A very Harry Potter birthday party!

Both kids have been Harry Potter obsessed this past school year! I have always told them that when they are ready to read them, we will read them together. I never got into them when they were first published, but loved the movies. D came home this year saying she was bummed because the librarian wouldn't let her check the books out. So we started to read the first book a few days later. We have gotten nearly through the first 3 books now, and they can't wait to get to the 4th. Of course when the idea of birthday party came up they both agreed it had to be a Potter Party!


I had found the perfect frog mold from a local cake decorating store, and we just had to give each kid a chocolate frog to take home. Adam found and made the wizard trading cards to stick in the bags as well.

Adam also made the invite and house badges for the kids to choose during the sorting hat ceremony.

We had planned to play a game of Quidditch, and tried to find an inexpensive way to get each kid a broom. Dollar Tree pool noodles to the rescue! We pulled a zip tie around toward the bottom, and then cut long strips from that to the bottom. They worked perfectly!

And of course we needed to have a wanted wizard poster!

The day of the party! We had house banners and the wanted wizard poster hanging from the east side of the picnic shelter.

And Platform 9 3/4 from the west side of the shelter. Here is where the kids and the party began...

After heading through the platform, the kids arrived at Ollivander's wand shop. Each kid stepped up to a table, blindfolded, and had the wand pick the wizard. We practiced our spell waving wands while we waited for our friends, Remember, swish and flick.

Next up it was the sorting hat ceremony! We had the house badges ready with circles of tape on the back. As we put the hat on each person, they shouted out which house they wanted to belong to. Now, some of our friends were not familiar with Harry Potter or any of the houses, so we explained that at this party all wizards and houses were good.

After everyone was proudly wearing their house badge, it was time for draw the scar on Harry. Adam drew a basic Harry face on a sheet of foam core board. The kids lined up, went one at a time, blindfolded, and with a Sharpie had to get the scar in the right spot. They all had fun with this one, and Harry turned out to be super colorful!

Then lastly it was time for a round of Quidditch. We had to modify the rules a bit. We had made goals out of scrap pieces of wood and small hula hoops from Dollar Tree. The different size balls were also found at Dollar Tree and Wal-mart. We had them use the large size to throw through the hoops, since we had kids from ages 1-10 playing the game at the same time.

(I had gotten the kids matching shirts that say "I solemnly swear I am up to no good", I sort of want one now that says "Mischief Managed")

Now that the kids were all worn out and hot, it was time to eat. We kept it simple food wise this year, and just did basic cookout foods. Then it was cake time! I had made a double chocolate "Hagrid" cake, and a very vanilla Golden Snitch cake by the kids requests.

The kids then happily opened gifts and we handed out the treat bags. The treat bags this year were the chocolate frogs, jelly slugs, and Harry Potter rings.

Birthdays Part 1

We started out the kid's birthday celebration with a nice little cookout with a few members from Adam's side of the family.

I made a lemonade cake for this celebration. I have tried many lemonade type cakes and cupcakes and this one was by far the best!

Present time!

A badminton set that just had to be set up right away and used! We have all really enjoyed playing with this one.

Books and Legos. You can't really go wrong with those!

Little cousin was excited to see what was in the bag.

Gel Pens!!!!

Mythbuster Birthday Party!!!

Last year after L and D's party, they insisted that the next party had to be Mythbuster themed. Normally they change their ideas every day, but this one held fast. Throughout the year, I was able to pick up caution tape on clearance from Michael's. We made sure we did fun science projects with the kids!!

The first one we did was 2 baking trays full of baking soda (found a giant box in the grocery baking aisle), colored vinegar with food coloring which we poured into plastic shot glasses, and gave each kid a plastic pipette (found at United Art and Education). I showed to the kids how to pull the vinegar into the pipette and then squeeze it onto the baking soda causing little eruptions. This one was a big hit with everyone!

Then we moved onto a super easy trick and the best part is that you probably have everything in the house already! You just need a Ziploc plastic bag (any size will do), water, and sharpened pencils. You simply fill the bag with water to whatever height you would like. Zip it closed, and then slowly push a sharp pencil through the bag where the water is, and the hole will self seal. You can push a bunch of pencils and it should only leak when you take the pencils back out!

Next we split the kids into girls and boys. We had about 15 kids there and they were about evenly split. The girls and I headed away a bit from the picnic shelter. The Mythbusters have a crash test dummy named "Buster" that always gets beat up in all they do. So we needed a Buster to beat up too! I had an old Tuxedo Mask doll, and a friend had given us a large water balloon sling shot. Soooooo, we tried to see how far we could fling Buster! I even made little flags out of Popsicle sticks and paper with the kids names on them to mark where Buster landed. He did loose both arms in the process, and let me just say, the girls got him the farthest!

The boys headed over with Adam to the side of the picnic shelter where we had kite string tied between 2 poles. Each boy got a balloon that they taped to a cut down straw. They blew up the balloon, slipped the kite string through the straw and let go, sending it flying down the string. After everyone had a turn, we switched!

And we had to finish the science with the mentos/diet cola explosion! We had lemon lime, diet, and regular cola to try it with.  In our trying, we discovered the lemon lime did the best this time around. The kids all had fun watching that one!

It was time for cake, and normally I make a big, fun themed cake. This year, since the party was at a park, we did simple funfetti cupcakes with either chocolate or vanilla frosting.

Then it was present time! The kids got so many really nice things from everyone. I handed out the treat bags to the guests while they watched the gift opening. I figured it would help keep hands busy! Inside each blue bag treat bag was a mini notebook, golf pencil, safety goggles (Thank you Dollar Tree!!!!), and a packet of Pop Rocks!

Overall it was a fantastic party, and a wonderful day! The easiest party I think we have done so far!