Harry Potter Party!

I was SOOO super excited to get to do a Harry Potter party!

It is to date my absolute favorite party!

Before going to hogwarts, you stop by Gringotts to risk robbing the bank. You may get (chocolate) gold coins, some (sorceror's stones) or get attacked by a dragon hiding in the vault! 

 

Before finding your house table in the great hall, you would need to be sorted. Hershey Kiss sorting hats had different color dot labels on the bottom to get your assignment randomly. 

 

These banners were cut from a single decoration and hung from the rafters with magic (and pvc pipe and fishing line) Tables had simple dollar tree type table clothes with coordinating colored centerpieces/table runners. I used some leftover runners from my sisters wedding, some scrapbook paper, and some dollar tree silver candle holders. 

hanging above the food table were lots of flying keys. I bought these keys and these wings and strung them with more magic

We decided we must have a Honeydukes station. Lots of candy. 

and a Quiddich supply store with Pretzel Brooms (literally pretzel sticks stuck into a Reeses cup, and 3 different size chocolate balls, gold wrapped lindor truffles, whoppers, and some chocolate caramel balls from the bulk bin. We also had Harry's glasses for everyone to wear, and little cauldrons to hold little goodies like Harry Potter stickers, tattoos, toy snakes and more chocolate coins. 

For activities, everyone visited Ollivanders to make their own wands with chopsticks, hot glues, beads and gems. I am glad that I had multiple hot glue guns to go around.

Our wizards also stopped by Eeylops Owl Emporium to paint either a wooden or suncatcher owl, or mythical creature like dragons or unicorns. 

The cake was by Pink Princess Cakes. I got gold tableware and a Hogwarts set. 

Of course we served butter beer (cream soda with butter scotch syrup and whipped cream)

Poly juice potion (a lemon lime punch with lime sherbet.)

On the walls are these stone wall decor that really dressed up the space. 

Birthday a girl’s sister wore her Hermoine costume and a Harry scar tattoo. And of course we had chocolate frogs using these molds. 

My sister made the banner hanging behind and Ellie got a new Griffendore dress. 

To keep guests from wandering upstairs we posted this warning. 

The photo booth was a big hit. Especially with “Live Photo’s” option on iPhone 

When the party wound down we turned on the projector and watched the first movie. 

Another picture of Gringotts’s bank now robbed clean of all treasures. 

Pumpkin juice was apple and pineapple juice with some canned pumpkin purée swirled in. 

The main entrance of the first room was platform 9 3/4 

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Bakery Artist Birthday!

Penny, always one to want more than one theme for her birthday, decided on bakery and art, so we had a bakery art themed party!

I made the garland from cupcake papers, the sprinkles tablecloth and the plates/napkins were from amazon. I re-used some items from Ellie's Art party (some plates, paint cans and splatter tableclothes were saved)

We held the party at a local art studio Young At Art where my kids have enjoyed lots of art classes and craft days. They had a party package for a rainbow craft table (lots of collage and other crafting materials set out by color),

 a paint lesson by a professional:

and another craft, which we chose to let kids paint on their aprons with stencils. 

For the babies, I had these tiny easels and tiny canvases for them. 

I definitely cheated this year and bought the cupcakes from the grocery store (luckily the pink matched the plates), but added little paint pallets (fondant and skittles) paintbrush cupcake pics and chef hats (made by an apprentice at Pink Princess Cakes)

The cake was also store bought, but we scraped the decorative frosting off and added our own (store bought) fondant and (some real, some fondant, some chocolate) decorations. 

In addition to water, punch and cake, we had rainbow Goldfish crackers, M&Ms and Skittles served in the paint cans behind the cake. 

Check out Penny's rainbow cupcake apron, her sister Ellie made that for her with her own sewing machine!!

Party Favors were the chef hats, aprons, and a tiny water color set. 

After crafting and painting, some of these guests and some non-art studio guests met for pizza after. 

