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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 739
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Over the years there has been a good bit of discussion here about our kids loving Harry Potter and ideas for Halloween costumes, holiday gifts, etc. so I'm hoping for some input on how to make DD's 11th birthday as authentically Harry Potter as I can.
DD read (well listened to - everything is audio books due to her dyslexia) all 7 books back when she was 7. At that time she told us in no uncertain terms "Let me make one thing perfectly clear. If I get an invitation to Hogwarts when I turn 11 I'm going. No questions asked." It was adorable at the time - as serious as a 7 year old could be - hands on hips, stern voice, etc. Well now she is turning 11 next week and I need ideas.
She and DH have made wands, she has a Marauder's Map throw on her bed, has copies of the Harry Potter Cookbook and Spell book, has a time-turner necklace and a golden snitch that plays Harry Potter 20 questions. She also attended a Harry Potter theater camp last summer. I'm going to give her a Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit game and a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard for her birthday. But the 11th is special and I need ideas. (That's the day Hagrid broke down the door to deliver Harry's Hogwarts letter and told him all about being a wizard so it's a very special day.)
We will do a Harry Potter birthday party after the first of the year but I want to make her actual 11th as authentic as possible. Did any of you do anything like this? So far I'm thinking of a stuffed white owl with a Hogwarts letter in its beak to greet her first thing in the morning. But should the letter should be an invitation to Hogwarts or an explanation that alas she is a muggle and therefore cannot be offered admission? Maybe a batch of Hagrid's stone cakes for breakfast? She knows every detail of the books and movies - much better than I do - so I'm hoping some of you can give me some ideas of what you did, would do or will do.
Thanks in advance!
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Joined: Oct 2011
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Oh man, this brings back some memories. Our DD had a sleep over party and my wife (and maybe I) went a little over-board. Here are some of the things we did:
Painted a sheet with a brick pattern, slit it up the middle, hung it on a trellis outside, and had a 4 wheeled cart ready. As each of the guests arrived, I loaded their sleeping bag and back pack on top of some old luggage already on the cart and they got to push it through the wall.
We then led them through the kitchen where the Honey Dukes cart was set-up full of different treats.
The dining room was all done up with fancy gold (all Good Will purchased - who cares if it is slightly mis-matched) dinner wear, and goblets to drink out of.
Another sheet was hung between the dining room and the living room. My wife is artistic, so she bought the biggest canvas she could find at Good Will, and painted over it with the fat lady. This was hung right in front of the sheet so the kids had to say the password before passing. We had a fireplace DVD going on the TV, so our living room became the Gryffindor Common room.
Dinner was full of themed dishes. I know we had plenty of Potter type decor (stuffed owls, odd paintings, etc.). And HP movies going all night (though we had to "extinguish" the fire for the movies). We already had a fluffy orange cat, so that worked out well...
The girls seemed to really love the interactive aspect.
Best of luck,
--S.F.
For gifted children, doing nothing is the wrong choice.
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Joined: Feb 2012
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For the letter, I would do something along the lines of, "You have been selected for our special remote educational program. You will be visited by professors intermittently to check on your progress, and we expect you to continue your home study of the magical arts." That gives you an excuse to dress up as Snape and quiz her on potion ingredients later in the day, and/or at her birthday party.
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Joined: Aug 2011
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Thank you SFrog and ElizabethN. Awesome ideas! I will make a 9 3/4 track in the hallway and leave the suggested remote educational program letter in the owl's beak. You are both brilliant! I'll also use some of the other ideas at her birthday party. Now looking forward to it instead of dreading it! Thanks!
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Joined: Apr 2010
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Someone in our household attends the Hogwarts Day School program...
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Joined: Feb 2014
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If there is a raptor rescue around, you might go visit an actual owl.
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We did potion making at DD's party--we bought a lot of strange and unusual beverages and juices, including some at the Asian market, and the girls mixed their own potions in identical glasses. DD got to be potion master and tested them all and declared a winner.
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I realized I only ever described the potions class in that thread.
I am glad the letter will be an acceptance letter - receiving a rejection for being a muggle for her 11th birthday would be such a letdown! If the day of the party is already confirmed, you could put it in as the day she is supposed to show up for the Hogwarts express!
DS created acceptance letters for all his friends, letting them know the date and time the train was to leave, in some old fashioned manuscript font. (We had ascertained beforehand that all kids had at least seen the first movie or read the first volume. The one kid who hadn't because he was only seven, I checked with his mom and then DS gave him his copy and told him he had to read it before he could come to his party, which he did!)
When the kids arrived at our house, 8 kids in total, I greeted them all in my McGonagall costume, then we put them in two cars, put on the movie soundtrack and drove them to the 19th century fortification the renovation of which my husbands involved with.
Once arrived, we explained that Hogwarts was going to open a new extension in our country and they had all been selected to attend because of their magical talents. We then did the sorting ceremony and I gave every kid a good scolding for arriving without robes, then handed every kid a large cut of cheap black velvet for robes.
We then moved into one of the larger casements which is used as a common room for the renovators where we sat the kids at the large table. There was a wand workshop, where DH helped the kids assemble pre made wands with LED lights, a robe workshop where another dad helped them glue rhinestones to golden clasps for the robes with a glue gun, and my potions class. I just put out muffins and apple slices for everyone to help themselves.
When all the crafts where finished, they ran around for a while in the fort in their robes and played at fighting trolls with their wands, shouting spells and curses at one another! It was extremely cute, with the LED lit wands in the dusk, it really I looked like a movie set! Then we did a treasure hunt in the underground tunnels, to find a treasure chest with chocolate, crackers and marshmallows. Then lit a fire and cut sticks and barbecued sausages and made s'mores.
The kids were completely into the zone. It was great.
Last edited by Tigerle; 12/21/15 03:57 AM.
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Success!!!
Today is DD's 11th birthday and wow did we pull it off!
The plan was for DD to wake up for school, walk down the hall to the bathroom and find a curtain with a track 9 3/4 Hogwarts Express sign on it. Go through the opening (thanks SFrog for the idea!) and find a white owl, some Hogwarts books (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages) and a letter from Hogwarts. It all worked great but I didn't count on the part where she woke up at 2:30 am unable to go back to sleep and have all of this unfold in the middle of the night. It worked perfectly but boy oh boy am I exhausted.
Thank you ElizabethN for the idea for the remote program. She was accepted to Hogwarts' special ICE MAGIC program (Institute of Correspondence Education for Magical And Gifted International Children) because enrollment at the residential program is limited to students who live in the British Isles...
O. M. G. The screams, the shrieks, the squeals of delight! There truly are no words for how perfect this was.
And Tigerle I just saw your post. Sounds awesome. Now we have to plan her birthday party. I wish we had a similar castle setting. We'll have to see what we can come up with.
Thanks again all. I think I have the happiest 11 year old on the planet today!
Last edited by Pemberley; 12/21/15 05:58 AM.
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