Harry Potter Party - simple ideas!

Happy.
Tired, but happy.

This is how I'm feeling after my daughter's 12th birthday party- Harry Potter theme.  I've never been inclined to do a "pinterest" type themed party for any of my children, but this year, I was inspired. We've been reading together, which led to watching the movies, which led to browsing pinterest, which led to ... the rest of it.  I do not consider myself crafty, and I spent next to nothing on it, but I think it turned out pretty awesome!

I thought it might be fun to show you what I did.  (Check out this board for more inspiration!)

First, hot glue is my new best friend! It lets you just glue stuff to stuff, just like that! Wow!

Like... green fluff on baby heads, to make baby mandrake cupcakes!

(The green stuff is cheap garland I had in my Christmas box, and I found the babies at Hobby Lobby for $2.)

Packaged cake mix.

Ground Oreos sprinkled on canned frosting.

A box, a Sharpie, and more hot glue:

Brown paper and a sharpie,

books from Hogwarts!

Butterbeer!

There are recipies out there, but my princess doesn't like carbonated beverages.

Plus, we went sledding that afternoon.

We opted for hot cocoa, with butter, and whipped cream on top.

Chocolate butterbeer!

An old sheet, a sponge, and red acrylic paint, and a sharpie:

Platform 9 3/4!

(Note: my helpers and I watered the paint down too much we we went along- it is hard to be consistent! It does look better with some texture though!)

Each child brought a book to exchange-

we did this by drawing names out of our "Goblet of Fire!"

(Someone else made this awesome candle for us for Christmas. It has an LED candle inside. I added the names, cardstock, with the edges burned for effect. The boys thought this was SO COOL.)

Next,

Washable red paint on the mirror.

(I looked for bright red lipstick first... whaddya know- I have NONE in this house!)

(Note Moaning Myrtle on the mirror- she spent some time on the toilet lid too!)

Cake:

The Monster Book of Monsters!

And finally, the candles.

The Internet told me to use TP rolls, but they didn't fit my LED candles.  Instead, I rolled up cardstock (1/4page) around the candle and hot glued them in tubes. 

Then, thread, and masking tape for the ceiling.

Let me just say, I know they are off balance. And I am pretty sure this is driving my husband nuts. 

He will probably refuse to eat in this room until the candles are removed or straigtened.

But that's part of the fun, for me :)

I am just not that kind of person who is detail-oriented enough to make 20 floating candles balance perfectly. My fingers are a little sore from the glue burns, and there were cobwebs of clear glue all over the dining room, and one may have gotten briefly glued to a chair, but all is well now.

This room looked awesome with real lit candles.

Also, I printed out some of our favorite quotes and put them all over the living room!

Here's a quick walk-through so you can see it all put together!