Isaac Turned Five!

Isaac turned five this summer, and he wanted a Harry Potter birthday party. (Well, really he wanted a wii birthday party where all of his friends would just sit around waiting for their turn to play wii, but I vetoed that for obvious reasons, and planted the Harry Potter party idea in his head.) I think his party was tons of fun! Here was the invitation:

The invitation was pretty cute. It had the official Hogwarts seal at the top, and said in fancy writing:

HOGWART'S SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards

Dear Mr. (child’s name,)

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A special pre-term birthday celebration will be held on June 25 from 1:00-3:00 in honor of our newest Head Boy, Isaac Fallstrom , International Confed. of Prefects, Honorary Junior Mugwump.

Please RSVP by owl or, if you prefer, by muggle fellytone at (phone number.)
Transportation to Hogwarts will depart from King's Cross Station, located (address,) Gate 9 3/4.
Please come dressed in either proper wizarding attire or your muggle playclothes.

Yours sincerely,

Hillari Fallstrom
Deputy Headmistress

His cake was the Monster Book of Monsters from the third book and movie. I made the cake the night before the party, and thought it turned out pretty good without being too much work. It was pretty simple as far as cakes go. I made the eyes out of marshmallow fondant tinted yellow, and used a grass tip to get the fur.

While the kids were arriving, we held History of Magic Class in the living room. (Harry Potter #1 was playing.)

Once our guests were all here, our first item of business was getting each kid a wand. The kids took a wooden dowel, dipped the end in glue, and then sprinkled it with glitter. Next, the kids were sorted into their houses. I had made badges for the different houses, and when their house was called out, I put the badge on them.

Then we held Transfiguration class. The kids had to transform their magic clay into an animal. We had a few snakes and snowmen.

The next class was Herbology, and I think was everyone's favorite class overall. The kids had to give their mandrakes a haircut.

I planted some grass in plastic cups a few weeks before the party. They all loved cutting the "hair!"

The next class was  Defense Against the Dark Arts. I told the kids not to be scared, but I had spotted a rogue dragon in our backyard. They would have to use our special magic wand to vanquish the dragon.

The mad scramble for candy.

Then we headed back inside for some pumpkin juice and miniature witches' broomsticks. This was orange soda served in cauldron with dry ice, and pretzel sticks.

The next class was my favorite--Charms. The kids had to approach a hankerchief one at a time and say "Wingardium Leviosa!" while making the appropriate motions with their wand. Then the hankerchief would magically raise in the air. The line is pretty obvious in the pictures, but not quite as obvious in person. And even people who fully knew what was going on still thought it was pretty fun.

Next class was Care of Magical Creatures. The kids each selected a Pigmy Puff, and then had to give it eyes, ears, and a mouth.

Our final class of the day was Potions. I had collected all these jars and bottles from Goodwill, filled them with various colored beverages and labeled them as ingredients found in the books. The the kids had to concoct a potion.

Sareny braved her potion...

And then it was on to the cake. Isaac made a wish and was careful not to tell anyone what it was.  (I wish he would have, though!)

The inside of this cake was kind of a rainbow swirl. Looks kind of creepy with that staring eye...

I also made chocolate frogs complete with wizard cards and Honeydukes labels for the kids to take home with them. I think this party turned out pretty awesome.