Sophie's 8th Birthday

 This year Sophie turned 8 years old!  She is getting so big.  She wanted to have a Harry Potter birthday party this year (I may have encouraged her to do this...).  We read the first 3 Harry Potter books before our trip to Florida a few years ago, but I wanted her to get a little older before we read any more books.  So this summer she and I read the 4th Harry Potter book.

This is Olivander's before I finished decorating all the way.

The party started by having the kids go through Platform 9 3/4.  That led them to Diagon Alley where they first visited Olivander's Wand Shop.  Isaac pretended to be Olivander's German relative and let them each select a wand.  They would have to try a spell to see if they could light a candle, lift a feather, play music, or move a truck to determine whether they got the right wand.  Isaac did a great job and the kids had lots of fun with that part.

I enjoyed making all the wands before her party.

Then they went to Honeydukes where they got to pick out candy to take home.  We had Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Lemon Drops, Golden Snitches, Licorice Wands, and more.

 

After that, they went to the Great Hall to be sorted into houses.  Grandpa Dee dressed up as Dumbledore and Grandma Sugar dressed as Professor McGonagall.  Each kid was called up and the sorting hat was placed on their head.  My dad found audio clips of the sorting ceremony from the movies and played one to determine which kid went to which house.  Then they wend to Professor McGonagall to get the robe and scarf for their house.  (I borrowed amazing robes from my friend, Shayla.)

Then the kids went to Divination.  Grandma Karla dressed as Professor Trelawney and helped each of the kids make a fortune telling globe.  We moved all the furniture out of Aspen's room so we had a space for Divination.  (But we were moving Sophie and Aspen into the same room to prepare for the baby anyway.)  Isaac thought the globes were dumb, but all the little girls loved them.  And lots of parents told me they were their kid's favorite part.

After Divination, they went to the dungeon for Potions with Professor Snape.  Grandpa Barry dressed as Professor Snape.  He did some magic (science) experiments with the kids.  He prepared everything himself, which was a huge help to me.  Unfortunately I was cooking dinner in the kitchen at this time and missed most of his demonstration, but I saw some cool experiments that changed color when the kids shook them.

Then the kids came upstairs to have dinner in the Great Hall (on the deck outside).  Jason was supposed to hang the floating candles, but he didn't have much success because it's a little windy out there.  I was rushing to finish dinner through a lot of the activities, but we got it done on schedule.  I made chicken drumsticks, corn on the cob, watermelon, tater tots, and butterbeer.  If I do this party again, I will skip the dinner.  Most of the kids didn't eat much and I ended up throwing lots of food away.  But I think it was a nice break and "thank you" to all the family members who came to help with the party.

After they finished eating the kids played Quidditch in the backyard.  Most of the kids were still running around with their robes and scarves on.  I was worried they were going to die of heat stroke wearing that at the end of July in 100 degree heat.

Then they went for a walk through the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid (Kevin).  There they ran into Death Eaters (Jamie, her boyfriend Steve, and Jason).  The kids had to perform spells to chase them away.  And eventually they ran into Aragog.  (A giant spider made by my friend, Lauren.)

We finished off with dessert at the Great Hall.  Jamie and Steve helped make Golden Snitch cake pops, and Pumpkin Pasties (which kids don't eat).  And I made Exploding BonBon Truffles.

I really enjoyed thinking about this party, and making the decorations.  But actually carrying it out often stresses me out.  I had a schedule of things to do the week before so I wouldn't have too much to do on the day of the party.  But we got way behind because the bunk bed we ordered weeks before arrived missing half the pieces, and the replacement didn't come until after Sophie's birthday.  And Isaac was hanging drywall in the shop where Snape's dungeon was located.  He didn't finish the dry wall until noon on the day of the party.  So he didn't get that cleaned up until 2 hours before the party.  And the food took a lot longer to prepare than I was anticipating.  So I felt like I was running around like crazy before and during the party to get everything ready.  Which also meant that I forgot some of the decorations I was planning to use.  Oh well.  I'm sure the kids didn't notice.

After the party Isaac said, "I'm not sure if those kids had fun or were just really confused."  I know that most of the kids in Sophie's ALPS class have read Harry Potter and were excited about the party, but some of the neighborhood kids were a little younger and may not have understood a lot of it.  But hopefully Sophie had fun and knows how much work that party was.  I just like my kids to feel special on their birthday and know how much we love them.