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When we asked Grace what she wanted to do for her birthday, she got a pile of paper and started making lists. Lists of people to invite, list of party theme ideas, lists of possible activities, lists of food to be served. Very quickly, she settled on celebrating with a day at Hogwarts. The first item of business was getting the invitations out by owl mail. Each of her buddies got a parchment signed by Minerva McGonagall inviting them to a Hogwarts preview. Rolled up in the letter was a ticket for the Hogwarts Express. (I found EVERYTHING for this party on pinterest. I take credit for none of the cute ideas...)

Her birthday fell on a friday and we went for the gusto. Cori, Jessica, Eden, Jeffery and I met Grace at her school for lunch. And then we raced home to finish up preparations for the big night.

Gryffindor scarves and Harry glasses, check.

Fair warning given to all incoming guests, check.

Resident ghost appearing in the loo, check.

(Edible) Dumbledor's pensive, check.

Hagrid cake, check.

Feast prepared, check.

Platform 9 3/4 ready for passengers, check.

We didn't do a sorting hat- we just decided that everyone would join us in Gryffindor. But there was a magical selection to be made as the kids arrived. All the wands were placed in a bag and drawn at random. Then, their first activity was painting them up!

Cori set the skeleton up at the piano. It added a nice decorative touch at the beginning of the party. Later in the evening, when it was dark and the kids were deep into their Harry Potter experience, Cori turned the player system on the piano. This caused ALL the girls in the house to begin to scream and run. There was a lot of screaming, and a lot of running. We had a good laugh about it- once the screaming had stopped.

Once the artistry at Olivander's was wrapped up, the prospective pupils moved into the kitchen for a potions class. We made smoke bubbles, rainbow potion and ooblek.

I didn't actually get pictures of the ooblek part of the class. It got a little crazy and messy. But this was the before.

After potions, everyone went out back for quidditch practice. Cori kept them busy while Jess and I cleaned up the potions classroom and got the feast ready to serve.

Back inside, they ate roasted chicken, potatoes, rolls, pensive jello and home made mac and cheese. And they drank fancy sodas from crystal goblets.

Then we watched some Socerer's Stone and opened presents. Everyone got to fill a treat bag from the trolley before grabbing their wands and heading home.

We did some final cleaning up and slept the sleep of the righteous and dead that night. But it was so much fun. Cori and I think an adult party might be in order next Halloween...