Sunday, January 22, 2012

Fun and Easy Harry Potter Mania Birthday Party

Welcome to Red Couch Recipes and to my recap of the Harry Potter Birthday Party I threw for my 11 year-old daughter Talley.  Before we started making plans for the party, she polled her friends asking them if they would like a Fablehaven Birthday Party or a Harry Potter Birthday Party.  As many of them hadn't read Fablehaven, they voted for a Harry Potter Party.  It also helped that the last Harry Potter movie had just been showing in theaters.  The year before, Talley had a Percy Jackson Party, which, of course, I blogged about.  Click HERE for the Percy Jackson Party.  It seems like we have a "book to birthday party" trend going on at our home.

We started out with a simple invitation inviting each of the girls to Hogwart's Academy.  I printed a black etched picture of the Hogwart's Castle on white vellum and placed the invitation behind the vellum on a white piece of paper.  I used one similar to the one sketched HERE.



I decorated the table with witch hats attached to the back of the chairs and with this scarf and cape my son had for a Harry Potter Halloween Party, oh so long ago.  My son Skyler, now 17,  fell for the Harry Potter mania in a big way.  I remember when one of the books came out, we of course, bought a copy on the first day.  When we were shopping that day he was sitting in the cart reading the newest Harry book.  Another time, we took a  picture of us sitting in a fast food restaurant with a Harry Potter book on the table. 

Another shot of the table.  I bought the tablecloth at Zurchers.  It has pictures of each of the three main characters.  I used a black cats, cauldron, and wizard hat from my Halloween collectection.  I love the effect of the well-worn Harry Potter books with the glasses on top,


When the girls first arrived I drew  a lightning bolt on their foreheads -- just to be like Harry.  We also gave them each a pair of Harry-styled glasses that I bought at the Dollar Store.  I have edited the photo because I haven't asked permission from the girl's parents for their photos to be posted on the Internet 


" I wish for Gryffindor!"


The big night arrived and nine girls showed up for the party.  They were greeted with a sign at the door that said "Welcome to Hogwart's."  The first order of business was sorting the girls into the Hogwart's House.  For the sorting hat, I used a Halloween witch hat and drew the house names, Sytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, out of a bowl.  The purpose of this was to divide the girls into teams to compete in a Harry Potter Trivia Contest.

At the end of this post is copy of the Harry Potter Trivia Contest.  I thought it was quite simple, but it did stump most  of the girls.




The girls were given Galleons, Gold Chocolate Coins, for their work on the Trivia Contest.  Of course,
the House of Gryffindor won!   I gave the winning team the most Galleons (6) and the  losing team the least (3).  They used these Galleons to purchase items on their trip to Honeyduke's.


The chocolate frogs were a hit -- Ribbit!


I used the following candy for Honeydukes:

Chocolate Frogs:  Made with Chocolate Chips and a Frog Mold
Dumbledore's Dum Dums:  Dum Dum Suckers
Pop Rocks:  Pop Rocks
Fred and George Weasley's Tongue Taffy:  Tongue Taffy
Pixie Poison:  Pixie Sticks
Lemon Drops:  Lemon Drops -- I used these because Dumbledore 's favorite candy was lemon drops.
Whiz Bangs: Zotz
Hermione's Sour Cubes:  Cubed candy I found at the Dollar Store

Jacqueline, if you are missing a frog mold, you now know where it is!


The trip to Honeyduke's was one of the favorite activities at the party.  I set up my buffet with candy labelled and with a price list.  Limiting the amount of candy they could buy at Honeyduke's by the amount of Galleons they earned from the Trivia Contest, made the trip extra fun for the girls.  It was as if they were really at Honeyduke's making choices with limited funds.  I really did keep their Galleons!


While at Honeydukes we bought some Bertie Bott's Beans.  I found them at the "Candy Barrel" at the nearest mall.  They are still available, but they are not as easy to find as they used to be.  This was a highlight of the party.  I gave the girls an extra Galleon to spend at Honeyduke's if they would just try one -- they all did.



The girls had a lot of fun tasting the beans!  As you probably know,  there are good beans and bad beans.  The bad bean flavors include flavors such as booger, grass, and baby wipes.  All of the girls took the gamble and we had fun tasting them.

Not so sure about that bean!



A bad bean. 


Next we went to Potions Class and made some Rosmerta's Butter Beer.  Surprisingly I liked the flavor.  I say surpisingly because the base of the Butter Beer is cream soda, and I am not a huge fan of cream soda.  I used my sister Jacqueline's recipe (and natch it was good) and unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of  the Butter Beer because you have to act quickly because it fizzes over the cup.  It was a fun  fizzy and bubbly drink.

On the table I had displayed ingredients that were used for the "Potions Class."

I printed the labels and got the ideas off the web HERE,  They are all things easily pulled together around your home, and there are free printable labels.



Every party has to have a cake.


We ended the night with pizza and Birthday Cake.  You may have noticed that "Happy " and "Birthday" are spelled wrong on the cake.  This cake, was to be like the cake that Hagrid brought Harry when they first met.  He misspelled the words Happy and Birthday on the cake.  It was Harry's birthday and he was so touched by the cake, because the Dursley's never celebrated his birthday before, and this was the first birthday cake he ever had.  Of course, Dudley eats the cake and then Hagrid gives him a piggy tale. 

