Harry Potter Party

Back in December Colin decided he really really wanted a Harry Potter birthday party. I told him we could have a party but that would be his birthday gift from us. We couldn't afford to do both gifts and party. He was fine with that (smart boy ended up with cool gifts from his friends at the party :) and we started planning. He had lots of ideas and wrote out a bunch of lists for me.
Then I showed him pinterest (with harry potter party typed in the search box) and he went nuts. We had so much fun looking for ideas together. We spent a couple of his days off school making Wands for party favors. We had lots of fun doing this together and thanks to the internet great ideas and resources and the Dollar Tree for being so cheap we had a great party!

The Invites:


The entrance:

A blog had a free download of the letters and number so I just had to paint, cut, & glue on some of Ben's scrap wood.


I wasn't going to do the brick wall curtain b/c of the cost & time but then I went into the thrift store and hanging right in the middle was a brick colored sheet and a pack of 12 unused red cloth napkins for $2.99 so I couldn't pass them up. I surprised Colin with the entrance stuff but then Ben forgot to bring in him the front door so he didn't see it until then end :)

The Great Hall


Olivander's Wand Shop:

We found a you tube video online that showed us how to make wands out of paper, elmers glue, newspaper, hot glue and paint. I had everything but the gold paint so they were really cheap, a blast to make with the boys, and turned out really cool!


A stop at Gringotts:

Each kid was given a bag to hold the "Galloens" they would earn during the party. The bags were made out of the thrifted napkins.
The Food:

Colin & Ben made lots of chocolate frogs that were a huge hit with the kids.


All the moms LOVED (and kids too) the Cockroach clusters (recipe here)






Love Potion:

This stuff was a riot b/c all the kids were scared to drink it! They didn't want to fall in Love :) Then some brave ones dared to try it and they all gave it. It is the Shuman's punch recipe( 1 thing of ginger ale/7 up to one thing raspberry sherbet) that makes a nice foam on top to look like a potion.

The "Potter's Pizza" Feast:


Potions Class:

This was a lot of fun. We made the Felix Felicis "Liquid Luck" potion that bubbled and changed colors 3 times!

Quidditch Game:


Next was the funniest thing ever. I bought 3 little boxes of the official Harry Potter jelly beans online (they are super expensive! Found mine for $2 each and that was a steal but they were SO worth the $10) I just didnt' take any pictures. We all sat in a circle and took turns closing our eyes, picking a bean, and eating it. Half of them are yummy flavors and the rest are gross-vomit, sausage, soap, booger, earthworm, pepper, rottenegg, earwax, etc.) Each kid had a little cup to spit it into if they didn't like it. We had a few strong players that were able to swallow the gross ones but it was so funny. We all laughed the whole time!

Next we sang Happy Birthday to Colin and ate cupcakes. They have cake balls on top that are supposed to be the Golden Snitch but they turned out looking like Yoda heads so we called them the Troll/Dobby cupcakes :)


Before leaving the kids were able to stop at HoneyDukes Candy Shop to spend their earned money. There were yummy things like: Dumbledore's Favorite Lemon Drops, Broobles best blowing gum, Blood Pops, Hagrid's Rock cakes, Acid Pops, Bertie Bott's beans (just walmart's version of jelly bellies so no vomit ones here), Jelly slugs, and their own little vial of Liquid Luck.




Colin and his friend Nathan from church



All the Wizards and a couple Witches! I forget to say we did have a SPELLS class to learn some cool spells with our wands too.




This is Ross & Melissa Quijano from our ward. I visit teach Melissa and Ross is like a superhero to the boys. He is a huge kid in a grown up body and LOVES star wars, legos, harry potter, etc. so Colin just loves him and wanted to invite him. They were so nice to come and help out and play with neglected Evrett.








My parents, Jess & John came to play. It was fun having them and being able to celebrate Colin's birthday with them


We didn't get any pictures of Ben but he was here for most of the party. He was on picture duty :) He is on the night shifts so he got home at 10am, slept till 4:00, got up to help me for an hour, helped a TON at the party, then headed to work just before 7:00pm.


Colin had a great time! And almost everyone he invited came. I loved having something FUN to do and think about and make while Ben has been working the worst schedule ever this past month. And this was the easiest group of boys I have ever had for a party. I don't know if its the age....getting older....but I didn't have a headache or anything by the time it was over. They were all great!