secrets of a great harry potter party

This recent birthday has taught me a few things, or at least reaffirmed a few things I already knew- I love theme parties and d.i.y projects, I especially love when I can find economical ways to make the projects happen. I still wait until the last minute to get everything done which means I don't have enough time to get everything done so it doesn't all happen exactly how I want it to. And I never take enough pictures.


The golden snitches were made out of rocher chocolates using this template for the wings.


Simply open a bag of these for some green, crunchy troll boogers.


Ok, these aren't real pumpkin pasties but I do love me some cheesecake.


I scored some adorable owl swizzle sticks on sale at West Elm.


Don't throw out your glass jars, reuse and repurpose them. It's eco(nomy)-friendly!


Another great find.


The dollar store had these gigantic beer mugs, a la Hagrid size- perfect for the licorice wands, but a little too big for the pretzel wands.


This is a great template for apothecary style labels.

And every Harry Potter party needs a Platform 9 3/4 photo booth! I got the brick wallpaper from Michael's and handmade the platform sign.



All in all it was a great birthday and a very fun party! I'm so glad my sister and cousins flew all the way from Phoenix to Chicago to be a part of the magic!

Now, what can I plan next?