Welcome to Hogwarts

We're boarding Platform 9 3/4 to the Hogwarts Express!  I was thrilled when a client (and a friend) asked if I could design a Harry Potter themed party for her 7 year old daughter.  I had never done one before but am a HUGE fan of the books and the movies and was totally up for the challenge! 

I knew we had to fill the party room with Gryffindor colors, potions in jars, and floating objects.  The table was made up with a cauldron full of "scary" chex mix and a magical-color changing drink at each setting.  We even had a photo booth complete with a HP costume! 



The children loved the color-changing drinks.  I put a few drops of food coloring under the ice in each cup.  The children picked their places and then we poured the (clear) soda.  Every cup was different and we had a framed chart on the table that the children could use to match their color to a description.  Red = Powerful, Blue = Royalty, etc.  It was a huge hit!

No Harry Potter Party is complete without a Potions Class!  After testing and tweaking and tweaking and testing (for what seemed like hours!) I had come up with the perfect potions recipe.  (Email me if interested!) I put all the ingredients needed in separate jars and re-labeled with "spooky" names.  I typed up the recipe on scrolls for the kids and let them do two potions.  In the first one, they could follow the recipe.  In the second one, they could use their creativity and more or less of the ingredients on the table, and come up with their own recipe.  What a hit!  Some of the kids made bigger explosions than what I had come up with.  This was one class they did not want to end!

One of the best looking parts of the entire party was the cake and cupcakes!  Everything looked too pretty to eat! 

I loved how everything turned out!  One activity not shown was the wand making craft.  The kids used decorative duct tape, gems, glitter and pipe cleaners to make girlie wands fit for any Hogwarts student!  Special thanks to Frog Prince Paperie for the awesome HP circle tags, Happy Birthday banner, and potions sign and to Sweet Designs Kitchen for the ridiculously cute and tasty cake and cupcakes!