Harry Potter Day 2017

Friday night we had our 7th annual Harry Potter Day Celebration. Once again it was a day late since life is just so busy and I couldn't miss Back to School night on September 1st. But after having worked for several days and having to prepare for the big day several days in advance, I think it all came together really nicely. I decorated the table like the Quidditch World Cup with a green tablecloth for the pitch, leprechaun gold and the Quidditch goals I made just for the occasion. I used wooden embroidery hoops, wooden dowels and soda bottles all covered in gold tape. These took longer than I thought they would so there's a good chance they will be used in the future so I feel like they were worth it. They made an epic centerpiece though, and we did use them for a game. Before we could even start dinner my most immature child (that would be Tyson!) starting trying to flip coins through them and landing some of them in Drake's clam chowder! We had our usual clam chowder and salad. However, the bread bowls I had special ordered from Lin's were too flat to be practical for bowls (back to Smith's I guess!) so instead we called them Hagrid-sized rolls and had them on the side. For our drink this year we had Polyjuice Potion. I used a container of lime sherbet mixed with a 2-liter of Sprite with added food coloring and I put it in cute bottles from the dollar store. The bottles are technically for dispensing oil and vinegar, but they worked great for my party. I love how the green goes with the tablecloth. During dinner we played a fun game I found on Pinterest called Harry Potter: Would You Rather. We took turns pulling a card and answering a would you rather type question. Would you rather duel Dumbledore or Voldemort? Would you rather be a Keeper or a Beater? Would you rather have a never ending supply of butterbeer or chocolate frogs...etc, etc. It made for some good table discussion.

Lexi invited her friend Torie Hammack to our party. This is the first time we've invited a friend so I was hoping she wouldn't think we were crazy but she seemed to really enjoy it.

After dinner we played Harry Potter Bingo. It's a game I downloaded from Etsy. It was so nice not to have to make up my own! Totally worth the $3 I put out for it! Drake was the Bingo King. I think he had at least two Bingos before anyone else and he won the blackout round. Prizes ranged from coloring books, erasers, Harry Potter glasses to pens and crazy straws.

Our second game was done using a deck of collector cards that I had purchased. Each card has a different object from the HP world on it. Each kid was given 5 cards and had to make up a story using each of the objects on the card. They came up with some pretty fun stories.

Our last game was a table Quidditch game using the goals I had made. You had to bounce a ping pong ball on the table and try to get it through the rings. The outside rings were worth 5 points and the tallest was worth 10. Of course I had to show the little Muggles how it was done! We did a couple of rounds and they really got the hang of it. Drake actually won this game too. He was on a roll ...maybe he secretly took some Felix Felices (liquid luck) before coming to the party?! After the games we went to Hogsmeade for the usual onslaught of confectionery bliss! I made Butterbeer Fudge for the first time this year and it is divine! A definite must for future Harry Potter Days! They ended the night by watching The Half Blood Prince (HP #6) while Tyson and I did some major cleanup. My kitchen has not looked like that in a long, long time! I also had some really awesome metal HP bookmarks to give them but I waited until this morning because I didn't have enough for Torie and I didn't want her to feel bad. Happy Harry Potter Day from our crazy family to yours!

FYI: Last year I wrote "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened!" on the mirror in the downstairs bathroom, and here we are one year later and every time the mirror gets fogged up you can still see it! If we ever sell this house the new owners are in for a rather spooky experience!