Harry Potter

Layton and Will had a combined Harry Potter birthday party yesterday.  If the boys enjoyed it even half as much as I did then it was a complete success!  

The birthday invitations were letters of acceptance to Hogwarts mid-term classes.  They were to come and attend Charms class, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions class.

I painted a tablecloth to look like a brick wall which covered our front door and labeled it "Platform 9 3/4".  The students all had to disappear through the brick wall (with the help a trap door) to catch the train to hogwarts.

Once they arrived at Hogwarts they were sorted into houses and dressed in official Hogwarts attire.  Then it was time for classes to begin.  In Charms I taught them the proper way to swish and flick a wand and taught them three spells:  Wingardium Leviosa (how to make an object float),  Legilimens (mind reading), and Levicorus (levitating charm).  The next class was Herbology where the kids each planted their own Mandrake and were properly instructed in the safe way to extract the mandrake plant when fully grown.

For Defense Against the Dark Arts the kids played a Magical Creatures version of Murder.  The children each picked a card that had a picture of some sort of creature from Harry Potter and whoever picked the Basilisk card was "it" and could kill anyone just by blinking at them.  Then whoever guessed who "it" was the winner!
The last class was Potions, my personal favorite. The kids all received a Book of Potions full of potions and their recipes. They got to choose one potion to make and take home. The ingredients were what made this class so much fun. They got to use things such as Beetle Eyes (poppy seeds), Unicorn Dust (colored sugar), Bloodworms (spaghetti cooked in red water), Goblin Sweat (mustard mixed with water), Lizard Slime (slushy green jello), and Stinking Pond Water (vinegar) and many other items that all bubbled, fizzed and changed colors when they were mixed.  

The kids all got to take home a wand, glasses, garbage bag cape and a bag full of sweets from HoneyDukes Sweetshop.  The sweets were Witches Teeth (candy corn), Dumbledore's Lemon Drops, Owl Pellets (chocolate-covered raisins), Bernie Bott's Every-Flavor Jelly Beans, Wriggly Bloodworms (gummy worms) and Gringott's Gold (gold-covered chocolate coins).

It was a wonderful, exhausting day!  Listening to Layton's periodic exclamations of "this is so awesome" to "you are so the very best, mom" made it all worthwhile.