Harry Potter Party

October is a great month for some themed parties! 

We chose to do a Harry Potter party this year since we had just finished reading the books as a family. 

I invited my mom over to help us celebrate. 

First: the decorations-

 

I printed off a bunch of Harry Potter themed signs from here and here. 

This sign was leading out our door to the backyard but you will see more about that later. 

I printed out a picture from google images of Moaning Myrtle and then laminated it and stuck it to the toilet. That got some good laughs. 

I hung up a Hogwarts sign and then put other signs around the two rooms we would be using for our classes.

We made these really cute Pygmy Puffs. I got the tutorial for them here. 

I haphazardly hung a "brick wall" to go through on our way to Hogwarts. 

My mom was hanging out in the girls' room while they waited for me to finish setting up. I opened the door, hooted like an owl, and threw in the invitation you see Abi reading here. 

They got their tickets for the Hogwart's Express and made their way through the red brick wall to Platform 9 3/4. 

We went through Hogsmeade, stopping for some photo ops. 

Then we went straight to school, where our first class was Herbology. 

We had to safely remove these mandrakes from their pots. 

And then we got to snack on the pudding inside. 

After Herbology, we attended Potions class. 

We mixed some baking soda and vinegar. 

We tried the dancing worms experiment found here, but it didn't actually work for us.

After succeeding and failing at some potions, we went to Care of Magical Creatures. 

We picked out our Pygmy Puffs and learned how to take care of them. 

Then it was time for Charms. 

We used Wingardium Leviosa to keep balloons up in the air. 

Then we had Transfiguration where we turned rats into tea cups. 

Maddy "drinking" from her tea cup. 

We also "transfigured" ourselves into different magical creatures and had to guess what they were from clues given by the others.

I thought I had pictures of the next activity but I must not. 

We went to the Owlery and wrote letters to my niece that is living in Washington state and mailed them using the Owl Post. 

Then it was time for Defense against the dark arts.

We threw the "dementor" balloon at each other and had to use our Expecto Patronum spells. 

Then we blew up more balloons and used them for boggarts. We had to say what our biggest fears were and then say what our boggarts would turn into before we did our spell. 

This was SO much fun. 

Eventually Abi realized if she did it with a balloon that wasn't tied that it could fly around the room deflating like it does in the movie.

Here are some videos of that. 

After that we had Divination class. 

We did this like mad libs. I wrote out different characters, locations, spells, numbers, etc on pieces of paper and then everyone picked them out and we read the mad lib using them. It was so funny.

After theses classes we had lunch. They don't look the way they were supposed to but I looked up a recipe for Cornish pasties. They used meat, potatoes, and vegetables. I didn't have enough time to do them in the right shape so they didn't look great but they tasted good.
We had some orange crush disguised as Pumpkin Juice.

At this point we had to take a break for a few hours while my daughter was at an activity.
When we got back we went in the back yard to play our version of Quidditch.
I had my mom hold a circle goal made of glow sticks. The person making the goals had to throw the ball through the hoop 15 times before the other person found the Golden Snitch.  ( a smaller ball I had hid in the bushes) The Seeker had to run around on a broom looking for the hidden Snitch.
Abi didn't find it before Maddy got to fifteen goals so then it was Maddy's turn.

Abi also made the 15 goals before Maddy found the Snitch, so then it would be Abi's turn to be Seeker again.

Abi as seeker again...

She found it!!

After our game we visited Honeyduke's treat shop where we were able to fill our treat bags with lots of yummy snacks. 

That way they didn't all get eaten right then!

We also had our butterbeer!

I used a really good recipe this time for frozen Butterbeer. 

We got Cream Soda and filled up some plastic cups about halfway. Then we put them in the freezer for a couple of hours so that it was a slushy consistency. 

Then I poured a little more Cream Soda into the cup and mashed it together. 

After that I poured a tiny drop of imitation rum extract into each cup. 

Then I used a bunch of whipped cream (just from the spray can into a bowl) and mixed it with a few big tablespoons of Butterscotch ice cream topping. I can't give you exact measurements for this, I just mixed them until it had the right consistency and then spooned it onto the top of the cups. 

It was yummy!

We finished our day by relaxing in the Gryffindor commons room and playing our Harry Potter Clue game and Harry Potter Scene It. 

Such a fun party and perfect for this time of year!

*Do you have any parties planned for this month?