Order of the Phoenix, AZ: A Harry Potter Party in the Desert

Written by on in Dessert, Dinner, Recipe, Tidbits and Treats

A few weeks ago, an owl delivered a letter to our house. Not just any letter – because then why would an owl have delivered it? – this was a letter I had been waiting for since I was 12. The letter that proclaimed I had finally been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Invite for blog

That may be a slight exaggeration…but isn’t the above party invitation incredible? My friend Sheena printed the official letter, book list and party invitation on three sheets of parchment, as well as a train ticket from London to Hogwarts via Platform 9 3/4. She sealed everything up in an envelope embellished with wax and the Hogwarts seal. If you think that’s creative, you’re really in for a treat.

The idea of a Harry Potter party was dreamed up about a month ago by Sheena, Shanley and me. As huge fans of the books and movies, it was something we had always wanted to do but had never fully wrapped our heads around how to do it. We got together for a brainstorm and the rest is Hogwarts history. It was decided that the party would be hosted at Shanley’s house and that her and Sheena would be handling the bulk of the decor and design elements. I thought this was best considering that my art skills are most competitive with those of a small child with fingerpaints.

My focus was on the food, drinks and Honeydukes candy bar (twist my arm). I enlisted the help of Nicole, who I knew was not only an amazing cook but also an expert party planner. Between the four of us, we felt confident in our ability to make the party something special.

Although the initial idea for the party happened back in early October, the actual components really only came together in the two weeks leading up to the big day – especially where the food was concerned. Nicole and I spent most of Saturday morning and afternoon in the kitchen. Procrastination isn’t my most redeeming quality, but I do enjoy working under pressure and was pleased with how everything ultimately turned out against the ticking clock.

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Harry Potter Party Menu

Drinks

Butterbeer (recipe here)

Veritaserum (cocktail recipe below)

Ogden’s Old Firewhiskey (root beer)

Elf-made wine (any red-tinted soft drink)

Pumpkin juice (orange soda)

Pumpkin beers (assorted brands)

Appetizers

Sorting Hat Bread with Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Hogwarts House Salad

Herbology Veggie Plate

Snape’s Stuffed Toadstools

Potter Pasties

Dessert

Treacle Tarts with Ice Cream

Chocolate Frogs

Assorted Honeydukes Candy

~*~

I would say that by far the most fun recipe to work on was the Sorting Hat pita bread.

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It was my first time ever making bread with yeast. I was terrified that I would knead wrong and it wouldn’t rise, which made it all the more exciting when I looked into the bowl two hours later and saw the dough had doubled in size!

Nicole and I had a blast trying to shape this thing on the aluminum foil cone. As you can see above, it looked pretty close to the real deal before it went into the oven! If we had to do it over again, we would try baking the whole thing standing up. The eyes and mouth lost a bit of their shape in the oven and because the hat was on its side, it expanded and became a bit more like Jabba the Hut. 🙂 Still, we were quite fond of our Sorting Hat when all was said and done.

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I also really enjoyed creating the labels and signs for the drinks and food. Sheena found these amazing (and free) candy and drink printables that I made at home and cut out. I then ran their edges along an ink pad to give them an even more vintage look.

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I also decided to whip up some DIY candy bags. I found these awesome pink-and-white-striped favor bags at Party City (along with some adorable pink candy scoops!) and affixed the Honeydukes logo to them with glue. Yes, gluing I can definitely handle.

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That was the extent of my decor contribution, but I was pretty proud of how everything turned out! With the party starting at 7:00 pm, Nicole and I wrapped up our cooking by 5:00 and began bringing everything over to Shanley’s house.

When we got there, I…squealed like a 12-year-old going to Hogwarts for the first time.

Simply walk through the wall between platforms 9 and 10…

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…and, once you arrive at Hogwarts, make your way into the Great Hall.

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Sheena’s Platform 9 3/4 sign and tapestry were absolutely brilliant, while Shanley’s take on the floating candles and owl podium in the Great Hall was positively dreamy. I couldn’t get over either of them – and I have the multitude of pictures to prove it.

Shanley’s mom made the candles by painting paper towel and toilet paper rolls white and drippy with “wax.” She then strung them from the ceiling with LED lights. It was really impressive, and as it got progressively darker outside the hallway became more and more magical.

