I truly cannot believe the girls are EIGHT! In my head I always kind of thought they’d suddenly seem “big” when they were 8—their baby faces would leave me and I would feel a shift, my little girls would be on their way to BIG. And I was right: their faces have thinned out, their legs suddenly stretched to be so long, they can read anything, they’re smart, they’re witty, they’ve got bigger feelings, and the stakes all seem higher. But they are AMAZING. And although I miss burying my face in those soft baby cheeks, I am insanely grateful for the FRIENDSHIP that’s developing at what feels like just the right time for me. Just when I needed a little bit less of the loneliness that comes with single-parenting little kids, and a little bit more of the companionship, empathy, and fun that comes as they get older—it’s here. UGH, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
We started reading Harry Potter sometime last year, and it’s been BEAUTIFUL for so many reasons. It began as our special bedtime routine to help when they were missing their dad at night, but it’s grown into a full-blown love of the books for them. It’s so fun for me to rediscover these books I devoured as a kid when they came out. They were just the perfect age to start, and even though now they could technically read them on their own, I love that they still want to listen to me read. We all love these big, coffee-table-worthy illustrated editions—the pictures are gorgeous, and the girls look at them over and over. We even have best friends who are reading the series at the same pace, so whenever we finish a book, we plan a special movie night. We just had our 3rd movie night and are all well into the 4th book.
All of this to say: the girls have known for a WHILE that they wanted a “Harry Potter birthday party” this year. They were also SO excited because their birthday fell on a full moon/eclipse, which felt extra fun since we had just finished the third book (the one where—spoiler alert if you aren’t a HP fan—Lupin turns into a werewolf on the full moon).
I was going through a particularly rough time, which I’ll share more about on my Substack, but for now I’ll just say my little sister flew in the week before and helped me pull the party together in just a few days. My mom flew in the morning of the party and helped with the last-minute things, and a few key friends showed up early and just went to WORK, somehow knowing what needed to be done better than I did. They even cleaned, so by the time everyone else arrived my house and yard looked better than before. It was a little chaotic (as Romy and Piper’s parties always are), but they had fun and felt loved, and I felt immensely loved and supported in a way I’ll never, ever forget.
Click here to see my Amazon storefront with all the last-minute things I ordered for the party.
I was, of course, running around and didn’t focus on taking great pictures. It was definitely not the most aesthetic party I’ve ever thrown, it was messy and chaotic. But it was magical for the kids, and that’s all I cared about. So I’ll throw in what photos I have below. (Also, the lighting is terrible because of the pergola, but whatever!)
Lisa (my little sis) used this template to make the invitations. I just texted it out digitally, but if you had more time it would be fun to print and mail—or have Hedwig deliver in person to some friends ;). I think it added to the magic and made the kids feel special that they were individualized!
When the kids walked in, they went through Platform 9 3/4 and we had an “Ollivanders” table with wands. These wands were actually so legit—they made noise and lit up at the ends. Each kid got to “choose” theirs, and then I wrote their names on them in gold Sharpie to make it feel special (really, I was just imagining everyone losing track of their wand).
Food usually stresses me out (cost-wise), but this time we just grabbed a ton of Costco rotisserie chickens (not the healthiest, but at $6 each it was SUCH a cheap way to feed the crowd), plus sides like mac and cheese, rolls, salad, beans, etc. If I’d had more time or been more mentally with it, I think I could have carried the idea further. BUT all the kids sat down and ATE—like they really ate! Then we put it away, and the party went so long we pulled it back out at the end and it ALL got eaten. Something about that was so satisfying.
The food doubled as decoration—I set it up on my big outdoor table to look like a feast in the Great Hall. I used these tablecloths, my friend Kaeli sent a bunch of floating candles that we hung from the pergola, we added some fake candles on the table, and hung house banners. Kaeli also sent a banner similar to this one, which was so cute. We also hung witches hats that my friend Ashlee brought, and I ordered extras for the kids to wear, and I was surprised how into that they were! Lisa and I had fun making this easy/cheap balloon arch that morning. If you haven’t made your own ballon arch before, make sure you have one of these!
Lisa bought the girls a Sorting Hat, and it is SO legit! It actually talks with tons of phrases, so we sorted the kids into houses for team games. We had a few games we didn’t end up playing, but one that was adorable was Lisa’s “Pin the Sock on Dobby” (she drew Dobby on butcher paper—again, she really carried this party!).
Romy and Piper also wanted to incorporate the full moon, so they made up a game where one person started as the werewolf (they had me order these werewolf masks) and chased everyone. Once they “bit” (tagged) someone, that person became a werewolf too. They also played a version like hide-and-seek where anyone found by the werewolf became one as well. It was so cute—they played at that magical twilight hour, and the girls said it was their favorite part of the party.
Our main activity was making potions, which the kids loved! I’ll list all the supplies below, but I used the glue method my friend Heidi talked about here. Basically mixed some glue with hot water (I’d say the ratio I did was one part glue to four parts hot water) and let the kids add in whatever colors or special things they wanted from the list below. Heidi’s tip to glue the top shut for the kids was key – I gave an adult super glue and had the kids take it to them at the end instead of hot glue like Heidi did and it worked great.
Potion Supplies:
- Elmer’s Glue (clear!)
- Glass Jars (I ordered these, these, and these. The kids all wanted to make more than one!)
- Mica Powder for color, it’s so pretty!
- Chunky Glitter
- Dried Flower Pieces
- Rocks/Gems
- Tags
- Gel Pens to write on tags
- Superglue to seal the corks
- Funnels for the kids to get the stuff inside the bottles
A few other things we did: played Harry Potter music, (my friend brought a legit sound system!), learned/practiced/cast spells with the wands (I let them take markers and draw the wand motions for spells on a big piece of butcher paper – Lisa had let the girls pick from these wands, and they came with cute wand spell books), and of course, the kids always swim. We have a pool and there’s somehow ALWAYS a heat wave the week of the girls’ birthday, so that was fun.
For cakes, my girls love Baskin Robbins ice cream cakes (we did it last year—it’s easy, inexpensive, and such a hit). I found beer cakes and pretended they were Butterbeer—it was perfect. I used these candles, which the girls loved. And I made a gluten-free box cake for our GF friends, and my mom frosted it to look like the cake Hagrid brings Harry in the first book.
At the end of the day, we laughed about how I always somehow pull off a party SO last minute and it ends up being a hit. But the truth is, this year it was only possible because of the people who love and support me and saw I didn’t have it in me. They all stepped in in the most beautiful way and filled our house with love and fun and MAGIC, and I will never forget it!
After the party was over, I turned a corner of Romy and Piper’s room into a Harry Potter zone. I’m not sure how long it will stay there, but for now it’s fun for them and a reminder for me of how loved we really are.
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