Potter Party

A continuation of the HP geek-out...

My House-Elves Prepare... {via}

Many of you were seriously interested to hear about the HP-themed Halloween party we threw, so I'm gonna do my best to remember it all. This was 2007, I apparently had either a non-functioning camera or had tested the libations way too many times and didn't care about a camera at that point. So, no pictures, sorry. I'm seriously disappointed in myself for that faux pas!

Decor: 
For our front door, I made a wooden sign that said "Platform 9 3/4" on a scrolled wooden plaque painted with black and gold paints.

Then with calligraphy brush pens on "parchment" scrapbook paper, I made signs for various parts of the apartment. The living room, with our red sofa was the "Gryffindor Common Room." Our half-bath that happened to be under the stairwell was the "Cupboard Under the Stairs." The dining room was divided into four different "stations" labeled "Potions Dungeon" (the bar), "The Great Hall" (savory finger foods), "Honeyduke's" (sweets), and "Three Broomsticks" (HP-themed drinks).

Also, in the "Dungeon" and "Great Hall" parts of the dining room, I hung bulletin board paper (yes, I'm a teacher...) that looked like stone castle walls. We lit a lot of candles and turned off many of the lights.

Food: 
To be honest, I can't remember many of the savory finger foods I made, even though everything was inspired by the books in some way. I do remember making mini cottage pies.

The sweets, however... I bought some 1-quart Mason jars and labeled each one with a gold paint marker. There were licorice wands (Twizzlers), Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (Jelly Bellys with some actual BB beans thrown in for random surprises), Cockroach Clusters (Dark chocolate and Rice Krispies candies), and Blood-flavored Lollipops (got them at Borders, officially licensed HP candy).

Drinks: 
In addition to our regular bar set-up that we keep stocked, I made a few themed beverages.
The cold butterbeer was:
vodka
soda water
Torani English Toffee syrup
 It was fizzy and buttery, just as it should have been.

I also made a Dragon's Blood cocktail: (This was stronger)
tequila
rum
orange juice (just enough to make it slightly opaque)
Torani Blood Orange syrup
splash of grenadine (if you need to get it redder again)

There were also ale (bucket full of beer) and Firewhisky (Jameson, I believe).

Costumes: 
At the time, my hair was cut very short, so I thought I'd use Halloween spray-in color and make it pink to be Tonks. I wore my black graduation robe, had a wand, and wore jeans with a homemade black and pink "Weird Sisters" t-shirt.

Sticking to canon, Hub was a partially changed Lupin. Sprayed his black hair with white to make it gray-ish. He wore a robe, and we took werewolf costume gloves, cut one apart, and used the gray fur to make it stick out of places in his clothes. He wore the other glove.

The costumes I can actually remember our friends coming as: Grown up Harry and Ginny, a Firebolt (I LOVED the costume made out of a cardboard box at the last minute!), Rita Skeeter, Madam Rosmerta, and Professor Trelawney.

It was a ton of fun, and I love throwing and/or going to theme parties. What are your favorite memories of theme/costume parties?