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Sheena also painted a tapestry to hang from the ceiling that looked like the night sky. She added in the stars the day of the party, painting them as if she were Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel.

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Edited to add: Many people have asked for more specifics about the night sky and floating candles. They were inspired by a post on a Harry Potter party website. Sheena and Shanley followed the instructions in the link exactly except for one thing: instead of cutting out foam to look like candle wax, they just used a hot glue gun to put the wax design on each candle!

We walked a bit further in and found the Potions table (with perfect bottle decor from Shanley)…

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…as well as The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1.

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Next to that we had a staircase transformed into Aragog’s lair inside the Forbidden Forest.

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And at the table beyond was seated none other than a real Sorting Hat, handmade by Sheena!

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There were signs posted all over the house, including headlines from the Daily Prophet, proclamations from Dolores Umbridge and advertisements for the Quidditch World Cup.

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And of course, an entrance to the Ministry of Magic via the toilet network!

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Last but not least in terms of decor unrelated to food, we had the wand and house badge table.

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Sheena made Ollivanders wands using dowels, hot glue, paint – and a variety of different types of wood and magical cores, of course. The wand chooses the witch or wizard, and ultimately I came into possession of a mahogany wand, 12 inches in length with a Phoenix tail feather core.

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Wand

She also created magnetized foam badges representing the houses, S.P.E.W., prefects, Quidditch captains and more. Only time would tell exactly who might show up to our party!

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Nicole and I were blown away by everything, to say the least.

Now it was our turn to set up the food and drinks, and so we made our way over to Three Broomsticks. This gorgeous sign was created by Shanley, and every detail down to the lantern was crazy accurate. Once again I found myself squealing – visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was a real treat, but as unforgettable as that adventure was there is also something to be said about Shanley and Sheena’s ability to bring the world of Harry Potter here to Arizona.

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Nicole and I began by setting up the drinks station under the Three Broomsticks sign. First task: butterbeer! We whipped up a giant batch in a punch bowl with a side of delicious whipped cream, and created a sample out of my souvenir mug.

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From there, we set out the non-alcoholic drinks (“Gillywater” also included)…

DSC_0430…a cauldron of pumpkin beers (Blue Moon and Shock Top)…

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…and my personal favorite, Veritaserum, a cocktail that unlocks the truth. 😉 We set out vials of water with food coloring to give the effect of potion making (vials from Party City).

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The taste of the actual Veritaserum cocktail can best be described as “liquid candy.” It is extremely sweet and based off of one of my old favorite recipes – the “Stormy Night” cocktail. I thought it’d be appropriate to have a dark and mysterious beverage.

Unfortunately they were out of some of those ingredients when I went to the liquor store, but I improvised and ended up with a version that was even darker and sweeter. There are plenty of ways to make this recipe a bit lighter in sugary calories and sweetness (for example, were I not trying to make this a dark purple color I would have omitted the blue curacao completely). But I think this particular version was a hit and would love to know if you try it out.

Veritaserum

Ingredients (makes one cocktail):

  • 1 ounce raspberry vodka
  • 1 ounce watermelon schnapps
  • 1 ounce strawberry schnapps
  • 1/2 ounce sweet and sour mix
  • 1/2 ounce blue curacao (non-alcoholic)

Directions:

Combine ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled. Serve and enjoy.

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While we’re on the topic of all things sweet, the Honeydukes candy bar was next on our list!

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Shanley has a set of gorgeous serving jars from her wedding, which we filled with Jellyslugs (sour gummy worms), Acid Pops (Dum Dums), Pepper Imps (red hots), Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans (Jelly Belly), Chocolate Frogs and Fizzing Whizbees (a pop rock-esque candy I found at Party City).

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As you can imagine, I was thrilled with how this came together. My favorite food station, for sure!

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That said, the appetizer table was not too shabby, either.

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The Sorting Hat bread turned out doughy on the inside and tasted great with the accompanying spinach and artichoke dip (unfortunately I didn’t get a close up of that, but it’s behind the hat in the photo above). Can’t wait to make both again.

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Our Herbology veggie tray was served with ranch dressing and hummus for dipping.

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…while our Hogwarts House salad came with a choice of balsamic vinaigrette, Italian or Caesar.

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We altered Snape’s Stuffed Toadstools a bit by serving them with turkey instead of pork. They were still just as tasty and I know I will also be making them again sometime soon.

