In which we throw a Harry Potter party

I got a few "oh, you're *such* a good mum," comments about this party....but honestly, I have been waiting for *years* for her to be interested enough in Harry Potter for me to be able to do this one!

It took a lot of planning and most of it was great fun. I can't remember the order we did things in the preparation so I'll include the stages of prep at each stage of the party.

First, the children arrived in the reception area (we had a hired hall) and visited Ollivander's to chose a wand.
We made wands by rolling sheets of A4 paper very thin, across a strip of double-sided tape diagonally across it and the last part glued. We then sealed the ends with a glue gun and also used the glue gun to decorate with ridges and patterns.

We painted them in a variety of woody shades. Apologies for the sideways posting of the photo!

I painted a large piece of cardboard brown, then when dry, painted "Ollivander's, Makers of Fine Wands since 382BC" on it in gold. This was displayed in "Diagon Alley" and when the children arrived, those who didn't bring their own wands came to choose one.

Phoebe chosing her wand...or her wand choosing her

Next they headed to Kings Cross where, between Platforms 9 and 10, they found the way to Platform 9 3/4
This was achieved through painted "9" and "10" signs stuck either side of the doorway into the main hall and a sheet, spray painted red and bricks drawn on with black marker pen, pinned across it.

Adam making his way to Platform 9 3/4

We cut up the middle so that children could run through as though passing through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4. On the other side, they found a screened off narrow corridor with a picture of the Hogwarts Express (I'm afraid ingenuity and resources ran out when it came to making an *actual* train)

Mia and Maisie catch the train

To recreate the train experience though, my lovely mum agreed to be the elderly witch who passes along the corridor saying "anything from the trolley" and each child took sweets from the trolley as they passed.

Zara buys some sweets from the trolley witch

Once arrived at Hogwarts, the new first years were led to the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. I made the Sorting Hat by covering a Halloween witch's hat in papier mache, painted brown. This created a double layered hat in which a walkie talkie could be hidden.

I created a list with all the children's names on in alphabetical order and wrote a script assigning them to one of the four houses. Some of them I knew had clothing specific to one house, eg Hannah and her three cousins went to Harry Potter World at Disneyland last year and each have house t-shirts and a few others had said they were coming in costume. so I arranged them first, then the remaining children were drawn at random to fill in the remaining spaces in each house. I then wrote a script for Afzaul who stayed hidden outside the room and spoke through the other walkie talkie, doing his best Leslie Phillips impression.

Zain being sorted into Slytherin

 

 

 

Lucia sorted into Ravenclaw

Once the children were sorted into their houses, it was time for Defence Against The Dark Arts. This formed our traditional ice breaker game as Hannah's friends are from so many different groups that we always do something to help people get to know each other. On this occasion I "taught" them several different spells: Expelliarmus, Tarantallegra, Rictusempra and Petrificus Totalis. We stood in a circle and first we introduced ourselves and said how we knew Hannah. We then called out the name of someone and cast a spell at them. The recipient had to respond appropriately by dropping their wand, dancing, wriggling as if being tickled or standing totally still! They then took the next turn at casting!

Kezia, Laila and Maisie try to decide who to curse, while Zain looks on

Jago casts a spell

Next on the timetable was Potions. I'm not really physically right for the part of Professor Snape (more a Professor Sprout), but I do a good line in menacing and nasty and I learnt and delivered most of the "to betwitch the mind and ensnare the senses" speech. I have a thing about Snape, so that was fun!

Working in house teams the children had two potions to make. First was Oozing Ointment...otherwise known as oobleck, which is a non-Newtonian fluid made from cornflour and water. The instructions were as follows:

Oozing Ointment

1.     Take 6 spoonfuls of Sopophurus (Powdered Parrot Droppings)

2.     Add 4 spoonfuls of Elixir of Life

3.     Add 5 drops of grindylow blood (green)

4.     Stir clockwise until thoroughly combined

5.     Test by holding in your hands

First to finish in a creditable manner were Hufflepuff, who received 20 points, followed by Gryffindor, who got no points purely for being Gryffindor (something Hannah is still grouching about from time to time....but what did she expect? I was being Professor Snape!!!) Ravenclaw's went totally wrong so they got nothing and Slytherin were last but got 50 points, naturally!

Slytherin House make Oozing Ointment

 

Gryffindor successfully making the same potion but getting no points because Professor Snape ain't nice!

Next they made Breath of the Volcano, which  went like this:

Breath of the Volcano

1.     Put 4 drops of  hobbleberry juice (orange) into your cauldron

2.     Pour in a sufficient quantity of Firewater

3.     Call Professor Snape who will add the Lubantuum (Wizarding crystal)

Firewater was, in fact, hot water and Lubantuum was dry ice which produced some delightfully steaming cauldrons! 

You can just about see the Volcano Breath here!

Sadly there are no photos of the next part of the day, which was Quidditch. It was originally planned to be in the garden outside, but it rained so was quickly rearranged for inside. One player on each team was designated seeker whose job was to look for the Snitch, carefully hidden by me somewhere in the hall, while 2 Chasers attempted to get a large ball through a hoop hanging on the wall and Beaters threw small balls at the other players, who had to stand still for a count of 5 if hit. I referred, while commentary was provided by my nephew Zain, who was recovering from surgery and therefore not able to play. After matches between Gryffindor and Slytherin (won by Slytherin, thanks to the substitute Adam, playing in his brother's place) and then Ravenclaw v Hufflepuff (won by Hufflepuff...also starring Adam now playing for his own team), everyone was exhausted and it was time for the feast.

At the very end, everyone was sent home with a Honeydukes bag containing a chocolate frog (actually Freddos...well, they're frogs made of chocolate and at 20p, a hell of a lot cheaper than trade-marked Chocolate Frogs) and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (a mixture of real Bertie Bott's from the Harry Potter Studio Tour shop and cheapo jelly beans). 

I don't think she can ever have a birthday party again because how will I top that???