A VERY Harry Potter Party

Up until a couple of years ago, I had never seen or read Harry Potter. I was not interested, and neither was Tony. But Tony's sister, Chrissie, and her husband, Aaron, love Harry Potter.  They even went to Florida shortly after the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened.  Sometime after this, Chrissie encouraged us to watch the first movie.  Reluctantly, we did.  And we loved it.  A lot.  We waited quite awhile and then decided to watch the second movie (Drew was pretty young, and we wanted to be careful with what he was watching).  We loved that, too.  After another while, we watched the third movie. Loved it.  Notice a pattern?  During this time, the kids had tons of questions and really started getting into the story.  Sadie and Zack started reading the books and I decided to do so as well.  Within a period of a few months, I read all 7 books and absolutely loved them!

Chrissie and I often talked about doing a Harry Potter party for the kids, and this Halloween, we go the chance!  She and Aaron came up the Saturday before Halloween, and we threw the most EPIC HP party ever!!

First thing we did was make our own wands (thank you, Pinterest!) so that they would have time to dry.

Then it was time for the adventure to start.  We more or less followed Harry's journey in the first book, starting with his first trip to Diagon Alley with Hagrid.

First stop?  Gringott's, of course!  You can't buy school supplies without money!

Pouches filled with galleons

Next, they received their official letters of acceptance from Hogwarts, along with their supply lists.

Off to Diagon Alley!!

First store was Madame Maulkin's to be fitted for robes

Then Potage's Cauldron Shop

Then Flourish & Blots for books and writing utensils

Every good wizard MUST have a pet.  So off we went to the Magical Menagerie to pick out their special friends.

Scabbers the rat for Ron

Hedwig for Harry

Crookshanks for Hermione

At last, Hermione, Ron and Harry were ready to go to Hogwarts!

Platform 9 3/4!

Lupin and Tonks went with them to Hogwarts

 They made it through!

Classes start right away at Hogwarts!  First up?  Transfiguration.  Turning water into snow!

Next class was Care of Magical Creatures, taught by Professor Lupin.

Potions class

They made their own luck serum, Felix Feilicis

And a bubbling potion

After class it was time for dinner in the Great Hall

No floating candles, but hanging snitches (made by Zack) were a good replacement

Ready to eat!

It was a delicious meal of pot pies and some yummy sides

Tonks and Lupin even made a treacle tart!!

After dinner, we went off to Hogsmeade.  First stop was Honeydukes Candy Shop!

At Honeydukes we of course had to have some butter beer.  Delicious!!

Our last stop was Zonko's Joke Shop for some wacky toys!

What a great evening we had.  It was fun to plan and even more fun to see the kids experience and feel like they were in their favorite book/movie!  Thank you, Chrissie and Aaron, for being a part of this fun adventure!

6th Grade Halloween Party

The 6th graders went to Outdoor School the week of Halloween.  They were originally going to be gone over Halloween, so we parents planned a fun party just for them.  Outdoor School ended up changing the days so that they got home on Halloween, but we decided to continue with the party anyway.  I think everyone had a blast!

Sadie and her friends doing some karaoke

6th grade teachers' kids

Sadie's teachers and principal

Karaoke time!

My friend Caryn, er, Dorothy...

Costume contest!

We seriously have the best community.  The kids had a great time!