Thursday, January 06, 2011

The Making of Wizards

We're rocking a Harry Potter birthday this year for young Dash (he'll be 5. FIVE. hold me.) This will be the first time that we don't have the party at home--I just couldn't face it this year. I think I went a little over the top with all the holiday entertaining the last couple of months and am still nursing a party hangover.

That said, I am insane with glee over the venue for the party. I'll share more on the day of (next Saturday). In the meanwhile, here's a bit of what's been apparating around the Engel house lately.

(I'm about to go full nerd. Be warned.)

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Each guest received a parchment letter by owl post from Hogwarts.

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The letters advised the young witches & wizards that they had been accepted to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.

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Because some of our young guests aren't yet learned in the ways of magic transport, we also provided directions for Muggles.

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I think we've established by now that I'm favor-bag-obsessed. AND, since I'm not throwing the party at home, I felt entitled to go a little off the rails on these. I sewed up some little (6" x 8") drawstring pouches out of some muslin I had in my stash. Then I printed the Hogwarts logo onto transfer paper & ironed it onto each baggie.

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I wanted to buy chocolate frogs for each bag, but do you know how much chocolate frogs cost? $3.99. Each. I mean. That's just offensive to me. I don't think I'm a cheap person, but for 15 kids that would have been more than $60 after tax & shipping. FOR CANDY FROGS. So, here's what I did instead. I bought a $2 candy mold and some lovely chocolate from Trader Joe's and I made my own. So there.

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I also made fake bags of Every Flavor Beans out of regular Jelly Bellies, mostly because I didn't want to torture the kids with actual vomit-flavored candy.

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The scar tattoos are about the size of a stamp and didn't come packaged in anything. Because I didn't want them to get lost or destroyed in the bags, I printed out a picture of glasses onto card stock, added the description in the Harry Potter font & tucked everything into a teensy baggie from the craft store.

And then (because once I had the idea I couldn't not do it) this:

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(this is before I finished hand stitching the bottoms)

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Because every little witch and wizard needs their very own owl.

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And, once they're done learning how to make wands & potions and have turned all of the adults into frogs, each guest will receive one of these. Suitable for framing, yo!

OK, I'll post more from the party next weekend! In the meantime, if you want any of the sources, materials, patterns, details etc., leave a comment & I'll do what I can.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, so by the time I got the bags I was like: this is amazing. It can't get any better. Then you pull out those fucking adorable owls and I die. I LOVE those owls. Is it from a pattern? You = awesome mom.

jengel said...

OK, I *live* in the Engel house and I'm blown away by this (even after seeing it all happening in real time).

Somebody get my wife her own TV show or magazine or something!

Kevin said...

you are impressive, adorable, and uber-geek. speechless over the attention to detail. such a pleasure to see all the regular posts.
Peace,
Kev

amy turn sharp said...

you r the most awesome mom ever! LOVE THIS! OMG!

Liz said...

Aw you guys! I'm blushing! Linds, I made up the pattern for the owls. Super-easy. Let me know if you want a scan.

Amy said...

Oh, this is...well, it's beyond words really. I bow down before you. And now I really, really want to come to your child's birthday party--don't worry, I'll only be stalking the excellent props. ;-)

Lis said...

Holy wingardiumleviosa, batman... From one Lis to another Liz: stand down. You could full-on NOT have the party now, and you'd still have won hearts and minds. (Of course you can't not have the party, I just mean... wow.) Wow. The owlets are absurdly fun. Has Dash seen any of this stuff yet? xox

Kerry G. said...

Hi there-I was looking for ideas for my twins Harry Potter party and found this. Girl, you are awesome! Do you have any files of the invites and other papers you did that you wouldn't mind sharing with me? Love it!

Liz said...

Hi Kerry-I'm so sorry, I don't have anything! Our home computer died right after this party, and I hadn't saved anything to the backup before it went. If you have any specific questions I'll try my best to answer.

Dee said...

AMAZING !!! You are so talented! I bet the lucky guests and their parents will never forget this!