Harry Potter Birthday Party!

Yes, I have turned 27 but I decided that the best way to celebrate would be to throw a Harry Potter party in my flat.

I made the mistake of looking up lots of Harry Potter party ideas online, all of which seemed to come from immaculate parties held in enormous American mansions with an unlimited budget (I have a Pinterest board here with some of the stuff I found- to be fair, it was pretty inspiring). But I live in a two bed flat in Nottingham and was planning on inviting some guests who, although they've seen the films, aren't as massive fans as me, so it was necessary for me to tone it down a bit. Sticking things on the walls seemed like it was a good way to start.

These were made before we knew that Ron was sharing is bed with a murderous balding man rather than a pet rat.

These are my pre-movie, 2001 Harry Potter wall stickers. I used to have a huge set of them that adorned my bedroom walls when I was younger but presumably threw the majority away as I now only have a select few remainders. I tried Googling them recently to see what the rest of the pack comprised of but there is no record of them whatsoever on the internet. Just let that sink in for a minute. I own some Harry Potter merchandise that doesn't appear to exist anywhere else. And I threw most of them away as a teenager. Yep.

Here's a selection of some of the rest of my wall decorations:

These are some more of the HP wall stickers, along with a handmade Honeyduke's sign

I made a Darks Arts section of my living room by creating a mini altar covered in dark-coloured scarves and adorned with skulls and other creepy objects. I used a UV pen to write a sign underneath which could only be seen when the UV light was turned on.

Naturally I made a 'Potions' area in my kitchen with bottles of various drinks with tea-stained labels:

Despite renaming it Veritaserum, I still couldn't get rid of the abominable grappa I bought in Italy last year

I have an extensive selection of teas so, together with a glowing orb and a set of tarot cards, this became the Divination area:

Snacks came in the form of Honeyduke's sweets and Gringotts' galleons (protected by a dragon, of course):

Two of my friends also made gorgeous cakes, one of which featured a Deathly Hallows design made of of chocolate hearts.

It should go without saying that the Harry Potter films were playing in the background at the party:

RIP old TV

I created an 'Olivander's' game which consisted of a collection of 40+ 'wands' (sticks) I had foraged for in my work lunch hours with a selection of questions and challenges stuck on each one. The sticks were put in a container covered with silver wrapping paper so guests could select a wand at random and complete the task. Tasks ranged from 'pretend you're riding a broom' to 'what would your boggart turn into?'. There was also one stick that said 'you are a unicorn for the rest of the game' and one unfortunate male had to wear a glittery cardboard horn crafted by my own fair hands for the next half an hour. It then got passed around the room and was worn by most of the party.

Naturally the party was fancy dress, so there was an assortment of characters and Hogwarts students including Sirius, Hermione, a young Bellatrix and a house elf. I went as Luna by making some Spectrespecs from some old 3D cinema glasses and wearing something resembling a school uniform:

I put a fair bit of effort into decorating the flat but my friends really made the party by being so enthusiastic about dressing up and joining in the silliness. So... same time next year?