Isaac's "Brilliant" Harry Potter Birthday

We celebrated Isaac's 10th birthday this year in true Hogwart's fashion just as he requested.

It was seriously SO MUCH FUN!

It was spellbinding, magical, and (as Harry would say) "brilliant!"

It was definitely a birthday Isaac will always remember.  But just to make sure, I took a million pictures. . . 

Because a party is never a party without the McKays, and becuase they also happen to be fellow Harry Potter fans, we invited them. . . by owl post. 

The owls kept trying to fly away.

Isaac finally had to tie them together.

Of course our friends, in turn, responded. . . by owl post.

Once invitations were out, the boys got to work creating spellbooks for everyone. . .

with an alphabetical list of beginning spells.

Next, quill pens were in order.

And Gilly Water was bottled.

Decorations started going up.

And platform 9 3/4 was unrolled.

Broom accomodations were made.

And the Hogwarts banner was unfurled.

Next, Ollivanders.

All the essential elements of wand-making were laid out.  Do you want to know how to make a wand?  Here's what you need:  Paper, double-sided tape, scissors, hot glue gun, paint, sticks, dragon heart strings, pheonix feathers, unicorn tail, and hippogriff hair. Pretty simple, right?

The two unpainted wands in this picture are ones Eliza and Lydia made (both with pheonix feathers). 

After the owls arrived and delivered their posts, they were sent to the owlery, where they remained for the duration of the party.

Honeydukes was next.

Recipe for Butterbeer: Cream soda, whipped cream, butterscotch sauce.

And if death by sweets at Honeydukes wasn't enough, Hagrid provided the chocolate birthday cake!

No worries, there was a little healthy food too. . .

Hufflepuff Cheesey Puffs, Boggart Pizza, Polyjuice Pizza Supreme, and Mad Eye Moody Auror Pizza were also on the munu.

And just as the last detail was in place, the guests arrived. . .

And were promptly sorted into houses. 

The sorting hat (my voice) announced each person's strengths and talents and then each drew a house token at random from inside the hat.  Isaac was the first to be sorted. . . into Slytherin!  Brigham and Lydia, Ravenclaw. Eliza, Hufflepuff.  And Clayton Gryffindor.

At last Dumbledore (Nate. wish I would've gotten a picture) announced the Great Feast!

And what a feast it was!

After the feast, everyone designed and created their own wands.

They turned out pretty cool.  Can you tell who did the purple and pink?

After Wand-Making was Potions class.  Drought of Living Death was on the agenda.  The class was taught by Professor Mcgonagall after Snape fell deathly asleep after drinking this drought.

Professor Mcgonagall (me) added her own twist to the drought by adding a spell - colorfictorium! which, with three taps of the wand, changed the liquid a different color as it was poured into each cup. (this really did look like magic!  The cups were prepared ahead of time with a tiny drop of food coloring which was covered by the ice, so the drought (or gatorade, in this case) changed colors immediately when it was poured.)

Everyone who dared, tasted their own drought. . .

which seemed to have varying effects.

These two entertained us all evening with Harry Potter reenactments. Brittish accents and everything! These girls are so fun!

They all practiced their spells on each other and used thier quill pens to write more in their spellbooks.

Last of all, Quidditch!  I am a muggle when it comes to this sport.  I did not organize this part of the party at all.  The kids just headed out their with their brooms and bludgers and, I kid you not, everyone already knew how to play!  It was too hot for wizard's robes and witches hats, so those got thrown to the side. These guys were hilarious to watch - announcing each play as they went, assigning positions, falling off their brooms, calling for Madam Pomfrey, and death-diving for the Snitch.

Hey, there's a glimpse of Nate in his Dumbledore hat.

When I asked them to pose for the picture at the end, this is not really what I had in mind. . . but at least you can see how fun they had!

Isaac opened a few presents before the McKays went home.

And after all the wizard's were in bed, Professor Mcgonagall cleaned up - wishing all the while for house elves.

The next day (we don't believe in birthdays, we believe in birthweeks) we enjoyed Hagrid's cake and opened the rest of Isaac's birthday presents.

He got mostly books - his one true love.  Including this little gem. William Shakespeare meets Star Wars.  Nate and I both enjoyed reading and chuckling through this.

My mom sent Isaac an airplane crossbow and this interesting book about planes with a cool inscription. Apparently, this book originally belonged to Elder Uchtdorf and was given to my grandfather when he was the temple president in Germany. 

Isaac also cashed in on a whole army of lego reinforcements (from Nate) for their on-going lego battle in the toy room.

Eliza made this cute card for Isaac.  Originally she messed up and wrote "Harry Birthday Happy Potter"  but she cut that part off and rewrote it.  Do you recognize Harry Potter, Hermoine, and Ron?  I thought her drawings were very thoughtful especially since she's never read the books or seen the movies. But I guess you don't need to, if you live with Harry Potter and the Weasley twins!

Happy Birthday Isaacman!

Never a dull moment.

With you in our lives.

And that's the end of Isaac's brilliant Harry Potter birthday party.  When all was said and done, a final thank you letter was sent. . . 

by owl post, of course.