Harry Potter Party: Part One

It's been over a year since I've written anything for this blog.  I start to think about getting back into it and then life happens and I just don't.

That being said, I really want to document this birthday party we just threw.

A year ago I read the Harry Potter books to Baby Girl (and everyone else who wanted to come sit and listen).  She realized she would be 11 on her next birthday (the age a young witch or wizard begins to attend Hogwarts) and it's would be a party year (we only do odd years).  Now, you must understand, I have wanted to throw a Harry Potter party for years.  YEARS I TELL YOU!!  So when she asked if we could maybe do a Harry Potter party for her birthday, I jumped on it!  This was 10% for Baby Girl and 90% for me, but I think we both loved it!

So, I'm here to share a few things.  Some tricks, ideas, and a few tips on things I would or wouldn't do if I was to do it over again.  I'll probably break it into lots of little posts.  I'm also going to try to link to the pages where I got the idea or inspiration from.  Ready, here we go!

First off, the invitations.  I started by making a seal for the backs of the envelopes.  I was going to buy one, but the actual seals were EXPENSIVE!  And I was trying to make this party as inexpensive as possible.

This idea came from a couple of places.  Check HERE and HERE.  (I didn't do any of the tea staining found in the one tutorial.  I bought a packet of parchment paper instead.)

I took some clay and shaped a kind of handle, flattened one end and then carved the crest and the H with a toothpick and a straight pin.  It was then baked according to the directions on the package.

To make the seals you need wax paper, hot glue, a shallow dish of oil, a bag of ice, your stamp and paint in the color of your choice.  You put your stamp, crest side down, onto the bag of ice.  Then you make a good sized blob of hot glue on the wax paper.  Dip your stamp into the oil and then press it into the hot glue (I dabbed a tiny bit of the oil off first).  Wait for the hot glue to cool and harden.  Wa-lah!!

There was some oil residue on the seal and the wax paper had stuck to the back of the glue, so we washed them all in soapy water before painting.  I used a red spray paint for the seals.  Just stuck them all in a box and went to town.  And this was the result:

We used the acceptance letter as our invitations.  I printed them up on parchment paper that I had bought from a big box store.  I got the tutorials for the letters from HERE and HERE and HERE.  The bulk came from that last link.  I also just Googled it and got tons of ideas on what to do. 

I didn't have parchment envelopes and didn't want to order any.  So I just used regular envelopes that I already had and distressed the edges.  I contacted the parents to get a detail about the kids rooms.  The fonts I used were Lumos and You're Invited (I'm showing the Harry Potter one so that I don't put names or addresses of kiddos out there)

 Attached the seal to the back with more hot glue

We also put a Platform 9 3/4 ticket into each envelope.  I just did a Google image search till I found one with a good resolution that I liked (apparently I didn't save the link... if I find it, I'll come back and enter it in).  

Baby Girl put on her Hogwarts shirt and our Harry Potter glasses (she thinks they look like the Lobster Bisque guy from Studio C) and we delivered the invitations!

So there's post #1!  I'll start working on the next one soon.  I have family in town right now so we will see how long it takes me to get the next one up :)