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Potter Wizard School -8yr- Uniform Costumes

January 2013

Heather in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Runner Up

I am a big fan of planning kids parties, so when my son requested Harry Potter for his 8th birthday, I was completely excited. We always invite his whole class, plus there are a few other family friends and ands of course the siblings that attend. This year we ended up with about 20 kids in all.

INVITATIONS: I drafted up an official Acceptance Letter into Hogwarts Academy and personalized each one with their name. These were printed on 8.5x11 plain paper. They were very official looking with my Letterhead, the house crests at the bottom and the Hogwarts symbol as a watermark on the center of the page.  Dear  (child name), We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for special mid-term classes in honor of Head Boy (my son's name) 8th  birthday. Your class schedule will include Orientation and Matriculation, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, and Charms. There will be a special birthday feast featuring treats from Three Broomsticks and Honeyduke's Sweet Shop in Hogsmeade at the conclusion of your classes. The Hogwarts Express Train will depart at 1:30 in the afternoon on Saturday April 7th from King Cross Station on Platform 9 ¾, to bring you to Hogwarts Academy, currently disguised as the Muggle home at (our address). There you will find the magical door visible only to Hogwarts students, friends and families.  The surrounding area is well-protected by Memory Charms, so it will be safe to practice magic indoors.  Please respond by OWL to (my email address) or by Muggle telephone system to (phone number) with a Yes or No response. Enclosed is a list of all Supplies & Equipment required for First Years. Diagon Alley Shopkeepers will be available for students to purchase their supplies upon their arrival to Hogwarts. We look forward to your attendance at Hogwarts.  Yours Sincerely,  (my name)  Deputy Headmistress   Hogwarts School.

On a separate page I also sent a list of supplies the students would need to purchase when they arrived at Hogwarts. This was also printed on my 'Hogwarts Letterhead'  UNIFORM First Year Students will require: 1.One Plain Robe (black) 2.One Plain Pointed Hat (black) for everyday wear 3.One Pair Protective Gloves (dragonhide or similar)  COURSE BOOKS All students shall have a copy of each of the following: The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore Magical Drafts & Potions by Arsenius Jigger Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection by Quentin Trimble  OTHER EQUIPMENT 1 Wand 1 Cauldron (Pewter, standard size) Feather Pen Students may also bring one Owl or Cat or Toad   PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS  I made a Hogwarts Express train ticket for each kid to also include with the invitation. I used 5 x 9 white envelopes and addressed each one individually for the kids. The make it authentic to the story, I bought white helium quality balloons from the dollar store and had them filled with a high float helium that would last for a week. Then I hand drew an owl onto each balloon and tied an invitation to each owl balloon. (Since all mail in HP is delivered by owl) I had arranged with the teacher to deliver the invitations to the class while the kids were in the gym, so when they got back their mail had arrived. I also made a up a special invitation to send to my friends that were helping with the party requesting their attendance to teach a class. 

DECORATIONS/COSTUMES: Uniforms: I made hats for each student out of felt, and capes out of black sheets. The gloves I bought from Walmart which were just those mini gloves.  Books: I made 3 course books for each student to 'buy'. I typed these up on my computer, printed them and stapled them together with a colored construction paper cover. 1. Magical Drafts and Potions, 2. Standard Book of Spells - Grade 1 and 3. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  Other Equipment: My son and I made wands for each person (plus extras) out of rolled up paper, a glue gun, and acrylic paint. He helped me roll the paper, and I hot glue gunned  designs on the wands and painted them. They looked very authentic. We also made wand boxes out of bristol board, that had the official 'Ollivanders' logo on them. I bought a bunch of bic pens from staples, and large feathers from the dollar store. I pulled the ink stem from the pen, and pushed it inside the feather base and secured it with a little hot glue.  I found some mini plastic cauldrons from a party supply store for really cheap, since my son's birthday is in April and they were still getting rid of old Halloween stuff.  I painted a large piece of cardboard to look like a brick wall and taped it to the front door the day of the party. There was also a round number 9 and 10 sign that was hung on each side of the door, since the train departs from platform 9 3/4. When all the kids arrived, they all remembered to bring their train tickets.  I had asked some friends to help with the party to sell the supplies and then also be teachers for the classes. They all dressed up in true wizard attire.

ACTIVITIES/GAMES When all the kids had arrived (they were all on time too) I gathered them together and explained that we would be heading to Diagon Alley to do shopping before coming back down to the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. I used the upstairs kids bedrooms for the Diagon Alley' shops. I had my friends already gathered upstairs 'manning their shops'. I made a Diagon Alley sign and hung it above the stairs. When they got to the top of the stairs I had set up a small table to be 'Gringotts Bank'. On the table were brown craft bags with each kids name on them. Inside the bags was a bunch of monopoly money they would need to buy their school supplies. Once each kid found their bags they moved into the rooms to buy their things. I had set up a "Madam Malkins Robes' where they bought their capes hats and gloves. Flourish & Botts had all 3 books that I made and the feather pens. Potages Cauldrons had all of the mini cauldrons and then there was Ollivander's to sell the wands. I had made up a bunch of signs to place at each shop so the kids knew how much all their supplies would cost. They were so good at counting out everything. All the kids got to take their school supplies home after the party.

