Harry Potter Party: Overview

Wow! It's done and it was a success! My dear best friend Nikki got engaged to her wonderful fiance Justin. (Anyone know how to get the accent mark over the E?)

Anyways, her bridesmaids and I have been planning a Harry Potter themed engagement party for her for a few months and it was finally showtime on Saturday night!  I'll come back with another post with specifics about the themed food that we made and some of the smaller details and how we pulled them off. The front door acted as Platform 9 3/4. Kristin came over for a craft night one night and knocked this out and it turned out awesome!! It's just a shower curtain, a large sponge (I think it was a mop head) and some craft paint. Be careful when you do this though. We didn't put a drop cloth down and there was a brick pattern all over my kitchen floor after we finished...the grout is still tinted pink.

Also, how adorable are these pumpkins that Megan and Ryan carved?

Once you made your way through platform 9 3/4 you had to be sorted! The sorting hat decided everybodies fate. Jess is a designer and made these fantastic stickers that you would draw out of the hat to determine your house.

You can see the scarves right  behind the sorting hat. After you were sorted, you were given a scarf in your house colors to wear for the night. Each scarf had a pocket on the end. Why? For your wand of course! See the wands sticking out of the cauldron to the left? They are amazing! Nikki's Mom and Dad cranked out almost 40 of those for the party and everybody got one.

Here's a close up of the amazing wands. They were all unique. Now that I see that picture on here, it doesn't even do them justice. They were amazing!

We had tons of food! Separate post to come. Can you see those chocolate frog cards??

Another of Nikki's bridesmaids is a designer as well! Britt designed the chocolate frog cards and they were out of this world and a huge hit!!  The celebrities on the chocolate frog cards were the wedding party, Nikki and Justin or course, and Nikki and Justin's parents.

Britt also made these educational proclamations which we used throughout the night. They were posted on the sunroom door and if you ever broke any of the rules on the proclamations you had to lose house points.

It was a fun thing to keep up with and the most common loss of points was probably dropping a wand or losing at Quidditch. (Quidditch was really just cornhole and KanJam in the backyard). We did have one Slytherin walking around using the term mudblood a little too liberally and he lost quite a few points for his house. You know who you are!

Ok...enough details.  I'll post more of those later. People pics are where it's at!

Here's Justin getting sorted! He was a Hufflepuff.

Derrick and I took an online quiz once and he was Gryffindor and I was Hufflepuff. The sorting hat confirmed our house fates! You can see the cute stickers Jess made for the sorting hat on my scarf.

Nikki's Dad was a very good Ravenclaw. He had house pride from the start. And that's the rogue Slytherin, Steve.  Oh, and those cornhole boards? Isn't Britt amazing? She painted one in Slytherin colors and the other was Gryffindor colors and they were a gift for Nikki and Justin.

I think this picture of Nikki's parents is hilarious.

 Adorable! Nikki is one of the most beautiful and photogenic people I know.

Mother and Daughter Gryffindors.

You can see the scarf pockets really well in this picture. I've decided all scarves need pockets.

Nikki and Justin have become fast friends with Travis and Claire so I was excited they were able to come to the party as well!

We played a game where I would ask a question and they had to indicate with each other's shoes who most fit that description. This was probably their response to "Most likely to fail Herbology."

Megan took a lot of these pictures I'm posting here. She's another one of Nikki's bridesmaids and made the most delicious food for the party!

All the party planners and the Bride, minus Jess who lives in California :(

The most commonly sorted house was Ravenclaw. We have a lot of Smarty Pants friends apparently. Nikki has the best friends. Some of them came while they were still on call, some traveled in from out of town, and all of them made the party a blast!

Justin's whole family was Hufflepuff. I guess it's genetic.  Oh, and you can see the flying keys in the background here!

The party was so much fun and went perfectly! It was a true group effort and I'm so thrilled that Nikki and Justin had such a great time! More posts to come with other little details!