You're a Wizard, RJ!

Photo Credit: Jennifer Esterly

As the age of 11 is time that young witches and wizards get their Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Acceptance Letters, it was fitting that we actually recycled a birthday party theme and threw a second Harry Potter Birthday Party for RJ.  The first Harry Potter Birthday was for RJ's 6th Birthday, and while in some ways, that one was more elaborate, I think the interactions that RJ had with his 10 and 11 year old friends was much more rich now that they're all more aware of the Wizarding World and in most cases, have read the books or seen the movies (or both!).   I'm actually impressed that with hosting themed birthday parties for both kids since RJ's 3rd birthday, that this is the first time we've recycled a theme.

Birthday Party Themes Over the Years
RJ	Logan
Age 3: Cars	Age 1: Yellow Submarine
Age 4: Dinosaurs	Age 2: Outer Space
Age 5: Lego	Age 3: How to Train Your Dragon
Age 6: Harry Potter	Age 4: Minions
Age 7: Star Wars	Age 5: The Lego Movie
Age 8: Avatar: The Last Airbender	Age 6: Hulk Smash/Avengers/Super Heroes
Age 9: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods	Age 7: Minecraft/Blarbland
Age 10: Hockey	Age 8: Emerald Pyramid/Themeless by Choice

Our guests entered through the brick wall between Platforms 9 and 10 to take the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts.  Upon arriving, they were sorted into their houses (they were presorted by a poll in the invitation), and received a wand (mostly hand carved by RJ, but Logan made one, and I made a few, too) and a house scarf and a class schedule.

The class schedule showed them which classes they could attend. 

Defense Against the Dark Arts

This class was an ongoing game throughout the party.  Upon arrival, guests, adults included, received a token, which was either an Auror Badge or a Dark Mark.  The main object of the game was for the Aurors to capture Death Eaters and for the Death Eaters to Defeat Aurors. In secret, code words were exchanged to capture or defeat or to earn back badges/marks.  At the end of the party, the Aurors had captured a greater percentage of Death Eaters!  (Special Thanks to Jennifer for helping me color in the Ministry of Magic 'M' on the Auror Badges).

Photo Credit: Jennifer Esterly

Photo Credit: Jennifer Esterly

Potions

I was a Potions Professor for two classes (Period 1 was Gryffindors and Slytherins, Period 2 was Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs).   As a class we made Felix Felicis in my cauldron over the stove, which the students could later drink (I chose tasty edible ingredients to stand in for the actual Harry Potter potion ingredients - so, for example, horseradish was really vanilla pudding, and ashwinder eggs was orange oil in water to look like tiny egg yolks.)  After class, the students could try making two different potions that didn't require heat on their own.  All the potions ingredients could be found in our potions store room.  After most guests left, there was a special request for another potions class.  So we reconstituted a Basilisk with a (controlled?) fire in the living room.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Esterly

Charms

I'm not sure if anyone actually did this in the Charms classroom, but there were balloons to practice "Wingardium Lev-i-OH-sa" in there.


Astronomy Class

We had the telescope set up in the Astronomy Tower (RJ's room), but it wasn't dark out, which made that tricky.  There was a worksheet with constellations, but the kids instead went digital and looked up info about stars on RJ's phone app.




Divination

This is another one that might've fallen flat, but our Hogwarts Students could make cootie catchers for predicting the future.






Care of Magical Creatures

Students were encouraged to make a page about a magical creature to add to Newt Scamander's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" textbook.










Herbology

The boys and I made mandrakes before the party, which needed to be repotted into a bigger pot by the Herbology students.  When watered regularly, the mandrakes should grow "hair" (wildflowers) from the top of their heads.




Transfiguration

I made a little matching game where they paired up the objects/creatures and counterspells that Professor McGonnagal taught in Transfiguration class for First through Third Year students.



Other Activities

Our Hogwarts students also had the opportunity to carve their own wands as apprentices of Ollivander.  However, since it was a day in the triple digits and the carving station was outside, it was a largely ignored station.

Students could also make their own quills from feathers and replaceable pen inserts.



Food

I tend to overdo it on food and this party was no exception.  For snacks, we had a veggie tray, Luke's Lightning Bolts (okay, they're pretty much organic cheetos), hummus and pita chips, guac and tortilla chips, and the ever-popular pumpkin pasties.  A major shoutout goes to our birthday boy, who actually assembled a good number of the pasties, freeing me up to work on the other food for the party.  For dinner (at tea-time), we enjoyed Cornish Pasties and Vegetarian Pasties as well as Shepard's Pie and a Vegetarian Shepard's Pie.  Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice were available, as were ingredients to make both more fun for the adults.  Firewhiskey was also available for those over 21!





Cake
RJ wanted a snitch cake, and it was a butterbeer flavored cake, complete with butterbeer buttercream, butterbeer pudding filling, and caramel wings.

We also had chocolate cauldron cakes with orange buttercream frosting, and Harry's favorite dessert, treacle tart (my first attempt, made with homemade golden syrup). 

RJ also requested chocolate raspberry ice cream, since that was the first ice cream that Harry consumed in Diagon Alley with Hagrid.









Favors

All of our guests could take home chocolate frogs and peppermint toads.  They also took their mandrakes, broom pens, a plastic cauldron, their potion vial with their felix felicis (unless they already drank it for luck), and their scarves.

At the end of the day, I had a very, VERY happy 11 year old.  I am a very happy mom, too.  I truly love his group of friends.  They come from all facets of his life: School, Hockey Team, Science Olympiad Team, our family friends, best friend since her birth, etc., and even though some of them only see each other at his party, or have met for the first time, they all manage to get along and seem to enjoy each other's company.  Not all tweens could do that without drama and yet he assembles this group who can.  He attracts good kids and for that, we are extremely grateful.  It's an added bonus that we enjoy the company of their parents, too!  I also have to add that after the last guest left, RJ came inside and immediately tackle-hugged me and said thank you for making his day amazing.  It is nice to be appreciated and I'm super proud to be his mom.