Originally, we were going to have Sophie’s party on the Saturday of the Aeugst Chilbi. The party wasn’t until the evening, and I figured everyone would have plenty of time to attend both, especially since it would also be there all day Sunday. But no, pretty much every girl but 2 said they couldn’t attend because they were going to the carnival for the.whole.day. Sophie was very disappointed, both in having no one come, and in having to postpone it. But in the end, postponing won. It was a good decision, as now every single girl she invited came. And a party like this is best when there are lots of kids. I really like to set the mood and build excitement for the kids’ parties with fun invitations. And this kind of party required extra special ones.
Naturally, they were delivered by owl posts. Which required me buying several packs of balloons to get enough white ones. We now have enough colored balloons for the next several years. 🙂
When the girls arrived we started off by having them put on the Sorting Hat and get divided into the four different houses. They each received a laminated house shield to wear around their necks, declaring where they belonged. They also took a trip to Diagon Ally, where they chose a wand, or had a wand choose them, ahem. And they also got a cauldron, a monster book of monsters, a pen and a wizard hat.
Then they entered the Great Hall for a Welcome Feast.
On the menu were Sophie’s choices from our Harry Potter Cookbook. We served pumpkin juice, sausage rolls, french fries and a few other things I can’t remember. Naturally we ate under the enchanted ceiling, designed to represent the night sky.
After dinner, we separated everyone into their houses and went to class. First up was Defense against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures. Noah took them outside for the creatures class, and I taught them some stunning spells.
After about 15 minutes, we switched, so that everyone got a turn to do both classes. Then we had two new classes, Potions and History of Magic. I taught Potions in the dining room with all kinds of fun powders that the girls got to mix together to see what happened.
I had a second experiment planned, but Nick shortened his History of Magic class, which was a trivia quiz on all things Harry Potter, so we ran out of time. 🙁
At least everyone got to make one crazy explosion!
While Sophie opened her presents, I tried to tally up the points to see who won the House Cup. Unfortunately, I couldn’t grade the quiz because Nick hadn’t asked the questions in any particular order, nor the same order every time. It was rather frustrating and I finally just chose a House Shield out of a hat so that someone would win.
After presents, we had everyone come back to the table for cake. I was very relieved when Sophie requested a cake that looked just like the one Hagrid made for Harry. That I can do!
While the girls were eating their cake, I set up Honeydukes in the reading room. Then I let them loose to shop and fill their cauldrons. This time, since most of the decorations were made already from Sarah’s party, I had more time to make the acid pops myself. Sophie really liked them! And of course, I also made the chocolate frogs again. But skipped the peppermint chocolates, as no one really liked them before. 🙂
Some of the parents arrived while the girls were still shopping, but they waited patiently until everyone had all that they wanted. I would classify this party as a success, as the birthday girl and her guests had a fantastic, dare I say, magical? time.