Platform 9 3/4… (AKA a Harry Potter Party!)

What a day! My son turned 9 today and wanted a Harry Potter party and being a Harry Potter fan myself I had to oblige;) Now, I’d love to share some professional photos of the decorations, invitations and food but, ya know what? I am just not that organized. I am lucky to have the house cleaned, decorated and food on the table before the guests arrive (If I have my hair done and makeup on, well, that just a bonus!) First let me show you the invitations I sent out…

 

They were made to mimic the Hogwarts acceptance letter that Harry Potter receives in the first movie. I found a great letter to start with on this website, you can change the wording so it fits your party as I did. When guests arrived they enter through platform 9 3/4:

I cut the letter from vinyl using my die cutter and SCAL software and the font Lumos that I downloaded for free from Muggle.net, all of the Harry Potter look-alike fonts I used for my party stuff I got from that website for free!  I also die cut the Honeydukes sign from a Harry Potter look-alike font. I cut the letters from cardstock and adhered it to my wall with poster putty. The mural is from the dollar store and all of the adorable potion labels I used on my food table came from the Apothacary Labels set from DreAmloft, one of my DT sisters, at MyGrafico.

 

I have a heck of a time shooting photos inside (added to the stress of preparing for 24 9-year-olds) but here is what the drink pitchers look like, one is H2O elixir and the other is Polyjuice Potion of course 😉

 

I have been wanting to make cake pops for some time now but when I read the recipe I decided that it was too much work for this slacker mom (LOL!) so I created Slacker Mom Cake Pops, Here is the recipe:

You need:

Donut holes

Chocolate Candy Melt Wafers (I used yellow and orange vanilla flavored by Wilton and you can get them at JoAnn Fabrics or just about anywhere)

Crisco Vegtable shortening (or whatever brand you like)

Barb-B-Que Skewers (Every crafter should have multiple packs of these, I used them all the time-they are crazy awesome!)

How To:

1. Melt candy wafers in the microwave at 50% power in a Pyrex dish. You will want more than you think you will need. I recommend 2-3 bags. Stir in 2 tablespoons of shortening to make the chocolate thinner.  I melted my wafers at 1 minute, stirred, then at 30 second intervals untill it was smooth. If the mixture gets dry and chunky you have overheated it. NO WORRIES! Just add a tablespoon or 2 of shorting to smooth it back out again. Remember to heat at 50% power or you will overheat it.
2. Insert a skewer into the donut hole using a twisting motion. If you just jam it in will break apart, trust me.
3. Dip the donut hole in the chocolate, viola, you my friend, are done!

I die cut wings and inserted them into the cake pops while they were still soft so they would look like a Golden Snitch from the Quidditch game in Harry potter.

Speaking of cake I made a cake like the one Hagrid made in the first Harry Potter movie, how easy was that. 100% Slacker Mom Approved!

 

Here is some more food shots.  When Harry went to Hogsmead he had a glass of Butterbeer in the pub, I used one of the DreAmloft labels and turned IBC root beer and cream soda into butterbeer. IBC comes in glass bottles and looks old-fashioned and you can get it at Wal-Mart for $3 a 6-pack:

 

Chocolate Pretzel Wands: Dip pretzel rods in melted chocolate and sprinkle, easy-peasy!

I loved the test tube containers the sprinkles I used for the wands came in to I added colored water and some labels to make a nifty and thrifty decoration:

I had so much fun making a guitar pinata for my daughters party last month (tutorial here) that I decided to make an owl one for Jack’s party. About 10 minutes after we hung it up it started to rain! luckily the rain stopped by the time the party started so we put the pinata back out and the kids whacked the crap out of it, they were so wound up cheering for the pinata to bust open I’m sure all my neighbors heard it:

 

Candy Scramble!

 

I was lucky to borrow a costume for the party, I saw my neighbor Kelly at a party last night and she was wearing a Hogwarts costume so I asked here if I could borrow it for the day (I’m shameless) and she said yes! Don’t I look like a Hogwarts schoolmarm? I have to do this now because in another year or two my kids are going to think I am sooooo embarrassing. I’ll enjoy this while it lasts!

I hope this gives you some ideas for your next party. I had a lot of fun with it. I gave the kids plastic cauldrons from the dollar store at pinata time and when they left I cave them a package of “Every Flavor Beans” and “Werewolf Fangs” as well as a certificate of completion where I wrote their name on it with a calligraphy pen. It was very Fancy-Schmancy (thanks Margie for the certificate and wing die cuts!)

Thanks for stopping by and sharing this special day with me and til next time happy crafting!