Harry Potter Hullaballoo

It was a wild week getting ready for McKenzie's birthday party.  Not only were we unpacking from our trips, but we had Christmas to put away, and a house to transform into Hogwarts.  The night before the party I started worrying about what I was prepping.  I had chocolate melting on the stove, black dye simmering, and a terrifying dementor face under construction.  Luckily everything pulled together wonderfully and the party was a blast.

We played a lot of party games while the girls were here.  We had owl paper airplane competitions.  All of our owls were acrobats and none of them actually went very far, but it was fun to try!

We played ping pong quidditch.  This was a lot of fun.  The boys had been practicing while I set up the party, so we knew it was possible.  They ended up being the best players on the teams because they had so much practice!  The idea is that you bounce the ping pong ball off the table, through the hoops, and into the cups at the end.  Balls were flying everywhere, but that was half the fun.

We played another owl game where we had to get the owls into the owlery using only their wands.  It was tricky to get the balloons to cooperate and go where you wanted them to go, especially the really big ones!

The girls made love potions.  While it was fun watching the potion bubble and fizz, it tasted awful!  Ultimately the girls dumped all of their potions down the sink and just used Rose Thorn (Kool-aid) and water.

Professor Trelawney showed up to teach a Divination Class.  Cambrie found her clothes, made a crystal ball, and prepared tea cups with tea leaves in them for the class to use.  She did such an amazing job.  Not surprisingly, more than one student saw the Grimm in their tea leaves and Professor Trelawney predicted their gruesome and horrible death.  The girls were giggling so hard during the whole class. 

They each had the chance to fight off the dementor pinata.  He ended up looking incredibly spooky, and when paired with a long black cloak...let's just say that when Jeremy dropped it suddenly more than one girl screamed.

We set up a photo booth for the girls to take pictures at.  McKenzie was super excited about the chance to use her new Polaroid camera she got from Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday.  They are cute girls and look so great on film. (Shaila, Evalyn, McKenzie, Aubri, Emi, Hannah)

One of the best parts about any party however is the food.  We themed everything we set out.  I only wish I had house elves to help with all the prep and clean up!

Finally it was time for cake and presents.  McKenzie requested a Hagrid style cake.  It is surprisingly difficult to purposely spell my kids' names wrong.  Happy birthday McKenzie!  I hope your birthday party had all the magic you were hoping for.