After we were all done shopping we headed back down to the living room where I had set up for the ‘Sorting Ceremony’. I had placed a stool at the front of the room and all the kids were instructed to sit on the floor. I had pre-sorted the kids into their ‘houses’ before the party. I had all of their names written on a large brown bag with I rolled up to look like a scroll. I called each one up to the front (starting with the birthday boy) and placed the hat on their heads. I had hidden a baby monitor on the back of the stool and my husband was in another room talking into the other end. He announced which house they would be in and all the kids cheered. As they were sorted each one had a house crest pinned to their robes and was given a copy of their ‘class schedule’

After we were finished sorting we all gathered outside on the deck for a ‘Class Photo’ (which I later printed and sent to each kids for a keepsake).  All the school classrooms were set up in the basement. The classes that had been planned were: Transfiguration Spells & Charms Potions Herbology and Magical Creatures. I hired a magician to perform for the first  class Transfiguration which gave me some time to prep the other classes. The magician was a half hour but all the other classes were only about 15 minutes long and had 4-5 kids in each one.  Potions: I had set up a bunch a glass jars bottles and containers with common things that had weird names all over the bar counter. Such as bat ears (dried flower petals) baby doxy eggs (white and brown rice) Dried caterpillars (instant coffee) cobra venom (olive oil with a bit of red pepper flakes and some food coloring in it) unicorn hair (blond wig hair) dragon scales (oatmeal) scarab beetles (popcorn seeds) troll blood (red wine vinegar). Each person had their cauldron with them and they mixed a ‘growing potion’ that they would need to take to their Herbology class next door. 

Herbology: Each kid was given a 4 plastic pot spoon and a large spider that I purchased from the dollar store. There was a large bowl in the center of the table with potting soil in it. The kids told to ‘plant’ the spider and pour their growing potion on it. This would grow into a spider plant in about an hour. About 3 weeks before the party I had pre-planted a bunch of spider plants into the same type of pot labeled each one with the kids names and hot glued mini spiders to the leaves. At the end of the party each kids was given their ‘spider plant' that they grew.   Spells & Charms: Everyone had their wand and we went through their spells & charms book (which had about 5 spells in it) and practiced the hand movement and saying the name. 

Magical Creatures: I had made up a lot of different colored playdough the night before and everyone was asked to sculpt their own magical creature. They put them all on paper plates with their names on them and the name of their creature and got to take these home as well.   After classes were over (about 1.5 hrs or so) we all went upstairs to have a final exam. During each class all of the teachers talked about specific things that would be on the exam. I had a board set up in the living room with all of the house names written on it. I would ask a question and the house to get the most right won the house cup. This was fun and we even had a couple debates about the accuracy of the answer that was given. 

CAKE & FAVORS: By then it was time for cake and treats. I purchased a HP cake topper set which had figurines of HP Hermonie and Ron and the School. I had made up some Troll Boogie punch which was lemonade & gingerale mixed with lime sherbet and some green food coloring. We all headed into the dining room. I had 4 small tables set up for each house. Gryffindor had a red tablecloth with gold plates and cups Ravenclaw was blue with silver plates and cups Slytherin was green with silver cups and plates and Hufflepuff was blue with yellow plates and cups. Above each table I had hung a banner flag with their house crest on it so all the kids knew where to sit.  By the time cake was done parents were already starting to arrive. The whole party was about 3.5 hrs and it went by so fast. As the kids left they all took their plants their magical creature their gringotts bags with their supplies (books wand pen gloves in them I had also added a box of Bertie Botts beans to each bag (which were just regular jelly beans in a small gift box that I put a Bertie Botts label on) they were all still wearing their robes and hats. I also had made wizard hat treats from mini ice cream cones dipped in chocolate and a yellow icing lightning bolt drawn on them.

THANK YOU CARDS:  As a Thank You card I had photo-shopped the group photos we took at the beginning of the party and put a nice banner on the top that said ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry’ ‘Class of 2012’. My son took them to school a few days later and handed them out.  We are now planning his 9th party for this April which he has chosen as a Spy/Secret Agent Party which I think would be fun to mix into a Mystery Party as well.  I will try to post his 7th party which was Star Wars and my other son’s parties which were How to Train your Dragon for his 5th and then just last year we did Pirates for his 6th. I also did a dinosaur party for my other son's 4th birthday."

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