lanterns

These are the lanterns, that we made out of mason jars and wire. We put glow sticks in them and every guest got to carry one on the way home. That was a great end to a great party!

House Cup

Before dinner, we tallied up the house points and presented the winner with the House Cup. The food was not Harry potter themed, but the dessert was Snitch ice cream.

It is Mango-Coconut ice cream, the wings are wafers, decorated with chocolate.

Photo Booth

Alyson made all the props for the photo booth:

There were spectro specks, a snitch, a copy of the Daily Prophet and Hagrid's pink umbrella. 

Hogwarts Scavenger Hunt

The scavenger hunt was a great success! I printed a Marauders Map and drew on the different locations, that we had created through out the house. For the first clue (the third floor corridor), I wrote a small #1 on the map.

The second clue was on one of the keys. It was hard to see, because I had written it very small and in pencil.
It said: "Where would Hermoine look?"

In a book, of course!
I had made this hollowed out book for Alyson as a Christmas gift.
It is a "Handbook of tables for Mathematics", that I found at a second hand store.(Alyson loves Math)
 At Christmas, it contained a lovely bracelet.
The clue informed the treasure hunters, that somebody had broken into Professor Snape's cupboard and some of his potions were missing. They had to find all six vials before he noticed the theft and blamed them. (Punishment: loss of all house points)

I found the glass bottles at Dollarama.
 The labels were free on line and I filled them with salt and sugar (dyed with food coloring).
 The lucky student, who found Felix Felicis (corn syrup and gold glitter), was awarded an extra 10 points!
When all potions were returned, they received the next clue: "How does a muggle get to Diagon Alley?"

Through the "Leaky Cauldron"

This quilt was one of Alyson's birthday gifts. I used the paper piece pattern from "sewhooked", but enlarged it by 250%.

The clue was pinned to the back.

It told the students, not to accept this illegal gift from strangers, while drinking in a  pub like this.

The answer is: Dragons eggs!

Hagrid kept Norberts egg in a cauldron in his fire place. We have a giant blow up cauldron, that was perfect for this occasion. I hid the eggs in there and added some red tissue paper.

The guest, then had to open the eggs.

With a hammer! (I will post the recipe for the treasure rocks later)

Inside the egg they found a tiny dragon and the clue:

"Not the post office!"

The last clue was hidden in the owlery, it listed all kinds of treats, that you can only find at Honey Dukes!

A visit to Honey Dukes was the surprise at the end of the treasure hunt.

Everybody got to fill a box with their favorite candy.

There were Chocolate Frogs, Acid Pops, Pretzel Wands, Cockroach Clusters and of course Jelly Beans.

Potions

This is the Potion Cupboard.
For this class, I prepared the jars before the party. I added blue food coloring to baking soda and put a small amount in the bottom, then topped it with white baking soda, so that no color was visible.

The Recipe was "Mandrake Restorative Draught".
The "Mandrake Root" is baking soda, the "Phoenix Tears" is vinegar and the "Dandelion Root" is baking soda (dyed yellow). 

The students were asked to add a small amount of "Dandelion Root" to the jar.

The potion became very fizzy.

To that they added water. 

The water dissolved the baking powder and turned the potion green.
One of the prepared jars contained red baking soda, so the potion turned orange (a sign of on especially potent draught). That lucky student earned an extra ten points.
The guests were duly impressed!

Snitch Birthday cake

This is the Snitch Birthday cake.
I baked two cakes in Bundt pans and stacked them on top of each other, to make a (somewhat) round shape.
The wings are cut out of waffle squares that I found at the Bulk Barn. The hollow space in the middle is filled with gummy spiders and snakes.The flavor is caramel, obviously! 

Herbology Class

This is Herbology Class.
 We painted Styrofoam cups brown, to look like flowerpots and "planted" Mandrakes.

We made the Mandrakes out of Crayola Model Magic and painted them brown. The leaves are green pipe cleaners.

The guests had to re-pot the Mandrakes into empty cups (we had a lot of Styrofoam cups left over from a school project!). The bottom of the (now empty) cup revealed  how many points each person earned. Additional points were awarded for the least messy job!!!