Jessy is like me. When he gets into something he really gets into it and it takes over his whole life. At the moment he’s into Harry Potter. Naturally, this had to be the theme for his upcoming 8th birthday party. Usually a ‘theme’ involves some paper plates and cups with the relevant pictures on and a home-made piñata. So, I typed ‘Harry Potter party supplies’ into Google and it all snowballed from there. I found amazing photos of houses transformed into Hogwarts. Broomsticks, snitches, potions and all sorts. I tried to look away and just buy some plates with a picture of Harry Potter on. I really did. The seed had been sown though.
One lazy morning Jessy and I started chatting about ideas. We could have a wand shop! And house banners, and the Hogwarts Express! I ordered some House banners from America because Jessy loved them so much. Jessy set to work whittling wands at Wood School. While he was whittling, I wandered the charity shops of Manchester finding interesting looking bottles, and cauldron-esque vases. I emptied the local discount store of little glass jars which inspired me to create Honeydukes sweet shop. It just seemed to keep on growing! We found some instructions for making wands out of paper and paint, and they turned out so well I made lots more. We didn’t have a dining table for days and I’m not sure we ate very well and I burned a blister on my hand, but the wands were lovely!
Not only did the party grow in terms of ideas, but also numbers. We decided to make it our housewarming party as well as Jessy’s birthday which meant I invited people from far and wide and they came! Some things are better said with pictures than words, so here is the story of our Harry Potter party from wistful beginning to exhausted happy end.
Students arrived into Diagon Alley where first years could acquire a wand from Ollivander’s Wand Shop. They do say that the wand chooses the wizard, and when the correct wand was chosen a loud crackling was heard when the young witch or wizard tried pointing it. (The trick here was bubble wrap covered with a black t-shirt which I twisted as they turned away and pointed the wand!) Students were then given their ticket for the Hogwarts Express and told to find Platform 9 and 3/4.
A selection of the paper wands we made.
Ollivander’s Wand Shop
After a little encouragement to ‘take it at a run’ when heading straight through the wall to the platform, they emerged onto Platform 9 3/4 to discover the Hogwarts Express waiting for them.
Where is Platform 9 and 3/4?
As it was a party, the chocolate frogs on the train were given out free!
Chocolate frogs! We had a platter piled 3 layers high in the end!
After the journey the students arrived at Hogwarts and were taken through to the Great Hall for the feast! The ceiling of the Great Hall was, of course, bewitched to look like the night sky and the Hogwarts banner hung proudly.
The bewitched ceiling and my new funky chandleier!
Ready for a feast!
Ferrero Rocher Snitch
Welcome to Hogwarts!
The students then needed to be sorted into Houses. The Sorting Ceremony was conducted in the common room by Professor McGonagall. They had to get past the Fat Lady to enter! Once inside they found a tempting array of potions ingredients just out of reach! These were intended for decoration only. They were some of the first things we made when preparing for the party, along with the labels. Jessy insisted on Unicorn Blood! It’s difficult to see in the picture, but we had a Sorting Hat, a tall chair, and a small black bag containing house badges that students could pick without looking. I knew more people would want to be in Gryffindor than any other house so I had many more Gryffindor badges. We still had a fair number of Ravenclaws, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs though.
The Fat Lady
Potions
Home made potions ingredients
The Sorting Ceremony
We then played a game well known in the Muggle world – Pass the Parcel. The contents were suited to wizards and witches with every layer housing a snake or lizard. The centre of our pass the parcels are always for sharing and as a nod to Slytherin house there were large tubs of yellow belly jelly snakes which they held up triumphantly before scoffing them! Being model students they even shared with the teachers.
Slytherin’ snakes!
Everybody was very excited about the next event – Flying Lessons! They were held in the Tall Tower (the attic for Muggles) by two Witch teachers. It was a chaotic class with so many brooms and so many new flyers! The teachers handled it admirably!
First Flying Lesson!
A student takes flying advice from the teacher.
After such a physical lesson it was time for the students to settle down and concentrate. Charms Class was sensibly held in the kitchen where there is no carpet. Professor McAlister (my good self!) explained that we would be making a confidence potion by adding a charm spell to a clear drink. She explained the importance of keeping the potion cold and taught them the spell. (I had intended to look up the Latin for confidence but didn’t get time so I made it up on the spot!) “Confidus Instatus!” I said, flicking my wand, and the class followed. The students then chose from cream soda, lemonade or water and were each handed a cup of ice. They were told to cast their spell over the cup and then pour their drink over the ice. Miraculously all the potions turned different colours before their eyes! An added sprinkle of ‘pure gold dust’ (edible gold glitter in golden sugar) and their potions were complete. As one 8 year old boy said with a look of awe: “It isn’t real – but it works!”
Confidus Instatus!
All the charms worked! (click on the photo for a larger version and you can see the different coloured drinks.)
After Charms Class I was pestered constantly about when they were going to the sweet shop! Ravenclaw dormitory had been kept out of bounds for good reason! Eventually it was time to gather in the Hall to be escorted to Honeydukes Confections. All the students had been given a little spending pouch containing 14 gold coins.
Eagerly clutching their spending pouches, the students were escorted upstairs to Honeydukes Confections. I had priced everything carefully so that everyone could buy one of everything. I pre-prepared several bags and made an exciting offer of a free spooky skull with any pre-prepared bag. Most students went for the deal but a few chose their own and some wanted to keep a few coins to take home so they bought fewer sweets. There was also a challenge to the brave! Having recently been to Harry Potter Studios, I had acquired some genuine Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans and extracted the most disgusting flavours to put on offer.
Honeydukes Confections
Handing out the special offer bags
Some students chose their own.
A challenge to the brave
Super sour exploding Fizz Bombs! Or was it the Vomit flavoured bean?
Poor Moaning Myrtle missed out on all the fun as usual and continued haunting the downstairs toilet.
Moaning Myrtle
In between all the activities, the students practiced their levitation skills on the bouncy castle which had been provided as compensation for outdoor Quidditch being disallowed. There were a couple of incidences of Trolls on the bouncy castle, but the students pooled their magical knowledge and handled the situation brilliantly!
Meanwhile, my friend Charlotte, who looked every bit the part of a Hogwarts teacher, had transformed the living room into a school photograph studio! She took some amazing photographs, here are just a few:
The school day was almost at an end. It was just time to celebrate the birthday student’s big day with some cake. We’ve learned over the years that whilst birthday cakes look pretty, Jessy doesn’t actually like them. He does, however, love the toffee, lemon and carrot cakes form M&S so that is what we get. A few snitches and a couple of scars kept them on theme.
Snitch and Scar cakes
After that the school day was officially over and people gradually began to weave their way back into the Muggle world. We all had such a wonderful time. This party truly made me understand the purpose of a housewarming party. My house really did feel thoroughly warmed. I have so many memories of fun and laughter and children’s excited happy sugar-filled faces. I’ve never done a party like this before, and perhaps I never will again, but it’s been a great experience from start to finish.
Pinklucy's Adventures in Autonomous Education amongst other things. 