But let's not focus on that! Instead, let's focus on something I love: birthday parties.
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| A group photo of the Faery Party attendees! |
And I mean, I love them. I love planning and celebrating the birthdays of people I care about. This
past month I did a joint birthday party for two of my friends, Toni and Carla, that drew inspiration from Jim Henson's Labyrinth, fairy folklore, and The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning (which all three of use are reading- I just finished reading Iced).
If I'm honest, it more focused on Labyrinth, though, so I suppose last month's party could be classified as a movie themed party.
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| Can you guess which one is Jon? |
But do you know what I'm planning for June? A Harry Potter party!
That's right! Three dear friends have birthdays in June! And they all agreed to a Harry Potter themed party!
Now one of the three people this party celebrates is my husband, Jon. The other two are Lucas and Quinn, both of whom were groomsmen for my own wedding. Jon even acted as the officiant for Lucas' wedding back in December. So, yeah. I guess I like these guys or something.
So here is what I've got in mind for this party coming up!
Party Concept:
There are three wonderful people being celebrated in this party, and as such it has been deemed The Triwizard Birthday! Get it? Because there are three of them? |
| Quinn was real excited at the zoo, |
Anyway, this suggests a kind of competition. Since I wanted to have the invitation worded as a Hogwarts acceptance letter but did not want to deal with the other schools mentioned in the The Goblet of Fire I am instead basing this more around The House Cup. Yes, I know, I know, there are four houses, not three, and that makes the name seem weird, but remember, the name is more about the three birthday boys.
Which leads me to the main rule I try to follow when making a party like this: Keep the guest(s) of honor in mind at all times! After all, the party is for them, not you. Make sure they're comfortable and it's something they'll enjoy. They are the reason for the party!
Competition:
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| Lucas and his wife Courtney! |
The House Cup is awarded based on the number of house points gained during the school year. With this idea, I decided to have a series of games that party attendees can choose whether or not to take part in. All the points earned during the games are house points. So basically, if you win one of the games the only prizes you win are bringing your house closer to victory and bragging rights.
Everyone who is already Sorted into a house should come dressed in their house colors. This isn't a costume party, so keep that in mind. A yellow t-shirt would be perfectly fine to represent Hufflepuff.
If anyone is not sorted, then there will be a Sorting Hat that we can use as part of a central decoration and as a fun little ceremony each time someone needs it. In order to make sure everyone has their colors on, I will be making some ties with the house colors out of cardstock that will attach to shirts with a paper clip.
This brings me to my second rule: Keep things cheap by being creative and crafty. The worst thing about a party is checking your bank account afterward and realizing you blew your budget. It's a real let down. Don't do that to yourself.
Rule three: Foresee possible problems. For instance, if I'm sorting out the guest list into the houses, keep an idea that the houses will be unbalanced. The guest list as it stands for this party is overwhelmingly Slytherin. If we have ten Slytherins playing games and getting points against three Ravenclaws, there is no way the Ravenclaws stand a chance. So I have been up front about the fact that if the houses are unbalanced, people may have to go into a different house for the evening.
Games:
I came up with a few games on my own, and a few games I saw online. It is with these games that the house points will be gained or lost (yes, you can lose points!)
Trivia - A Harry Potter Trivia Game is a very cheap and easy game to include. Just has some paper and pens, and a list of questions.
Scavenger Hunt - I intend to hide Dragons Eggs (aka Easter Eggs) throughout the party's decorations. This is a simple way to help decide on decorations and include a fun game which can also be super cheap (if you don't go overboard).
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| Look at her. So evil. |
Dolores Umbridge Dart Board - I am pretty sure even Voldemort hates Umbridge. I will print off
several copies of the same picture of her and attach it to a cork board. I need to make four sets of four darts that will not potentially damage the wall, but will stick easily into a cork board when thrown. Points will be gained or lost based on where attendees hit the picture or if they miss,
Butterbeer Pong - Beer pong is a pretty basic adult party game. The nice thing about it is you don't have to use alcohol. You can just find a different drink to use. I am intending to use a butterbeer recipe, once I find one that looks good to me. All the ones I've found so far have been very sugary, so I'm still on the hunt. There will also be the three Quidditch goals in the middle of the table, and, of course, the Snitch. At this point, I intend to have a paper cutout of a snitch attached to the bottom of the cups used for the game. Whenever the Snitch is revealed, the team that landed the ball in that cup gets 150 points and the game ends. Anyone who gets a ball in the cup without going through the goals gets ten points, and they get 30 points if the ball does go through the goals. Originally is was one and three, but when the 150 points were accounted for with the Snitch, whoever got it would clearly win. As such, I ended up increasing the number of points gained when the ball landed.
Food:
There are so many book-inspired treats for a Harry Potter party. Too many. I love cooking and trying new recipes, but there is no way that I can manage to try out everything in time for the party, much less afford all of it. Remember, I'm trying to keep it cheap.
Toni is a wonderful baker, and she volunteered to bake the birthday cake. Some of the iconic food items are also sweets, and that makes them often much cheaper to make, as well as easier to transport to the party venue.
I decided that I would provide drinks and sweets. As an additional way to gain house points, I ended up adding in another contest- a pot luck contest. This helps to take some pressure off of me for the party and lets people show their own creativity. This leads me to the last rule: Don't be afraid to ask for help. From adding in a potluck element, to asking a friend to be a party co-planner, this step can make a world of difference. A party is no fun if the host is super stressed out about getting everything set up in time.
Note that this is the only part of the competition where a prize is offered to an individual. This is because I know that adding a pot luck element brings in a level of stress to the guests. Adding in a prize (which is yet undetermined) shows appreciation for their efforts.
The House Cup
Once someone finishes a game, they bring the number of points they gained during it to the table with the House Cups, which I intend to make out of thrift store vases/jars, and put them in. The house with the most points at the end of the night wins the House Cup.
The trouble is, I can't have a decorative cup for every single member of the winning house. It's just not feasible. Instead, I will have little prize bags for each member of the house- I'm anticipating having ten of these bags, but that number may change once I get all of the RSVPs.
These bags cannot break the bank. I intend to make little prize items to include, and maybe some special candies. Who knows what will be in them? It's a mystery.
I'll be talking about how I came to these decisions in later posts, and discuss how I am making each of these party elements work. I'm really excited to be doing this party for Jon, Lucas, and Quinn. I can't wait!
