Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Party at Hogwarts!

Over the weekend we transformed Meg’s parent’s house in to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft & Wizardry! Well, we did what we could. We had some great ideas but then we realized we weren’t Hollywood special effects artist and our budget wasn’t near those of professional movie set designers. Even with our limitations, I think it was a good party and the kids all had a great time.

The party included specialized food and drinks including Hogwarts Express PB&J’s, Hagrid’s Fang dogs, Mini troll clubs, Hedwig and Harry’s hummus, McGonagall’s psycho swirls, and dragon crisps! There were potions to drink as well as muggle drinks for the non wizards or witches. Each kid got to go to Ollivanders Wand Shop to get a one of a kind wand, they were each sorted into a house (Gryffindor or Huffelpuff) along with a house pin and if they didn’t already have a robe, they were provided one. They were also given temporary scars on their forehead if they wanted. I will say it was mainly the boys who wanted the lighting bolt scar drawn on their head.
Here is the entrance to Ollivanders Wand Shop

After the sorting ceremony, each house was sent on a scavenger hunt to look for clues to find the horcruxes and the sorcerer’s stone. It was really fun to watch each pack of kids running all through the three levels of the house. I am really glad none of them poked an eye out with their wands while running up and down the stairs in long robes. Gryffindor won that challenge.

This is Huffelpuff getting their scavenger hunt instructions

This is Gryffindor getting their scavenger hunt instructions
Here is Huffelpuff getting a clue by the pool

Here is Gryffindor going upstairs to find their next clue


After the hunt was over, the two teams went out to the yard for a game of quidditch. I know what you are thinking, how can you play quidditch if you can’t fly on the brooms? Well, we had to modify the game somewhat to work in the muggle world and basically we had them playing field hockey with brooms. Each kid had a broom and each team tried to score a not so round ball into the others goal by sweeping their brooms. Then each team had a seeker and our wonderful niece (Taylor) agreed to tie a weighted balloon to her and that was the golden snitch. Taylor would run out into the field during the game and the seeker for each team would try to grab the golden snitch.

Here is a picture of the action packed quidditch game



Another shot of the game, but notice Sammy has caught the Golden Snitch!

The kids were really into the match and I am surprised no one got hurt in this event as well. It was all pretty funny to watch and I wish I would have taken a video of it to put on YouTube! It was a close game but Huffelpuff ended up winning in the last minute. This means it was a tie for the house cup and all of the kids would get to visit Honeydukes Homemade Sweets as the end of the party to pick all different types of candy. There were Bertie Bott’s flavored beans, Drobbles blowing gum, licorice wands, jelly slugs and worms, chocoballs, lava balls and lemon/lime drops.

After the conclusion of the quidditch match, the kids were hot and ready for a dip in the black lock (pool). I have never seen that many kids in Meg’s parents pool at once! Everyone was having a good time and again there were no fights or injuries! Not that I expected any, but with 18 kids in the pool at once, who knows what could happen! The only way to get all of the kids out of the pool at the same time was to mention Cake! As soon as that word came out of Meg’s mouth, the pool was empty!
Kids in the pool


Notice all of the muggals watching over the black lock

Notice Mac's perfect cannonball form!

Here is the cake before it was cut, what you don't notice is all of the little finger marks on the side
Henry and Sammy were the last two to finish thier cake, they didn't leave a bite!

Once the cake was devoured the kids played a little longer running to the different areas of the castle. Eventually it was time to go but not before each wizard got to go fill their bags with candy from Honeydukes candy store. Overall it was a great party and Meg, her parents and I were all exhausted once it was over. I think everyone who came to the party enjoyed themselves, including the muggle parents. It was all worth it since the kids had such a good time, but all I can say is I am glad each child only has one birthday each year!

1 comment:

Kim said...

Happy Birthday, Mac! Cute party. Looks like everyone had a blast!