Harry Potter Party: Decorations #2

Start at the beginning here. And then  here for games and activities . And here for the food. It describes the beginning of our daughter's 11th birthday party - Harry Potter themed obviously! My bit of advice this week is to start the decorating process as early as possible. If you have an idea of the type of things you'll need, you'll be able to find good prices on things as you're out and about in daily life instead of panicking at the last minute before the party! That's how I found the owls for the Owlery and potion jars.

This post will cover our decorations for our King's Cross Station, the Portrait Hall, the Gryffindor Common Room, the Owlery, Potions and Herbology decorations.

King's Cross Station

Our front door was covered by a "brick wall". I found brick-wall craft paper at Michaels (it was in the school section - I think it was meant for bulletin boards or as class decorations) which I then taped onto 2 tarps so the kids could walk through it. If you have the time you could paint the wall on a sheet like they did here. At our party, the kids handed in their Hogwarts' Express Ticket (included in their invitation) and then went through the wall. Upon walking through the wall, the kids entered the Portrait Hall.

I just printed these off the net. 

Portrait Hall

To create the Portrait Hall we simply printed off many Hogwarts or Hogwarts-like pictures found in the movies. I found most of them on Harry Potter Wiki. Check  here for great pics.

In the same area we also posted Educational Decrees. You can find them here and just print them off.

Owlery/Potions

A few owls on a window sill makes a great owlery!
(We added a few regular birds in cages but the kids didn't seem to mind!)

Our living room was a mix of areas. First, we had the Owlery. At our local Dollar Store we found a variety of cute owls - all under $5 each. We placed them on a window sill and I made an "owlery" sign to place underneath. Simple and cute!

We have a Harry Potter book with some potion labels so I just photocopied them and taped them to some little bottles for a Potions Class effect. We added food colouring to some water to represent potions.

We had potions in another window and in some glass cupboards. Most of these were jars that I already had or picked up at the Dollar Store and then filled with colored water. In a few of the jars, we placed toy spiders, worms, and other icky things we found! 

Gryffindor Common Room

The portrait of the  Godric Gryffindor,one of Hogwarts founders, was given a place of honour in our Gryffindor Common Room

The living room door also had a picture of the fat lady on it and, of course, a password was needed to get in when it became the Gryffindor Common Room.

I ordered this poster online. We used it as decoration in the Gyffindor Common Room on the day of the party but it looks great hanging in her room now.

In the room, we placed some posters that I had ordered on line, a Gryffindor Notice Board. The Board was my daughter's idea and I loved it! She wrote a bunch of notes and announcements for it and even added a few socks in case any House Elves wanted freedom!

Love this Notice Board! We found the Gryffindor crest online. It's removable and re-positionable so after the party we moved it to my daughter's bedroom wall.

Finally, we hung a portrait of Professor Dumbledore and one of his sister.

Herbology

On the other side of the room was our Herbology section. I printed a bunch of plants descriptions from the books and movies and placed them in front of plants we already had. I loved the addition of the Mandrakes (which were really troll dolls found, of course, at the Dollar Store).

I found a Herbology Do's and Dont's list here that we stick to the wall above the plants.

Next post will describe our Harry Potter birthday party games and activities.

Harry Potter Kids Party: Invitations (#1)

Harry Potter Party for Kids

I love planning my birthday kids parties. The decorations, games, cake, food, and loot bags all get detailed attention. See our son's Plants vs Zombies party as one example and our daughter's Hawaiian party as another example of fun times! This year my daughter is turning 11 and she is also a huge Harry Potter fan. As any Harry Potter fan knows, Harry was 11 when he received his acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was desperately hoping for the same! All I could do was give her a HP birthday party and hope that would be enough!

I fully admit I go overboard with planning my kids parties. Take my advice and plan exactly what you will need...that way you won't end up with enough candy to open a real Honeydukes or wonder what you're gonna do with thirteen 'quidditch' brooms lol. Now, I'm not saying everything I do for the party was totally authentic by any means but everything was in the spirit of Harry Potter.

When planning a Harry Potter party my advice is to use what's already out there! Lots of people have had great parties and are willing to share what worked and what didn't. You can easily find Harry Potter inspired invitations, decorations, food and other ideas on the Internet.

Over my next few posts, I'll take you through some of the things we did including:

• invites
• decorations
• cake
• games
• food
• loot bags

We'll start at the beginning with our invites.

Invitations

There are many great invites made by other party planners out there. I borrowed ideas, words and ideas from a few and came up with ours. I printed them on blank cards from Michael's that came with envelopes.

Here's the invite wording:

Dear Miss (name here),

We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where we will be having a special birthday celebration for (birthday name here).

Term begins (insert time). Please make your way to (address here) in a Muggle mode of transportation and in Muggle attire to avoid suspicion. You will find your ticket attached. Please present it at time of boarding. 


We await your owl post response by no later than (insert date). 

If you have trouble acquiring an owl, you may respond by Muggle phone or email.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress

P.S. Term will end at approximately (insert time here).


You can find Minerva's signature here.  

