A Harry Potter Birthday Party

 My oldest daughter would rather read than do just about anything else, and for several years we wouldn't catch her with anything other than Harry Potter.  She is our resident expert on the series and can tell us at any given time what happened where and in which book.  It became an obsession with her, and for the last several years she would rotate which Harry Potter character she wanted to be for Halloween.  We moved to a new house about a year ago, and as I finished packing up their room I found, "Harry Potter + Kylie" written on the wall in her closet.  So the theme for her birthday party was pretty much a given, and we had a lot of fun with it.

First off was the invitations.  She invited all of the members of the Harry Potter fan club she created, and a few others as well.  Then I had to think about decorations.  With a brand new baby, and 4 other kids to take care of, I don't get out to shop much so I tried to mostly use things we had around the house.

My husband had recently purchase this beautiful old chest for me from the classifieds.  It is an antique, and I absolutely love the old leather bindings and papered insides.  I decided to pair that with a stuffed owl that I had purchased for the nursery and our favorite books with magic titles.  I had another smaller chest that looked like it could hold a quiditch set so we set that out too with a fun ball on top.

We wanted cupcakes that fit with the theme so we made witch hat cupcakes.  The witch hat cupcakes were made by placing and unwrapped Hershey's kiss on the bottom side of a chocolate cookie.  We then placed those on top of the frosted, chocolate cupcakes.  We called them Sorting Hats, and the kids all raved about them.

The candy selection was picked out by my daughter, and she included Bertie and Bott's Every Flavored Beans and Lemon drops in honor of Albus Dumbledore.  The chocolate frogs almost happened, but the time I did brave the store they were out:(  We did manage to get Butter Beer - which we served with whip cream on top - and chocolate cookie wands.

One of the biggest hits at the party was the Broom Party Favors made from paper bags and branches from our back yard.  They were filled with treats and a Quiditch cup, and each child got to fly one home.

The last piece came together when my mother-in-law surprised the birthday girl with a brown chocolate cake, decorated in green icing that said Happy Birthday Kylie.  I hadn't realized the significance until Kylie started jumping up and down, telling us that it was Harry's cake.  Sure enough, we checked, and the cake Hagrid brought Harry on his 11th birthday was chocolate, decorated in green icing, with the words, "Happy Birthday Harry."  Who knew?

The children had a great time play quiditch in the back yard and Harry Potter Trivia afterwards.  They all ate way to much candy, and laughed uncontrollably while drinking butter beer on the back deck.  Then the crowning moment occurred when Kylie opened one of her gifts, a picture from the Harry Potter trailer, and just stared at it for a minute or two.  Then her eyes lit up in disbelief and excitement as she realized that she was in the photo.  A sweet friend had worked some photo shop magic to create a one-of-a-kind keepsake for my little girl.  Amazing!!

It was a great party, and my cute little 10-year-old couldn't be happier (unless we took her to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter of course, but that will have to wait until next year...at least!!)