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And Nicole’s Potter Pasties were as tasty as they were pretty. There was a meat, veggie and pumpkin option, which were all perfectly flaky and hearty.

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Finally, we had the Treacle Tart dessert station, with pumpkin and vanilla ice creams.

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I can’t say enough about how everything came together. Of course, I had big dreams for this party, but what we ultimately created far exceeded any of my expectations.

And the best part about it? We had so much fun.

All that was left to do was eat, drink, chat, be merry…and take a lot of pictures! Remember my red hair? Originally I was planning to be Hermione, but Bobby was just too good as Harry Potter, and so I became Ginny Weasley instead.

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I found most of our costume components on Amazon. Turns out it was great to be Ginny because her brothers, Bill and Ron (aka Lance and Ross), showed up, too!

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Bill came with Fleur Delacour (aka Nicole), of course.

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While Ron shook things up by coming with Professor McGonagall (aka Crystal).

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Shanley made a terrifying Bellatrix Lestrange, and her husband Stephen came as kilt-wearing Neville Longbottom, complete with a Mimbulus Mimbletonia that Shanley made.

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Sheena came in her Gryffindor finest as Parvati Patil, while her husband Kevin made a great Muggle.

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Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory were also in attendance (aka Sarah and Scot).

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There were roughly 10-15 more Muggles not pictured, but those in character struck a pose.

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We also snagged a few mug shots for Azkaban.

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And a photo of the four party planners, for good measure.

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I can’t thank Sheena, Shanley and Nicole enough for being brave enough (and crazy enough) to embark on this adventure. I’m such a lucky Harry Potter fangirl to have you all in my life!

It was truly an unforgettable night. For five hours, we became the Order of the Phoenix – AZ.

Abrazos,

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100 Comments

  2. My goodness you were quite thorough! This is looking pretty legit, Jenn. The details were really something else! How fun. Rowling would approve 😉
    Also, LOL re: the pita bread.

  3. OK, I’ve never been into Harry Potter, but this might be the COOLEST party I’ve ever seen. You all need to basically quit your jobs and become party planners. This is all so creative and real that it’s unreal!

    • Oh man – if I could somehow convince you with this post that would be the best thing ever!! 😉 Thanks, Karla!!

  4. I’m speechless.. this is so amazing!! I agree with the party planner comment.. there’s definitely lots of talent there 🙂

    And yeah that sorting hat pita bread is awesome!

    • Aw, thank you, Monica!! Wish you could have been here to help – perhaps our theme for the next Pinterest party should be literary?!

  5. Hi Jenn..really enjoyed your blog..great writing and description.The pictures were fun to see. l. got to see Sheena putting some of that stuff. I agree you girls should quit your day jobs and give “Harry Potter Parties!!

    • I am so glad you enjoyed my blog post, Eunice! Your daughter is amazing. Everything she put together for the party turned out so perfect. 🙂

  6. WOW! This is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think the food is my favorite part, but the decorations are ridiculous awesome too. What a fun party!

  11. I agree with everyone else – you’re totally going to have people offering to pay you to do their Harry Potter parties. Well done, ladies! Jenn/Ginny, I enjoyed your expression in the wanted poster pic. 🙂

    • Aw, thanks, Susan!! Haha, I’d like to think that my real expression would be exactly that should I ever be forced to take a mug shot. But let’s just not have that happen… 🙂

  12. WOW lucky you that is a real honor :-p. I love the ideas from your Menu, very creative, I was I could be more creative in the kitchen!

  13. Wow, that is one amazing party!!! You should start moonlighting as a party coordinator along side your writing! It looks like you and everyone else had an amazing time and your Harry Potter wish finally came true! 🙂

  15. Simply AMAZING!!!
    I am definitely having a Potter-themed party soon!!! The decorations, the drinks, the candy, the costumes… so perfect. Especially Bellatrix Lestrange!
    Great job making the Sorting Hat Pita bread.

    Can’t wait to read more of your posts – already added your blog to my follow list! 🙂

  17. This is an awesome idea! But from being over obsessed with Harry Potter I just have to say one thing you go to Hogwarts when your 11. 😀 I really want the candle decoration in my room! I want a Harry Potter B-day party but my friends don’t like Harry Potter. D:

    • Haha! Thanks, Bailey. I actually meant that I had been waiting for it since I was 12 because that was how old I was when I first read the books. 🙂 But you are definitely right about the letter coming when you’re 11! Glad you enjoyed all the party decor!

