Hogwarts Halloween!

So, I'm a sucker for Harry Potter. I've loved the series since discovering it almost 10 years ago and it has ignited my passion for reading again! I have since read so many books that I'm sure David figured I was finally losing it! ;)

This Halloween, in honor of the final Harry Potter movie, I decided to throw a Hogwarts Halloween party! :)

As with any good Harry Potter party, you must have a platform 9 3/4 sign. So, I decided to create one. We had some plywood hanging around so I had David cut it to the size I wanted (a little bigger than I probably needed) and I got some paint at Home Depot (Behr Ultrao Paint and Primer - Chianti). I painted the sign and let it sit for a day. I then got some yellow gold craft paint, black craft paint and white craft paint and got to work on the details! I printed off the words in Microsoft Publisher (FrankRuehl) in outline mode and cut them out, placed them, traced them with a pencil and then painted! Phew!

Next time - I'll just pay the extra money and by vinyl lettering so I can just place and go! This sign looks great from a distance, but the lines aren't perfect up close. :(

You also must have a brick wall to enter Diagon Ally (or to get onto the platform). I didn't get a good picture of it (next year!), but you can see it in front of the door in this picture. I got some brown fabric from JoAnn's and a large sponge and the remainder of the paint from the sign, and got to work! It took a few hours, but turned out fantastic!! I though the paint might be too dark, but it was perfect! Just make sure you have more than a sheet underneath to catch the extra paint... :)

Another important piece is the Golden Egg and some Dragon Eggs. :) Luckily, I had a large egg from Easter, so I got some gold spray paint and had fun! :) It turned out great. I also go some stone textured spray paint and painted some small eggs for dragon eggs. This Easter, I'll look out for some large eggs to add to my collection.

I also thought it might be fun to have some wands as part of the decor so I purchased some bamboo shoots at Micheals, used a bush trimmer (hand held) and cut the shoots into pieces that were about wand length. I stained them with some wood stain (Red Chestnut) and they looked really cool! I also found some rose bush sticks (which were remnants from when we cut down the roses in our yard) which were even better as wands due to their unique shapes and darker color.

Because we had some plywood, I thought it might be fun to make some gravestones in memory of those who died fighting He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I traced the gravestones on the plywood and Dave cut them out. :) Then I spray painted them with Primer (which helped the gray color) and then the textured stone spray paint - which turned out fantastic! Then I painted some words on using the white craft paint. I think they turned out great!

I had to readjust my sign because the screw holding it up wasn't strong enough. This is what it looked like on Halloween. :)

My party was a kind of potluck type thing (well, kind of) because it's usually more fun when everyone brings something. So, I found this yummy Hershey Pizza and it totally fit in with the qwerky Howarts theme! :)

I'll post a picture of my costume when I can find one. (I had one taken at the church party, but forgot to take one myself!) I was Hermione Granger. :) Accent and all!

At the party, we had Berty Bots, every flavor beans (really Jelly Belly's because I have not desire to taste puke or ear wax). Next year I promise to take more pictures! Overall, the party was tons of fun. We played Harry Potter scene it and Pictionary.

It wasn't my best party, but there's always next year! :)