Hold on to your Nimbus 2000 flying broom and come with me to the most magical Harry Potter birthday party! The theme was chosen by the birthday boy, Campbell, because he loves Harry Potter and wanted to celebrate the release of the last Harry Potter movie. Campbell’s mom chose to rent out the beautifully restored Bonneville House in the Belle Grove district in Fort Smith to be the setting of the party because she knew it was the perfect place to have it. She is a very creative and talented person and needed some help to pull off this shindig. So we immediately started on the details of the invitations.
I printed the invitations on an ivory stock and envelopes to give it an old world feel. Each invitation was addressed to the child as an acceptance letter into Hogwarts School. A winking Hedwig the owl graced the front of the envelope.
The Bonneville House has a wonderful wrought iron gate that surrounds it and that’s where I started with the decorating…a King’s Cross Station sign to indicate where the children would next have to actually find Platform 9 3/4!
Next comes making the front of the house look like the train station. I hung round platform numbers from the balustrade along the front of the house. To create the brick wall the kids would have to run through to get to Hogwarts, I got an old putty colored sheet from the Saver’s store, and painted it with red paint and a sponge . We hung it up on a shower curtain rod. I printed out the logos to Griffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, cut them out and put them on suitcases by the front door. 
All ready to run through!
Here’s what the other side of the brick wall looks like…Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Hogwarts banners and House banners were hung everywhere.
Not a great picture, but I downloaded and printed out the covers of the Daily Prophet newspaper and stuck them on one of the many mirrors in the house along with a framed picture of the “student of the week.”
A composite of the esteemed faculty hung on the opposite wall along with wizardry books.
A Diagon Alley sign hung on the entrance to the parlor…
it was a wonderful room for all of the “stores” the kids would go “shopping” in for school.
The room was set up as several little shops to get their supplies…their first stop was to get their school kits, (a cardboard lunch box) 
then to Madame Malkin’s to receive their school robes with Hogwarts patch.
Next stop – a visit to Ollivander’s to have a wand select its owner.
Campbell and his mom made the wands from dowels and metallic hot glue and we put them in a cut glass bowl with a left over light up necklace I caught at Mardi Gras last year…it looked spooktacular!
House banners were to be found in every room!
Each child received a pair of HP glasses…
and a pet to practice their spells on (sorry it’s not very clear!)
and flying overhead was a display of the Nimbus 2000 and Firebolt broomsticks!
House banners were attached to dowels and hung from the staircase…
and the talking picture frames at the end of the hall.
Next, the Potions Lab…
A piano was at one end of the room became the professor’s desk complete with Hedwig the owl, ravens, snakes and all kinds of curiosities. The basket is holding the student’s Spells and Potions book.
This beautiful room had two fireplaces and both were decorated with creepy and crawling specimens!
Plastic drop cloths helped protect the carpets from 25+ students and their potions!
All of the potions were listed in the student’s spell and potions book…at this table they would make muggle cement and lava lamps.
Some of the class pets were up to no good!
Potions class taught them how to concoct Jumping Jerald…
and lava lamps…
and all of the students had to create their very own potion and drink it!
The “professors” came up with the names for some of the ingredients…doesn’t ant hill dirt, chopped up chicken lips and mountain troll juice sound delicious?!
The supplies for the magical milk…
and Professor Snape’s Secret potion!
The secret letter lab.
The dining hall complete with floating candles…
The cauldron held the butter beer to be served with pizza…
So…how was the party?? Campbell was so excited to greet his guests in the main hallway after they entered through a brick wall. His British accent was wonderful!
Professor Anna was on the veranda to tell the new students how to run through the brick wall…
and in they come!
The parents wanted to check it out, too!
New students to Hogwarts loved shopping in Diagon Alley…
and picking out their new pet at the pet shoppe!
The Hogwarts class of 2011 show their new pets and wands.
Checking out the potions and spells and all things wizard!
The sorting ceremony begins!
All eyes on the sorting hat…all ears on the cell phone on speaker to find out what house!
The next class was wand lessons and spell casting…flick and swish! And on to the potions classes…
creating Snape’s secret potion….(or a mess!)
Professor Sonya measures out elixirs…
Professor Elizabeth is the nicest teacher of them all…
Create your own potion was a hoot!
The first brave enough to swallow her potion…ewh!
Professor Anna instructs students how to make muggle cement…
Professor Patrick and the secret letter class…
Magic milk and a wand can make for hours of fun!
Create your own potions…a comparative analysis!
Right-O! Cheers!
Bottoms up…
Hmmm…not so sure what that tasted like…
and again with the birthday boy… Cheers…
bottoms up…and…
yeah…no!
Professor Carolina instructs on the magical properties of oil and water…
while Professor Andrew addresses fizzy potions.
The last potion lesson was outside on the patio…
Hogwarts fireworks…soda and Mentos rockets!
fizzy fun
chanting “leviosa!”
Lunch is served and pizza is on the menu!
A Harry Potter Happy Birthday cake waits on the sideboard.
Like magic, the potions classroom turns into the dining hall thanks to the help from the parents!
My soda exploded this high!
Time for the birthday cake!
The party ended with a trip to Honeyduke’s Sweet Shoppe for sweets to take home
It was a wickedly fun party and all of the graduates received a diploma at the end!
this looks amazing.....what a great mum you are!!!
ReplyDeletecan i asked what you used for the cob web look.
Thanks
I used a packaged "cob web" that I found at Wal-mart at Halloween time. It's basically a sheet of cheese cloth with holes in it!
ReplyDelete