 

Minnie Mouse Birthday Party

Penny has been a little obsessed with Minnie Mouse lately so I was excited to do a Minnie Party

Box mix cupcakes with homemade red candy bows and mini fudge dipped oreo ears. 

Cake by Pink Princess Cakes
The Minnie body is actually just a toy, but with fondant bow and balloon. 

CANDY!! I just picked a variety of red, white, pink and yellow candies.
Find the bowls here

These pretzels were super easy to make. I cheated and started with Flips (store bought chocolate covered pretzels) and dunked half into melted red candy, tossed some sprinkles on, then piped a tiny little bow. Some of them got 2 yellow sprinkles instead and no bow, to make them Mickeys instead. 

This bunting was leftover from a Super Mario party which was leftover from the Curious George Party. It previously said "Presten" for my nephew, but I pulled the letters off and added the mouse heads to cover the scuff from pulling the letters off. The tassles were added from the Dollar Tree, they came with a white ribbon but I swapped for yellow to pull more yellow into the decor.  

Also from the dollar tree were Minnie and Mickey Childrens books and fuzzy posters. Each child got to pick one of each, but we ended up with enough extras some families got multiple books. 

Cake getting ready for wishes! 

Instead of party hats, we had EARS!

The crepe paper ribbon table runner was reused from another party. 

The little Minnie topiary thing was repurposed Super Mario pirana plant pot (flipped over) and covered with polka dot napkin circles (from the Super Mario tables) with re-painted pokeballs hot glued together.
The paper straws can be found here. 

The cups were regular red solo cups with white dot stickers added by my kids a few days before the party. 

For napkins/forks, I made these little bows to pass out with the cake. 

Walmart had Minnie and Mickey plates, which I realize were unnecessary since the pizza parlor provides plates, but I thought they would be fun! 

Make a wish!

Surprise! 

I had done a similar cake for the Pokemon Party
Similar cake pan here

On the window behind the gifts was another tassel garland from Dollar Tree

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Putting the ART in pARTy!

I couldn't resist doing a rainbow art themed party for my little artist!

She wanted a rainbow pony unicorn party. We compromised.

Cake courtesy of Pink Princess Cakes

Food:

Paint brush Pretzels and Rainbow Chips Ahoy

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And to drink:

(get it colorless watercolors?)

Last minute I thought of how to add the unicorn theme to the food:

We had hot dogs (because kids love hot dogs and they are super easy!) 

(you see what I did there? a rainbow of condiments)

These basting brushes were 2/pack for just over $1 at the grocery store

We also had a rainbow fruit tray and veggie tray. 

For the kid's cupcakes, I got little pallets and set out a rainbow of sprinkles and plain frosted cupcakes. 

Kids loved decorating their own. 

I didnt get a picture, but we also had Scribblers popcicles instead of ice cream. 

Besides the cupcake decorating, we had other artistic activities. 

The table runners on the tables were blank papers and the centerpieces were buckets of crayons and markers. 

As each kid arrived, they picked an apron to wear and keep. 

(there were 2 of each color lined up in rainbow order)

We had 3 easels, 3 had paint and 2 had chalk on the back sides. 

Once the aprons were gone/moved over, we hung paintings to dry. 

The aerial view of the room:

You can sort of see the food table back drop in this picture, the paint splatter table clothes were only big enough for the top of the table, so I did a rainbow effect of solid colored table clothes on the fronts. Behind the table is a crepe paper rainbow backdrop. 

a few more pictures of the decorations:

 
t
at first I couldnt figure out how to "hang the paint cans, then I just draped a table cloth over a broom/mop/random stick and topped with the paint can, sort of at an angle:


For a "guest book" I drew the number 4 on a canvas and provided fabric markers for each person to add to the masterpiece:


For party favors, I wrapped rainbow washi tape around a water color set with a thank you tag. Kids also kept the paint pallet from the cup cakes and their aprons.

The babies got a little horse and the toddlers got finger paint in leftover gift bags from the curious george party.