My Little Otter

We think {and we hope you agree} that this Harry Potter birthday party is one that both wizards and Muggles would like! Our son, Sam, turned six and just had to have a party that was all about his favorite wizard.

Guests were greeted at our front door with Harry’s trunk, waiting for the train to Hogwarts. We had a variety of books on it, as well as quidditch goggles, a wand, and Harry’s glasses. We also had an owl for Hedwig, but at the time of pictures, it was hiding in the back seat of our car.

We knew awhile in advance that we were going to have this theme, but due to several unforeseen circumstances {a very last-minute move and a death in the family}, we weren’t left with much time to prepare. Luckily, we had plenty of inspiration from both the books on tape and the movies.

My 7-year-old is a walking encyclopedia of Harry Potter, so she helped us come up with some great ideas for the party. Yellow rock candy became “Acid Pops.” Red marshmallow pops were renamed “Blood Pops.” We had licorice wands, Every Flavor Beans, Gold Gallions and even Dumbledore’s favorite Muggle lemon drops.

We used red and yellow {or gold} as the main colors, to match the Griffindor house colors. We also saved a lot on decorating costs by using our extensive collection of Halloween decorations, as well as several old books.  Two items stole the show, however.

The first was the “Butter Beer” labels we purchased through Loralee Lewis on Etsy. We decided to spring for these because they really were the best option we saw out there– and they looked amazing. We placed them on root beer and cream soda bottles.

We also made Golden Snitch cake pops– we found the tutorial at Amy Bites. They turned out amazingly– I was in a bit of a hurry and just winged it {pun slightly intended} when cutting the wings out of the gum paste. Instead of using edible glitter, we sprayed them with a gold food spray found at Michaels.

My son really wanted a cake with a picture of Harry Potter on it– we found this plastic picture online for cheap. I originally thought it was going to be an edible image- but obviously, did not read the fine details. That’s fine, anyway. Everyone would have fought over who got to eat Harry’s face. Instead they all got to eat those weird hard letters that kids love so much. Everything else was found at our local grocery store. Luckily, red and yellow icing saved the day.

In honor of our favorite wizard, I turned a bunch of nutter butter cookies into Harry’s wizard glasses. I dipped each cookie twice into white candy coating and let it dry. I piped black icing {the ready-made kind} to look like glasses.

Guests took away goody bags filled with a variety of Harry Potter-themed goodies. We used the pumpkin Sensa-Dough from our Etsy line. {Yes, we can make it year-round, even when we don’t have it up in the store.} We also put several bags of jelly beans in each bag. Each child received one bag of Jelly Bellies and then one bag of Bertie Botts beans {purchased on Ebay and then divided into smaller bags}. The white bakery bags were topped with “thank you” stickers from Chickabug.

All the witches and wizards also went home with their own house pins, found at Button Me Up on Etsy.

For a party that ended up with a lot of last-minute work, it definitely turned out amazing! We definitely think the kids {okay, and the adults} had a magical time.