Graham's Harry Potter Junior Wizarding Birthday

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Graham turned 6 last month, and he has been begging for a Harry Potter birthday party for a long time. Since most of his friends haven't ventured into Harry Potter territory yet, we decided upon a day of "junior wizard training," and we turned our backyard into a mini-Hogwarts for the occasion. Unfortunately, the day of his party, we were all violently ill with a stomach virus, so we sent some early morning texts to reschedule for the next weekend. Luckily, almost everyone was able to come to the make-up party!

When guests arrived, they passed through Platform 9 3/4 and got right to work on making wands.

At our wandmaking station, I put out chopsticks and beads. When the kids figured out how they wanted their wand, they took their materials over to my mom, who graciously hot-glued everything together. When the wands dried, the kids painted them.

While the paint dried on the wands, we moved on to our Potions lessons.

I found some great ideas for Potions experiments here, adapting good ol' Mr. Wizard-style science with magical names and ingredients. We experimented with "fleeing spiders" (pepper acromantula eggs sprinkled in water and "driven away" by basilisk venom, or dish soap if you're a muggle):

We had fun with "dancing milk" (YouTube it), or in this case, Unicorn Milk and Phoenix Tears.

You just can't beat a good ol' baking soda and vinegar (er, Erumpet Horn and Wolfsbane Draught) explosion. It excites the kids Every.Time.


Kids were waiting on cake just to do the "explosion" over and over again. This is a good, cheap rainy day activity you can do at home, party or not. Vinegar and baking soda; what could be simpler?

We had a cauldron of dry ice in the middle of the potions table, and then we enjoyed dumping soap and any remaining liquids into that for a little "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble" sudsing action.

Finally, it was time for some singing of "Happy Birthday" and eating of cake! Look at this amazing owl cake my mom made for Graham! She also made "cauldron cakes"--chocolate cupcakes with chocolate-peanut butter ganache spilling over the sides, and a chocolate licorice handle, and some owl cupcakes with mini Oreo eyes.

Graham is so lucky to have such great grandparents, and I was so grateful not to have to  make any cakes!

At the food table, we also had broomstick bags of popcorn and some veggie snacks.

Drinks were over on the Three Broomsticks table. We served Butterbeer (cream soda, butter and rum extracts, and whipped cream), Pumpkin Juice (orange-carrot V8 Splash), and Gillywater (uh, water).

We had some grown-up beverages, as well. As always, I like to stick to the theme, so we chose beers from Magic Hat and Hap & Harry's for the parents.

After fueling up on cake and sugary beverages, the kids were ready to play some Quidditch. Mom and I made these hoops from PVC pipe, QuikKrete, and hula hoops. The broom below is made from a tiki torch and some twigs (inspiration found here). Unfortunately, after I made one, I realized I was not so excited about making nine more, so our Quidditch game was of the loosely-structured, balloon-swatting variety. Oh, and check out these amazing Hogwarts house banners my neighbor hand-stenciled. I was so excited to borrow them.

(Confession: it's been over two weeks and those Quidditch hoops are still in the back yard.)

We also had a little fun with our Transfiguration Booth, trying on robes and ties and props.

Dean was okay with trying on the sorting hat, but only if he could hang onto his cauldron cake. Seriously, he was not letting that thing go.

Upon leaving, all the junior wizards were instructed to grab a cauldron from the Owlery and fill it with their wand and sweets from the Honeydukes sweets table.

We had Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties (Little Debbie pumpkin cakes), Cockroach Clusters (Goo Goo Clusters), Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans (printable box templates here), Acid Pops (rock candy), and Dementor Repellant (chocolate sixlets).

Go home and eat more sugar, kids! (Sorry, parents!)

Happy Birthday to my sweet six-year-old. I hope it was as magical as you are!

Party planning, styling, props, and signage: Smarty Parties
Photography: Stella Dolce Photography
Quidditch Banners: Nashville Dave
Owl cake, owl cupcakes, and chocolate cauldrons: My awesome mom.




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Here Comes Halloween

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Pin It I hesitate to say this because that will make it automatically untrue, but I don't have any parties scheduled for the month of October*. This is fine with me because it allows me to focus on one of my faaaaaavorite holidays, HALLOWEEN, and keep the focus entirely on my own (already kind of conveniently scary, though just because of the crazy mess) house.