Inserted into each envelope was a ticket for the Hogwarts Express. You can find them here.

Originally, we were going to deliver them attached to owl balloons but we ran out of time. Instead we placed a puffy owl sticker on each one.

The kids loved the invitations and most even remembered to bring their tickets!

Here are some great sites for templates and ideas:
http://www.piecesbypolly.com/2013/01/printable-hogwarts-acceptance-letters.html
http://thebestbirthday.com/party-ideas/harry-potter-party/
http://notsoidlehands.com/2014/08/harry-potter-birthday-invitations-and-authentic-acceptance-letter-and-party-part-1.html

Our next post will cover decorations!

Peach Cinnamon Ginger Freezer jam

I'm on a bit of a freezer jam kick! When I think of homemade jam I think of berries - raspberry, blueberry and strawberry. But every once in awhile I crave something different, like this peach freezer jam with cinnamon and ginger.
Chop the peaches quite small but don't completely puree - you can use your food processor for this or a knife.

My kids love this with yogurt for breakfast and with ice cream for dessert!

Ingredients

4 cups well chopped peaches (about 6 large peaches)
1 package freezer pectin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1-1/2 cups sugar

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk sugar, zest and pectin.

Add pureed peaches and stir for 3 minutes.

Divide among five 1-cup jars.

Let sit for thirty minutes to thicken.

Cover and refrigerate (3 weeks) or freeze (up to a year).

Here are some of my favorite freezer jams you can find on Within the Kitchen:

Strawberry Rhubarb Freezer Jam

Strawberry Vanilla Freezer jam

And my most popular jam recipe:

Raspberry Lime Freezer jam

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Homemade freezer jam is so easy. More importantly, it tastes so much better than store bought jam. The zest in this jam really brightens the strawberries. It's great with peanut butter sandwiches, or fresh buttermilk biscuits. It also makes a fantastic ice cream sundae topping!!

Ingredients

2 lbs strawberries
1 package freezer pectin
zest of one large lemon
1-1/2 cups sugar

Instructions

Rinse and hull strawberries.
Place in food processor and pulse until crushed.
In another bowl, whisk sugar, zest and pectin.
Add strawberries and stir for 3 minutes.
Divide among five 1-cup jars.
Let sit for thirty minutes to thicken.
Cover and refrigerate or freeze.

Here are some of my favorite freezer jams you can find on Within the Kitchen:
Strawberry Rhubarb Freezer Jam
Strawberry Vanilla Freezer jam

And my most popular jam recipe:
Raspberry Lime Freezer jam

Old Fashioned Banana Bread

There are lots of fancy modern banana breads out there. I'm sure they are all delicious but sometimes you just want something that reminds you of an afternoon spent in the kitchen with your Mom or Grandma or maybe those special care packages your family would send you when you went off to college. I'm guessing they weren't the fancy banana breads but just plain, basic stuff with the occasional chocolate chip thrown in. If you are yearning for a slice of THAT banana bread, try this. It's delicious, simple and will take you back to the excitement of opening those care packages or your Grandma's kitchen.

I can never wait for it to cool! So good with butter!

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour (preferably unbleached)
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 cups mashed overripe bananas
2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions

1. Grease two 9x5 loaf pans and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a very large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk, sour cream, sugar, butter, vanilla and bananas.
5. Add liquid to dry ingredients and stir until JUST combined.
6. Place half (4 cups) in each loaf pan.
7. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes until nicely brown and toothpick comes out clean.

Wheetabix #mybixmix

As a Mom of two kids aged 9 &10, I try to make sure they eat well. This is especially true at breakfast. I think a great tasting and nutritious breakfast sets them up and fills them up for all of the activities throughout their day including their ability to focus at school.

My kids are old enough to make their own breakfast, so I try to make sure there are lots of healthy options for them. Our kitchen is usually stocked with items such as:

• lots of cut/washed fruit - berries, pineapple, melons are favorites
• milk
• whole grain breads
• yogourt
• cereals - whole grain
• homemade muffins filled with fibre, fruit etc

So it seemed like a no brainer when Wheetabix asked me to join them in their #mybixmix challenge. They wanted to see how Canadians could mix up their meals with Wheetabix and how it affected our energy and hunger pangs as the day went on. 

The kids loved the challenge! We ate Wheetabix like crackers with peanut butter, crumbled over yogurt, with milk (warm and cold), and even in smoothies! The kids liked it best when then they crumbled it over their yogurt and berries - they love they extra crunch it provided.

We also found that it kept us feeling satiated for most of the morning.

So next time you're in the cereal aisle pick a box of Wheetabix up and mix your bix! Check out your social media foods for #mybixmix for other awesome ideas!

Please note: I was compensated for this post but opinions are my own!

Dragon Fruit Sorbet

Ingredients

2 ripe dragon fruit
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 lemon, juiced

Instructions

1. Scoop out inside of dragon fruit into blender.
2. Add other ingredients.
3. Puree until liquid.
4. Pour into loaf pan and place in freezer.
5. Stir every hour or so until frozen. Takes about 4 hours.
6. Serve.