Harry Potter Trivia Contest

(Caution:  There May Be Spoilers)

1.  Ron and George Weasley are twin  brothers.  T or F (False)

2.  Albus Dumbledore does not like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.  T or F (True)

3.  The cry of a fully grown mandrake can kill you.  T or F (True)

4.  The Dursley Family lives at 4 Privet Drive.  T or F (True)

5.  Harry Potter's wand happens to be the brother wand of Albus Dumbledore's wand.  T or F(False)

6.  Sirius Black,  Harry Potter's Godfather, is an Animagus and can turn into a big, black dog.  T or F
(True)

7.  Sirius Black eats rats while he lives near Hogsmeade.  T or F (True)
\
8.  The name of the candy store in Hogsmeades is Honeycakes.  T or F (False)

9.  Hagrid tried to turn Dudley into horse in the first Harry Potter book.  T or F (False)

10.  Bellatrix LeStrange kills Dumbledore.  T or F (False)

11.  Lord Voltemort's followers are called Death Cheaters.  T or F (False)

12.  Harry's first task in the Triwizard contest is to steal a dragon's Egg. T or F (True)

13.  The Mascot for the House of Gryffindor is the Eagle.  T or F (False)


14.  In the end, Harry marries Hermione.  T or F (False)



Thanks for dropping by my Red Couch , and I hope you enjoyed your visit to my Harry Potter Mania Birthday Party!

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21 comments:

Bonnie said...

Joni,

What a fun party. You are so clever. I am sure your children will remember their birthday parties forever. That's a sign of love that you would go to such trouble to make such a fun party for your daughter and for her guests.

Lisa said...

So nice! My 13 yr. old daughter is also a huge fan, and has read the books till they have almost fallen apart. I made HP cookies for her last summer.
Hugs,
Lisa

Anonymous said...

oh I'm sure the birthday girl had a day to remember, what fun! My boys were just too old by the time Harry Potter came out so they never got into, but it oops like a fun make believe world! anne

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

What a fun party -you're such a good mom!! My 14 year old answered all questions correctly and asked for more! (she's read each of the books several times)

Pondside said...

My goodness - what a good mum you are! I'll bet this set a standard for lots of other parties and that your daughter was a very happy girl!

Tricia said...

So many great ideas here, Joni! I've forwarded a link to my daughter, as my granddaughter turns 9 later this year and is a big HP fan.

SavoringTime in the Kitchen said...

What a great time the girls must have had! Great ideas you came up with.

Jacqueline said...

All I can say is that I wish I had gotten an invite! What fun and creative ideas you had. Shaunna will have to copy some of these for an adult party.

I am glad you found the frog mold. They are pretty cute. Your potion bottles sound great and how fun to make that into a "class". We tried the bean tasting competition at Girl's Camp. It was a riot.

Just one last comment - Harry should have married Hermione even though he doesn't in the book. I still have a hard time with him and Jenny - absolutely NO CHEMISTRY whether in the book or in the movie (I know, get a life!)

Renée said...

So how do I get a chocolate frog? What an fantastic party Joni! I'm sure Talley recognizes what a lucky girl she is. Happy Birthday hugs to her!

Kathleen said...

What a great party idea! I never got into Harry, in fact I was just going through a box and there was the first book, with a bookmark at page 20! Passing it on to gdau, I don't know if she is into it.
I never liked magic or magicians, so I think that is why I didn't care for HP.
I am sure the kids had a wonderful time and all your hard work paid off!

Sue said...

What a fun mom you are! Happy Birthday to Talley!

Clements Family said...

Love all these ideas! My 8 year old is just getting into Harry Potter! I need to pin this!

Marlis said...

If this isn't just the cutest idea for a party! You have so many clever ideas. Love the idea of the store! darling decor too.. Looks like it was a great success.

Unknown said...

Cleaver party idea! Thanks for sharing Joann

Denise at Forest Manor said...

What clever ideas for a great party! You really went all-out on this. Our son got us interested in Harry Potter when he was in 4th grade. He's now a junior in college, and my husband and I still love Harry Potter. Those books are truly timeless, in my opinion. J.K. Rowling has a wonderful imagination and sense of humor.

Everything about your party was great, but I especially love those chocolate frogs. :)

Thanks for sharing and have a great day!

Denise

Marigene said...

What a great party theme. I could get into some of that candy and the cake, for sure!

Anonymous said...

I love this and am surprised not to have seen more Harry Potter themes. What an amazing array of things one has to work with. Though I'm a little too old to have been invited, I would love to have been at the party. By the way, I got all the trivia answers right!

Sarah said...

Joni, this is a darling idea for a party. Cake and candy too! Now that's my kind of party! Happy Birthday to your daughter. ~ Sarah

Chandy said...

My goodness, I love, love this idea! I think I will do this for my son's birthday soon! Thank you so much for a great idea!

Alycia Nichols said...

What a cute idea for a Harry Potter enthusiast of any age!!!! I love the old books in the vignette!

Tess said...

I know next to nothing about Harry Potter, but this is adorable and incredibly clever. I'm sure everyone had a great time. The big question is...what to you do to top it next year? ;-) I guess you have a while to figure it out!!

Engageya