Harry Potter Party!

The final Harry Potter movie is coming out this week. Its the conclusion of years of suspense, excitement and staying up late to buy the books and see the films. No, we're not going to the midnight showing but we are going to see it Friday morning. So in honor of this event we decided to throw a little party. I have to admit I got a little carried away but my creativity went wild to amazing result. I had so much fun doing this that for a brief second I thought a career change was in order.

First the invitations. The invitation really sets the whole feel of the evening. Obviously we were going all out nerdy. I found a Hogwarts Crest online and this Harry inspired font. I printed them on the closest paper in color to parchment I could find in my stash and colored the crests in with colored pencil.
The wording is as follows:

We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where we will be having a movie screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, activities and refreshments.

Festivities begin July 9th 2011 at the stroke of 6:30pm

Take the Hogwarts Express to (your address). We await your owl post response by no later than July 7th. If you have trouble acquiring an owl, you may respond by Muggle telephone at XXX or Muggle email at XXX

Sincerely, Steve and Beckie Clark, HeadMaster and Deputy Headmistress

Wizard or Muggle (non-wizard) attire are appropriate.
Under aged wizards are invited to attend

And you know every letter in the wizarding world comes complete with wax seal. So I melted red crayon on the outside. Do a practice first! and also glue the letter shut too. Since this was purely ornamental I thought crayon was sufficient but you can actually buy the melting wax and stamps online. I'm cheap so this worked for me and was free.

So once the guest list was firm, they would need to be sorted into houses. I made sure to invite those who love Harry Potter so that my nerdiness would be enjoyed. So I made a Sorting Hat out of brown kraft paper and then some house pins. Everyone would pull a pin out of an old jewelry bag to be sorted into their school house: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin.

The pins were made from a cereal box and scraps of paper left over from the house banners. Each lists the merits of the original founders.
A Slytherin demonstrates Ambition, Cunning, Leadership, Resourcefulness and Pure Wizard Blood.
A Hufflepuff demonstrates Hard Work, Tolerance, Loyalty and Fair Play.
A Ravenclaw demonstrates Intelligence, Creativity, Learning and Wit.
A Gryffindor demonstrates Courage, Loyalty, Nerve and Chivalry.

Pictures of the actual sorting will come later as we used someone elses camera.
Each house had a banner hanging in the "Great Hall" and competed for the House Cup by answering quiz questions throughout the night. Slytherin won.

Since Hogwarts is a school there would need to be both magical textbooks and potion making supplies. I covered a stack of books with kraft paper and wrote in the book list from Harry's acceptance letter to Hogwarts in book one. We had The Standard Book of Spells (grade 1), Magical Drafts and Potions, A History of Magic and Magical Theory all mixed in with Harry Potter books.
For our potions I filled all my glass jars and vases with common found kitchen items and nature turned wizard stuff.

Felix Felicis: Maple Syrup with a little water
Bezoars: rocks
Mandrake Root: stick or you could use fresh ginger root but they were out when I looked
Polyjuice Potion:the juices drained from canned black beans and diced tomatoes I used to make salsa. Gross, I know.
Dragon Liver: Dryer lint in red food colored water
Dream Fluid: Purple food colored water with tea leaves, or leaves from a bush outside
Gillyweed: Weeds in green water
Veritaserum: Water with a couple drops of Worcestershire sauce
Gringotts Gold: jewelry
Overall, I think the effect turned out really nice and it was all free. I free handed labels which I made a little too big so they hid the contents of the jars. The food spread turned out to be a lot of fun, researching the names of things and trying to imagine what a Cauldron Cake tasted like. In the end, I just figured out what I wanted to make and then named them after wizard treats.
Weasley's Skivving Snackboxes (caramel) Each one was wrapped with a label: Fainting Fancies, Fever Fudge, Nosebleed Nougat and Puking Pastilles.
We had HoneyDuke's Chocolate Covered Golden Snitches (peanut butter balls/buckeyes)
Cauldron Cakes: chocolate cake with ganache made in mini bundt pans
Pixie Puffs: Strawberry Jello popcorn balls

We also had Bat's Eye Salsa (not pictured): black bean, corn and tomato salsa with chips. To drink we had Butterbeer which was disgusting but I reread the recipe and it turns out I made it wrong. We also had Professor Trelawney's Fortune Elixir. This was an idea I am sad to say I didn't come up with but loved. You put a drop of food coloring in the bottom of a cup, let dry (it takes about 36 hours) and then place ice on top, hiding the coloring. Once the elixir (lemonade) is poured in, the liquid turned the color. We had each guest choose their cup and then read the corresponding fortune.

Professor Trelawny’s Fortune Elixir

Just pour the elixir into a glass of your choice and see what the future holds for you.

Red: After graduating from Hogwarts you become an Auror, marry your school sweetheart and have three children whom you give the names James, Albus and Lilly.

Green: On vacation to Godric’s Hollow, you encounter a Hippogriff. You forget how to approach him and he bites off your hand.

Blue: You meet an attractive person who invites you to dinner. After a drink or two of butterbeer, you find yourself madly in love with them. The next day you wake up married to an obese dwarf who drugged you with a love potion.

Black: Avada Kedavra! Be on the lookout for an ominous death.

Sadly, no one got black! I was kind of bummed although I am glad that all my friends will live a bit longer. After loading up our plates, we watched the movie and then talked late into the night. It was a great reminder how much fun throwing parties is. Not only because now my house is clean and I have yummy leftovers to eat and I love getting so creative but because an evening with friends can be the best entertainment. We will be having more parties in the future, just maybe not so elaborate.

I found inspiration, ideas and such here and here.