  18. Thank magic I’ve found these amazing hints for a great Potter-Party. I’ll do many of this things for my daughters (11th) birthday this year. THANK you so much for the inspiration. Many greetings from Germany!

    • Thank you so much for the kind words, Tamy. Hope your daughter has an amazing party!

  19. I have been to several Potter parties, but yours looks fabulous! Seriously stealing the great hall decor…stellar!

  20. WOW! Would you be willing to share a tutorial for the floating candles and what type of LED lights you guys used. This would be AWESOME for this year’s halloween decor!!!

    • Great idea, Camey! One of my friends was responsible for the floating candles part of the decor, so I will reach out to her and get more information on exactly how she and her mom made them and let you know!

      • Hi again, Camey! I spoke with my friend and she said for the night sky and floating candles, they were actually inspired by a Harry Potter party website. They followed the instructions in the link below exactly except for one thing: instead of cutting out foam to look like candle wax, they just used a hot glue gun to put the wax design on each candle. It made the process a bit faster. Hope this helps!

        http://www.harrypotterpartyideas.com/the-sets/creating-the-night-sky

  21. OMG I wish I knew you and came to your party!!!! Throwing my daughter a HP party for her 10th birthday. I came in to see how you did the floating candles, but the whole thing is amazing. I’m all about the little details, and this is top notch.

    • Wow, thank you so much for the kind words, Brina! One of my friends was responsible for the floating candles part of the decor, so I will reach out to her and get more information on exactly how she and her mom made them. I hope you have a great time planning your daughter’s party!

      • Can you also send me the information on the floating candles? Thanks again for sharing all your talents.

        • Hi Elba! I spoke with my friend who was in charge of the floating candles/night sky and she said they were inspired by a Harry Potter party website. They followed the instructions in the link below exactly except for one thing: instead of cutting out foam to look like candle wax, they just used a hot glue gun to put the wax design on each candle. It made the process a bit faster and (I think) the wax looks even more realistic. Hope this helps! http://www.harrypotterpartyideas.com/the-sets/creating-the-night-sky

  22. What an amazing party! I live in AZ too, actually just started an events blog about things to do, and other fun stuff about AZ if you are interested in checking it out.

  23. Amazing!!!!
    I bet you had as much fun planning and decorating,
    as you and your friends did at the actual party.
    I’m glad you posted it.

  25. This is incredible! I’m so inspired. I’m planning a Harry Potter Halloween party. Any idea how to make the badges?

    • Hi Toni! My friend who made the Three Broomsticks sign says that she first tied the broomsticks together with rope and then glued them so that they’d be extra stuck. 🙂 Hope that helps!

  27. Oh my, what a dream! I can’t get over the Great Hall. Even if our friends may not be down to party-hardy as Potter’s friends and teachers, I’ll still try to incorporate that in our Halloween Party this year. All hail to Halloween!

  28. […] La pièce de résistance! Un plafond digne de Poudlard! Ok ça prend vraiment beaucoup de patience (c’est fait avec des rouleaux de papier de toilette et d’essui-tout, des lampions LED, de la colle, un drap, de la peinture et ben du fil à pêche), mais si vous êtes games (j’y songe sérieusement. Ça serait FOU au dessus de ma table!), le tutoriel est juste ici. […]

  29. OMG! What a magical inspiration. You did a great job! Any idea on how to make the spell book, newspaper, olivander s sign?

    Thanks so much for sharing your talents with us!

  30. I love all the decorations, this looks like it was so amazing. I’m throwing my sister-in-law a Harry Potter themed baby shower, and we are having a Honeydukes station for the favors. I saw these bags and thought they would be perfect. This may be a stupid question, but what type of glue did you use to hold them to the plastic bags? I tried a glue stick b/c it’s what I had on hand and they peel off far too easily for my liking.

    Thanks!

    • Thanks, Juliana! Love that you are throwing a Harry Potter baby shower. That sounds awesome. 🙂 I ended up using super glue to keep the logos on the bags – they definitely fall off too easily otherwise! Hope that helps!

  31. Hi, I am tickled pink! I started working on several of the projects you sent me they are amazing!!! I have been searching online for a free hogwarts acceptance letter birthday invitation and I have not been successful. I see that you and your friend made them as party invitations. Can you send me the link (template) so I can put the birthday info on it? Thank you so much again for your creativity.

