Does that sound like a Harry Potter book title? 😉 for this one we had to go through a lot of prep. Neither their father nor me have ever read Harry Potter and it turns out that my 10 year old is turning into a potter head. So to introduce us to the characters she made us watch the first Harry Potter movie. It was nice. Not as bad as I thought it was. I had watched it when it released and I don’t remember a thing. So we were both introduced to the characters and the things in the movie. Sorting hat, flying keys, Dumbledore and quidditch and whatever else it is.

P had planned the party along with her best friend. What games to play and what will be the format of the party. Everything they decided. This is what they came up with. Our house is to be transformed into Hogwarts. D (their father) and me are to be professors. We will have 2 periods in the time table for the day with a break in between. The students will first be sorted into the 4 houses. Then 2 teams of 2 houses will be formed. Team 1 goes to period 1 with D and Team 2 goes to period 1 with me. We play 2 games each. Then we play a game of quidditch. Team 1 vs Team 2. Then the teams exchange the teachers for Period 2. The games played will earn points for their houses. In the end we were supposed to play 2 more games with everyone together of 1 minute each. Which had bonus points for the winners. We were supposed to have a winning team and they were supposed to win cups… you know the little toy ones. I say ‘supposed to’ because we never reached the bonus games and we realised about the cups only a day before the party and then it was too late for me to hunt for the cups.

The party started a bit late coz some kids arrived almost an hour late. So the schedule went completely hay wire and we had to rush through. So D was Prof Snape. He made them make magic potions and play a game of Pin the scar on Harry. I was Prof Sprout. We played a game of Harry Potter Bingo and Make the best Mandrake from play dough. The game of Quidditch was super fun. To give an extra effect I made brooms for everyone and they had to sit on the brooms and play it 😀. What a mess my garden was after the game. All the hay from brooms had come out 😂 (I just tied it with rope. I should’ve used hot glue to secure the hay).

I had made a sorting hat and house ties for the sorting. We had a Diagon alley at the entrance where the kids could pick their robes (as a last minute addition I had to get these made in 2 days) and wands (we made those too). Then platform 9 3/4 at the door. They enter Hogwarts and we had some flying keys decor and hanging candles. The whole thing was super super fun. And even though we were behind schedule, we managed to get through both periods but had to let go of the bonus games coz it was getting late.

P was sooooo happy after the party. She was like “this was my best birthday ever!!” She had 15 kids come over including a few cousins. But they all freaked out and had an awesome time. I’m so glad that all the hard work payed off and the kids enjoyed.

Sometimes we think doing a party at home is going to be a pain. Entertaining the kids, food etc. Well….. it was a lot of work but the fruits were too good. We took the kids to a nearby restaurant to eat, so I cut down that work. The happy faces and enthusiasm with which the kids participated in all the activities was amazing. The sorting activity was super fun for them. Everyone loved recieving a special wand all for themselves (they were all designed differently). P helped me by painting all the wands, the sorting hat and cauldrons for the potion class. We used mud pots and painted them black to look like cauldrons. I used most ideas from Pinterest but working hard on them was all upto me. I was alone but I dint let my ethusiasm come down just because I dint want to walk that extra mile. It’s just once a year I have to do this. But the memories are made for a life time. And that’s Priceless.

Here r the pics!