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?

happy monday!

A Harry Potter birthday party makes me happy!

tomorrow it all ends

via pinterest

a good reminder

via magicalme

choice

via pinterest

sunday supper: harry potter party

My birthday is in 5 days and my day of birthday fun will include seeing Part Two, going to a British pub for some traditional English grub, then having friends over for some Honeydukes treats and sweets. It's pretty much going to be an awesome day!

butterbeer via bakingdom

acid pops via tradewindtiaras

drooble's best blowing gum via blowoutparty

licorice wands via thepastryaffair

dessert table inspiration via allfortheboys

one more week

Next Friday is going to be amazing, I can hardly wait! It will be a double rainbow kind of day- the final Harry Potter movie comes out and it's my birthday!

via nanlawson

via fuckyeahmovieposters

via minimalmovieposters

only 3 more weeks

Seems like everyone likes Harry Potter, even Paulo Coelho.

via @paulocoelho on twitter

coincidence?

Do you think it's a coincidence that my birthday just so happens to be on the same day that Part Two is released, and that the British restaurant I will be celebrating at later that same day has a crest with a lion on it that looks very similar to the lion on Gryffindor's crest?

via theredlionlincolnsquare

via hp-lexicon

I think not!!! Only 4 more weeks...

only 5 more weeks

. . . until we see McGonagall kick some ass.

via movieweb

must reads

I love Harry Potter and cannot wait for Part Two, which just so happens to come out on my birthday. If you love HP as much as I do then you must read this.

via postsecret

And if you need some motivation then you should read this too.

brilliant...

as in bloody brilliant.

via jessebrown

health bubble

During the winter season I have a health bubble that protects me from all the germs, viruses, and ickyness that gets spread around during this time of year. Unfortunately, my health bubble has popped, or sprung a leak, and I'm now sick. Once I start feeling any "sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever" symptoms I do everything I can to get rest so I don't have to take any medicine. I hate taking medicine and I hate going to the doctor.

So most of today will be spent in bed drinking tea, watching this



and reading this



The only thing I'm missing is a bowl of chicken and rice soup with a bag of bagel chips from Jerry's Deli. That would be really good right now!

happy monday!

Harry Potter makes me happy!

Ebert and I were invited by our friends Eric and Ivory to see an early screening of The Deathly Hallows: Part 1. I wasn't sure if Ebert was going to make it in time, but luckily his flight from Milan arrived early on Thursday. After I picked Ebert up from the airport we had about an hour to kill before we met up with Eric and Ivory- just enough time to enjoy a glass of wine while he showed me his Italy pictures, which were amazing, of course! When we arrived at the theater we only had to wait in line for about 10 minutes and since there weren't a lot of people there yet we had really great seats. Well, except for the little kids seated in our aisle who kept getting up and the noisy people behind us with their crinkling of cellophane and non-stop crunching sounds. So, except for those two things our seats were great! The other annoying thing that happened was when the projector went all wonky during the scene at the Malfoy's house and we missed Dobby saving everyone. When the screen started to flicker, I gasped! We were compensated with free small popcorn coupons, but that hardly makes up for missing one of the best scenes in the movie, so Ebert asked for free tickets. That was a much better compensation, especially since we'll be seeing the movie again when my sister is here for Thanksgiving.

We celebrated the evening with Harry Potter treats too! Ivory had goodie bags filled with gummy snakes and insects, and I made licorice wands.



As far as the movie goes, I really enjoyed it! Of course, the books will always be better. But, I never expect the movies to capture all the amazing details that J.K. Rowling has so brilliantly written. I understand that there are aspects of the story that the filmmakers have to leave out or change in order to make the story work cinematically. Now, I don't always agree with the choices of the screenwriter or the director, and I certainly had gripes about Part 1, but every time I watch one of the movies (and of course I own all of them) I'm always taken on a magical journey.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"


- Albus Dumbledore

Needless to say, I cannot wait until Part 2. And since it opens on my birthday, July 15th, I'm going to have a Harry Potter themed birthday party. This will be the first time in years that I'm actually looking forward to turning a year older.

harry potter

I'm excited today for two very important reasons!

#1 - Ebert comes back from Italy.

#2 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1