      • For my party, I used an old white sheet, painter’s tape, and spray paint. You can see it on my site. It came out great! I took so much inspiration from this post! The only thing I wish I’d done was the floating candles. I ran out of time and decided to skip them, but next time (and there WILL be a next time!) I will definitely do them!

        • Great tip, Scarlet – your platform and your party looked amazing!! Thanks so much for sharing your post.

          Elba – We did pretty much the exact same thing with our sheet. We used a white sheet and taped out a brick pattern, then spray painted the whole thing red. Once it dried, we laid it on the floor and lightly sponged on black paint. Once that was dried, we removed the tape and got some darker red paint and a really wet sponge, then sponged the whole thing – even the white part that was taped, so there wasn’t too much contrast. Hope that helps!

    • So glad to hear it, Elba! My friend has the template in a Word doc, so I will send it to you via email shortly. Thanks!

  32. I absolutely LOVE this. Everything about this is whimsical and fab !! I am going to do this for my 8year old and all of his friends !! Is there a place that I can print all the cool labels ect ? This is so inspirational and great

  33. I LOVE everything you did! (or your friend did? :D) If the designer of the potion bottles with the skulls on the stopper is willing to share the how to/diy details I would truly appreciate it. I’ve never lost my love for magic in movies and am hoping once my niece and nephew are of the right age I can get them hooked and host a party for them! Gives me lots of time to work on things lol. Thank you for sharing these amazing ideas!

    Kayla

    • Thank you, Kayla!! Yes, I can only take credit for the food. 🙂 The potion bottles were actually one of the few non-DIY decor items. I think my friend got them from Hobby Lobby or Michael’s! How fun that you plan to have a party for your niece and nephew someday!

  34. Absolutely fantastic! My daughter is a BIG HP fan & you just gave me everything I could ever ask for to make her upcoming 17th Birthday a magical time (she’s getting a suprise trip to Harry Potter World/Diagon Alley in 2015 to help celebrate turning 17). Suffice to say though I will have to ‘de-alchol’ some of the beverages for the underaged ‘students’
    We’ve done the ‘Whovian’ theme (she’s a Doctor Who fan as well) & her Sweet 16th was spent doing MagiQuest (a live action wizarding game). But HP remains her ultimate favorite & she makes a pretty convincing Hermoine.
    Thanks 🙂

    • This is wonderful, Robbin! Thank you so much for sharing about your daughter. I hope she has a wonderful 17th birthday – how could she not with a party planned AND a trip to Harry Potter world?! That’s awesome. 🙂

  35. Hi!

    How did you hang your tapestry from the ceiling? Command hooks, double sided tape? Trying to figure out the best way to hang my fabric for our Halloween party

  36. Sorry also how did the candles attach to the ceiling? I cant find anything saying how they got the fishing wire on the candles to attach the the ceiling?

    • Hi Kate!

      Sorry for the delay. My friend says they actually attached the candles to the tapestry itself, rather than the ceiling. So they just used the wire to hang them from the tapestry. And to hang the tapestry to the ceiling, they used nails. It’s possible hooks might also work but I think they used nails to ensure it would stay in place. Hope that helps!

  38. A year late in making this comment, but I have to tell you how impressive this party was. My little kids (5 & 7) are just into HP this year. We just started the book today. They would have flipped out for a party like this…I would have flipped out for a party like this. Well done!!

    • Aw, thanks very much, Marisol! Very cool that your kids are getting into HP now. Maybe you can throw a party in a couple of years! 🙂

  40. I was posting on my blog about the floating candles craft I saw on The View this morning and needed an image…my search on Pinterest ultimately led me to your Harry Potter party post. I love love love theme parties AND H. Potter, and all your creative ideas! I put a link to your blog post on my blog along with the photo from Pinterest. TFS!!!

  50. This is amazing!!! My friends and I have been talking about having a HP party for about a year now. I even have the official HP cookbook. You did a great job!!!

  52. Spectacular in every way!! I’m a huge fan of geeky parties (just threw a Doctor Who one last weekend, in fact!), and this one is truly exceptional. Are you part of the Phoenix bloggers FB group?

  54. This is the most amazing party set up ever. I cannot wait to try this myself for my next birthday!

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