We don't have solid plans yet for costumes and decorations, though I'm pretty sure all of the random stuff still sitting around from Graham's Harry Potter birthday (photos to come very soon!) will be put to good use. Unfortunately, Graham doesn't want to be Harry Potter for Halloween because he was Ron Weasley last year for Book Character Day at school:

The red wig! The reeeeeeddddd wiggggg. I love it.

For the actual day of Halloween, Graham was Luigi and Dean was . . . Mario? Of course not! He was Dumbo.

"Seriously, you guys. What is this all about?"

Graham with his buddy Aiden, in an awesome Sonic the Hedgehog costume that his mom made, because she is better at that than I am. Poor Dumbo Dean is slumped over in the stroller, fed up with all of us.

This year, Graham sort of wants to be a detective, which he envisions as just holding a notebook and asking people questions with one raised eyebrow. I told him that might not be quite visual enough? He loves detectives and mysteries, and one of his favorite book series is Nate the Great. Nate is a blonde kid who wears a Sherlock Holmes-style deerstalker hat and a trench coat, so I think that may be the direction we go.

Nate the Great image courtesy of Random House.

 
Graham was also very interested in all of the science items and the lab coat from September's party , so he may want to be a Mad Scientist. We conveniently have a lab coat, crazy glasses, and test tubes at the ready, so that costume is another winner in my book.

One of my favorite Halloweens was Dean's first, because of Graham's obsession with the solar system, and Dean's last-minute coordinating Rocket Baby costume. I literally whipped that rocket together for about one dollar's worth of felt, a dashboard sun visor thing I found in my basement, and some safety pins to attach it to the Baby Bjorn. Graham's solar system bike helmet was a bit more . . . involved.

Marianne over at HGTV's Weekday Crafternoon has a great video tutorial on how to make your very own rocket baby costume, if you are so inclined.

Happy Hallooween-ing! I'd love suggestions on a costume for Dean to coordinate with either of Graham's ideas!




*Of course, after I wrote that, the whole family caught a nasty stomach bug, forcing us to move Graham's September 29th birthday party to October 5th. Photos coming soon!




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Smart and Sassy Science Party

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Pin It I had so much fun styling this bright and beautiful science-themed party for a sweet (and smart!) seven-year-old girl over the weekend.

I designed her name banner to resemble elements of the periodic table. The significance of the "7" is that it's her seventh birthday! The significance of each "element"? I have no idea. I am your stereotypical English major, I'm afraid. The backdrop is a sheet of foamcore covered with aqua fabric (I bought a sheet set specifically for this party--it was actually less expensive than buying yardage of aqua fabric, and I thought it would look better than painting the foamcore). The lettering is Cricut's "Short Stuff" font from the Extreme Fonts cartridge, and I cut the big Erlenmeyer flask freehand, with one-inch and one-half-inch hole punch "bubbles."

We went with simple orange- and aqua-frosted cupakes, with a special fondant sculpture inspired by the birthday girl. The cupcakes and fondant work are by the talented ladies at Nashville Sweets.

The rest of the dessert table was chemically inspired. Molecular gum, crystallized sucrose (rock candy), potential energy pellets (Nerds and Jelly Bellies) and (not pictured) molecular chocolate (blue sixlets). I filled labware and other science-y shaped glass bottles with colored water just for a little extra color.

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen me working on this atomic mobile. I think it came together nicely--it's just spraypainted Dollar Tree hula hoops, zip ties, and balloons! I wanted to make two, but thunderstorms kept me from getting outside to spray paint the night before the party. I thought it looked pretty cool hanging over the kids' table:

Each place setting had a pair of goggles, and in the middle of the table were some foam letters, stickers and jewels, with instructions to customize them.

I created  a little photo booth for the guests/"future scientists," with another backdrop, a lab coat, some wacky oversize glasses, test tubes filled with colored water, and the hosts' own fabulous vintage chair, which was conveniently within our color scheme.

For drinks, we had Citric Acid Solution (lemonade) and H2O (well, even I know what that is) labeled to coordinate with the theme. Speaking of this theme, I had the idea of molecular models in my head, and I was delighted to find that I could make a number 7 out of "molecules." This little design sort of became the party's logo and inspired a lantern-and-dowel version, pictured below.

I had planned to make a few of these and hang them, when we had planned to have the party outside. However, the rain drove the party inside, where there were no handy hooks and nails, just lovely white walls that I was afraid to damage. But I think the "molecular seven" looks pretty awesome in this window, if I do say so myself.

