Harry Potter Party!!!!

This year... I think it's safe to say that Brayden is a bit obsessed with Harry Potter. So it was not surprising at all that he wanted to have a Harry Potter birthday party. I am not at all a "party planner" kinda mom. I do not enjoy planning parties for my kids. It stresses me out. BIG time. And having tons of kids in my house running around and being crazy loud... well not really my idea of fun. But it's all for my kids, so I gotta do it... right. 

A while ago, my neighbor threw her son a birthday party and only spent $10 on it, and it was awesome!! I was pretty sure I was unable to be THAT good and figure out how to only spend $10 on it, but I was pretty impressed how many things I came up with that I already had supplies for. Food storage and my craft supply came in pretty handy!!! 

So first... I asked a friend of mine how to make some cute invitations like she has made for her kids parties. With her suggestions, I came up with these that I made on Picasa, and had them printed up for super cheap at Wal-Mart.

Next was to make our house a little Hogwarts-like.

I mostly used balloons and streamers I had left over from past birthday's. Even though my kids don't get a friend's party every year, we always decorate a little for them. So I had a good stash to get stuff from.

"Forbidden Forrest    A Warning: Peril Await all who enter!!!"

I hung up this sign I made just for fun and because I didn't want kids running up and down the stairs. I wanted to contain the craziness if you will. But I soon found this was just as good as an invitation to the kids to try and sneak into the "Forbidden Forrest".  They tried every chance they could.

 The kitchen/dining room turned into the "Great Hall" The kids were served "Pumpkin Juice" (aka Orange Soda), Pizza, and Cake!!

Each guest got one of these badges. I made them up on my computer and had these badge covers in my craft box. Brayden was "Head Boy", Patrick and I were "Headmasters", and all the rest of the kids were Hogwarts "Honorary Guests".

The boys were so excited to get to use their Halloween costumes again.

We were ready to PARTY!!!!

First up, everyone knows that a proper wizard needs a wand. So first was Wand Making class. Every one got a dowel to paint and decorate. This got messy. I'm glad I made sure it was washable paint, because it was all over clothes, my table, chairs, and the floors. But they made some fun looking wands.

Next up was Quidditch Practice where we made our own Golden Snitch's. I made some salt dough balls ahead of time and they all painted their Snitch's with gold paint and glued feathers on the side. 

Next was Levitation Class. 

The kids sat in a circle and had to keep the balloons off the ground for as long as they could using the spell "wingardium leviosa". This gave us time to set up for the next class....

Potions class! This was a favorite! It was kinda fun to see the kids try to guess what was really in the cups. We had green jello for "lizard slime",  gummy worms were "bloodworms", brown sugar was "fairy soil", "Unicorn Nectar" was apple juice,  "Basilisk Venom" was red jello, "bat liver" was chopped up olives, "Goblin Nails" were chocolate sprinkles, then the last ingredients we added were baking soda as "Essence of Newt" and vinegar as "Stink Pond Water" so it would fizzle and bubble up.

 Each child got a cup to mix their "potions" in and a straw to stir it with. They all loved watching it change colors, fizz, stink, and bubble up.  They had successfully made Polyjuice Potion!

 Next was Dueling Class. We had each child duel off in a "tournament"  and the winner won a Golden Coin from Gringotts Bank. 

 Then it was back to the Great Hall for Pizza and Pumpkin Juice. Then we all sang to the Head Boy and he blew out his candle and opened presents.

 This was the best shot I got of all the kids together. Don't mind the dead looking child... I promise there were no children harmed in the making of this party!

When each child left, they took home a bag filled with their wand and snitch's they made, a Gringotts Golden Coin (they were chocolate coin candy things) and these home made goodies:

 (aka Muddy Buddy Chex Mix)

(aka Monster Munch Popcorn which is pretty much just popcorn, peanuts, Rice Krispies covered in Peanut Butter and white chocolate)

It was a fun party. There were a total of 15 kids (including my 2 boys... Landon just sat back and watched the craziness). My voice was almost gone by the end from trying to talk over everyone and I was exhausted!!! It was so much work, and lots of internet searching to find ideas, but all in all I think it turned out really well, and Brayden had a great time. 

Which that was the whole point, so I guess my mission was accomplished!!!