My elder one just turned 11 this March. She's a proclaimed Potterhead ; something that we introduced her to last year and there has been no looking back ever since! Maybe it's the age group (imagination runs the wildest I guess in this phase), she got totally absorbed into the world of Harry Potter. So it was a no brainer when it came to deciding the theme of her 11th birthday, it had to be a Harry Potter one! Because this is the year when one gets accepted into Hogwarts! IYKYK!
While we all were excited about this year's theme, I was anxious more, being the party planner. I am always looking for simple and budget ways to organize birth parties, without going overboard; because that's not who we are.
So how to organize a Harry Potter birthday party on a budget?
1. How to invite people?
Well, invitations do have a major role in setting the mood for the party. So I got custom HP scroll like invites printed, which I designed myself. I also mentioned the dress code there. (Very important for a theme party)
2. How to choose the theme colour?
If you are familiar with Harry Potter, then you know there are 8 colour combinations of the four houses. 8 is a lot, so we zeroed down on Griffindoor colours (obviously) ie Maroon and yellow and of course black and metallic. For balloons, we stuck to maroon, yellow and black. Me and my husband wore black while the birthday girl donned yellow with a black cape and so did her little sister.
3. How to select the HP theme birthday cake?
If you look up on Pinterest, it can get pretty overwhelming. There are so many options. Also, I don't prefer full fondant cakes. Most of that goes waste. So I wanted something that used minimal fondant while keeping the theme intact. So we opted for a Gtiffindoor themed base with fondant sorting hat, spectacles, Snitch, wand and an all in one Harry Potter cake topper. My little Potterhead was pretty satisfied with how the cake turned out. The details were everything!
4. How to keep easy HP games?
Harry Potter might not be familiar to everyone. So instead of going too complicated, we did a simple HP quiz and an HP memory game. For quiz, we sorted the groups in to 4 houses and for the memory game, I spoke out 40 HP related words, and the kids had to recapitulate and produce them on paper. Of course there were other normal games too, like Tambola and Passing the parcel.
5. How to imbibe the HP theme amongst the guests?
We got HP themed photo props for all and that was a hit with all! Of course there was snatching between Griffin door tie and Slytherin tie, Harry's cloak and so on. But what's a party without some hiccups!
Mohi's best friend gifted her a Letter from Hogwarts and that was a cherry on the cake. My birthday girl loved the party and so did her Potterhead friends and non Potterhead ones too. It was one hell of a party to remember and cherish for the rest of our lives!
Are you a Potterhead? At what age did you become one?
This post was created for the Blogaberry Creative (Monthly) Challenge with theme word (How).