The guests were entertained by someone from Mr. Bond and the Science Guys, and I myself learned a lot about dry ice from her presentation.

My talented friend Niki had left at this point, so I snapped this blurry pic with my iPhone.

Little scientists took home their goggles and a test tube full of candy from the dessert table.

Excuse the hurried iPhone photo here.

This party was stylish and smart, two things that Smarty Parties always aims for. I really enjoyed it, and I think the birthday girl did, too!

Photography: Stella Dolce Photography, except where noted
Party planning and styling: Smarty Parties
Cupcakes: Nashville Sweets
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Lexi's Rainbow My Little Pony Party

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Pin It What's more fun than rainbows? How about rainbows, unicorns, and magical ponies? For Lexi's 4th birthday, she wanted to celebrate all things My Little Pony. Her mom and I decided to use rainbow colors as a jumping-off point, with MLP-themed activities and treats for the kids.

I love this backdrop--it's just lengths of simple crepe paper streamers. I taped them down at the bottom because we were outside and I didn't want them blowing around into the food, but for an inside party, you could leave them loose. At the top of the "rainbow," I placed tissue paper pom pom clouds and rainbow colored honeycomb balls. 

One of my favorite parts of a party is coming up with a menu and thinking of themey names for the dessert. As the mom of two boys, My Little Pony was a whole new world for me. I watched a few episodes on Netflix with the boys in preparation for this party. We all really enjoyed it--it was like a whole new mythology to learn. I double-checked all names and activities with Lexi's mom, just to make sure I wasn't violating some My Little Pony code or anything. 

We had Apple Jack's farm fresh fruit, Fluttershy's bunny snacks (veggie cups), Rainbow Dash's Cloudsdale sandwiches (PB&J in cloud shapes!), Twilight Sparkle's Friendship is Magic cookies (sugar cookies iced with "cutie mark" designs), and Pinkie Pie's balloon cake pops. Lexi's mom scattered mini MLP figurines from "blind bags" around the table for extra decoration.

To quench the August thirst, we offered lemonade and water for the kids, some beer for any adults who wanted it. We dressed up the table with a rainbow tassel garland and some rainbow-colored poms hanging in the trees. Ice pops are a must for August outdoor birthdays. 

We kept the activities pretty simple, as it was a hot day, and the kids preferred to splash around in the pool for most of the party. I turned a slip-n-slide into a "Wonderbolt Academy Obstacle Course" with some pool noodles bent into rainbows. I tied strips of vinyl tablecloth to each archway for a little added fun. We had some pegasus wings up for grabs, and a decorate-your-own-unicorn-horn station--made with paper cones with ribbons woven through them, and some stick-on jewels to choose from.

I made a Pin the Cutie Mark on the Pony game by painting a mark-less pony on a big sheet of drawing paper and taping it to a magnetic dry erase board. Then I used my button maker (which also makes magnets) to make some Cutie Mark magnets. The kiddos had fun trying to pin them.

Happy Birthday, Lexi! Thank you for letting me share your magical, colorful birthday with you!


Styling, decorations, activities, cake pops: Smarty Parties
Photography: Stella Dolce Photography
Cutie Mark Cookies: Lady Sprinkles Pin It

Mystery Planning: Sherlock Holmes Cake Pops and Invitation

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Pin It I have been quiet on the blogging front lately, but not for lack of projects. I did take July off from parties (a wise decision), but I am already working steadily on several projects for August through November. Here's a sneak peek at one that I'm particularly excited about: my library's volunteer recognition.

Sherlock Cake Pop rough draft. 

If you follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram, these may look familiar. In keeping with our new tradition of book-themed parties for our volunteer recognition celebration, we landed upon Sherlock Holmes, which led to a mystery-themed plan. Eee, it's going to be so much fun! AND MYSTERIOUS.

Stay tuned for more details (and much later, for the actual party itself), but these rough drafts of cake pops and invitations give you an idea of the general mood I'm going for: English, tweedy, dark, masculine. The party will be in the Grand Reading Room, which is light and bright, but also lined with wood shelving and beautiful books. I'm imaging dark tablecloths with brown plaid runners or toppers (maybe just wrapping paper, to cut costs), with lots of Holmes-ian accessories styled in little vignettes: typewriters, violins, magnifying glasses, scientific instruments. . . Can you tell I'm excited!?

To keep track of the parties progress, check out the Pinterest board I made for it: http://pinterest.com/ewaltenbaugh/mysterysherlock-holmes-party/.






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