning, CK picked up the fruit and cake and he and Sofia decorated it once he returned home. I got all the food ready and did the final touches for the party and changed into my outfit. Kids started showing up and soon we were underway! CK mimicked Dumbledore's voice perfectly and welcomed all the kids, then turned it over to me to explain their first day of school. The day's schedule ran in this order:
-Sorting into Hogwart's Houses
-Wand Selection
-Class Photo
-Transfiguration Class
-Care of Magical Creatures Class taught by Professor Hagrid
-Herbology Lecture
-Potions Class taught by Professor Snape
-Meal in the Great Dining Hall
-Visit to Honeydukes
Brandon, our 11-year old neighbor who plays with Sofia and Olivia all the time is a huge Harry Potter fan and has visited Hogwarts at Universal Studios in Florida numerous times and has a sorting hat that actually talks, which we borrowed. Sofia went first and was picked for Ravenclaw. Of course, she wanted to be in Griffindor, and I'd planned to really use the separate houses and have the kids keep track of house points, but only Jacob and Brandon have read the books, so it seemed pointless. After Sofia was chosen for her house, she picked out her wand and then sat back down. We went through each of the kids and after all the wands were dolled out, we went out front for a "class photo" in front of the brick wall. After the picture, we returned to our living room and the kids pulled out the play dough and made different shapes: wands, witches' hats, dragons, etc. for about 15 minutes. Next it was Care of Magical Creatures and we walked back out front and around the side of the house as I told the kids that Hagrid was sick so I would be teaching the class. Unfortunately, all of the magical creatures had escaped recently so I wanted all the kids to find them, but not to touch them since they aren't trained yet in how to deal with magic yet. I gave each of them a sheet of paper with a photo of all the animals on it as well as a list of them, since we had readers and non-readers at the party. The kids had a great time running around finding all the animals and helped out those who had a hard time finding some of them.
Setting up the Owl Post table
The birthday girl with one of the "owl" balloons
These really turned out cute and Sofia loved making them
The "floating" acceptance letters coming out of the fireplace
The letters
Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape the morning of the party
The birthday girl gets "sorted" into her house
One of her friends getting sorted
Olivia gets sorted
The wands the kids could chose from after they were sorted by the Sorting Hat
Antonio picking out his wand
The class photo!
Transformation Class
Kids hard at work
Hermoine Granger working away with her friends
A photo of all the magical creatures the kids had to find.
Searching for the hidden magical creatures
After all the animals were found, we went to the patio table where we had the little pots of Mandrakes set up. I originally planned to have a venus fly trap and feed it in front of the kids, but didn't get around to finding one. So, instead I put different things in the bottom of the six Mandrake pots. I asked the class to tell me what they knew of Mandrakes, and of course, Sofia (aka Hermoine Granger) shared all that she knew with the class. I told them these particular babies were very young, so their screams were not deadly. We then poured out the sand from each pot into a bucket and found a pink diamond, a green stone, a little statue of the Eiffel Tower, another baby Mandrake and two little creatures. The kids loved it.
Learning about Mandrakes
The birthday girl shared her Mandrake knowledge with the others
From there, we walked around the other side of the house to the garage where the potions class was set up and made sure that each kid had a spot to perform their potions. With 16 kids, it was a tight fit. Once we were ready, Professor Snape came out from inside the house and perfected recited the movie lines from the first Harry Potter! Marco was awesome and all the kids were completely surprised! Sofia started giggling since she knows Marco well and Professor Snape was being so mean! He turned to Sofia and started asking her different potions questions and then chastised her when she didn't know the answers! It was perfection! Prefessor Snape then started his Potions lecture and performed the first potion, Mandrake Restorative Juice. I'd labeled all of the ingredients "Gillyweed Solution", "Leprechaun Elixir", "Mandrake Root", and so on so the kids had to hunt down the proper ingredients that the potion called for. The best potion was the second one, "Beguiling Bubble Potion," in which the kids mixed water and vegetable oil together with glitter and food coloring and then added Alka Seltzer. The result was a lava lamp effect and it really was great. Of course, I'd gone through all the potions with the girls a week before just to be sure they worked and then changed them accordingly. Professor Snape performed four potions and the kids had a blast! Once we were done, I had the kids wash their hands and head inside for lunch in the Great Dining Hall.
The Potion's Class table all ready!
Some of the potion bottles we made
The Potion's Class Handbook
Professor Snape makes his entrance!
Class is underway
Olivia writing in her Potions Handbook
Professor Snape giving Sofia a hard time about being the birthday girl!
Love this picture!
Demonstrating one of the potions
Olivia loves it!
Professor Snape
Professor McGonagall
The potion Charmed Soap Bubbles. The kids used this to wash their hands at the end of the Potions Class.
Lighting the final potion, Cinder Snake or Burning Basilisk Skin
Fire!
The kids are mesmerized!
While cleaning up, I found Sofia's Potion's Handbook and this is what she wrote in it...so sweet!
Unfortunately, I hadn't set out folding chairs in the Grand Dining Hall (our casual dining room), so the kids served themselves sandwich squares (cheese or pb&j), grapes, strawberries, and pretzels and then stood in our main dining room or in casual dining room. It wall worked out, although I wish I'd figured out a way for all the kids to be together and sit down. After everyone was done eating, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Sofia and then ate the vanilla cake with a strawberry jam ribbon. It was good, but very sweet and I really wished I had time to make the cake myself, which is what I normally do for their birthdays.
Sofia's Birthday Cake
Her friends under the hanging candles
Kids helping themselves to sandwiches, pretzels and fruit (and CK cooling off)
Love this picture! Sofia and her friend Kelley just before we sang Happy Birthday
Singing Happy Birthday!
Blowing out her "8" candle!
We left the candles on after the party and they lasted six days! They were really pretty at night!
Some of the kids discovered the "photo booth" with the wizard sign Sofia and I made. We actually found a set of photo booth props including mustaches, sunglasses, sayings, etc at Walmart for around $8 and had them laid out on a table near the wizard sign. The kids had a ball with it all! The girls really loved it an some of them wanted me to take a photo of them them and then quickly changed their "look" and got back in line to take more pictures. It was so cute and I loved how much fun they had doing it. The boys weren't into it as much as the girls.
After cake and pictures, it was time to visit Honeydukes! One regret is that I didn't get upstairs to take pictures of Honeydukes before the kids arrived. By the time I got upstairs after the group of kids, candy was moving fast and it never looked the same again. We gave each kid a treat bag and tongs and they could add they candies they wanted. We gave everyone a chocolate frog in a container and a golden snitch too. After Honeydukes, it was near noon so we headed back downstairs and the kids played with each other and their wands until parents started arriving for pick-up. After everyone was gone, I hurried into our room and changed into tennis clothes and headed out the door to play in the Sectionals. When I left all the gifts were by the front door and Brandon and Sofia were playing.
Honeydukes before all the candy
The containers we made
After! Honeydukes was hit pretty hard by the kids!
After I left, CK started cleaning up and was in the garage picking up all the potions stuff. He returned to the house and found that Sofia had opened all of her gifts but had NO idea what gift was from who! So now I need to either go back to the parents and ask or just have Sofia write a generic "thank you for my new gift" which pains me. She got a "real" Hermoine Granger wand from Brandon and his trip to Universal earlier in the summer, two books from Lia and Jacob, and a time turner, a handmade potions book from Kelley as well as a hair clip and peacock pin from Kelley's trip to China, a cute skirt and two tops from Isabella and a couple of games. But it was great to return to a house halfway de-Harry Pottered, thanks to CK!
My favorite thank you card written by Sofia
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