Harry Potter Celebration

Fun Fact: That's Harry Potter, not Kevin from Sin City

To mark the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, we had a Harry Potter Celebration at the library. I also did a Harry Potter bulletin board.

Guests entered by way of Platform 9 3/4.

Some chairs were set up for guests to come and go as the movie adaptation of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was playing. We also had popcorn and butterbeer (I used this recipe), served out of a cauldron.

Guests could also stop to decorate and donate a sock to free a house elf:

Hedwig (a Story Time puppet that I already had) oversaw the Owl Post, where patrons could write a letter to J.K. Rowling, which I mailed the following day.

I made the feather pens and the letters were written on some scroll paper. I made use of the free fonts Parry Hotter and Lumos for this event.

There was also a Potions Class.

I walked the kids through a bubbly experiment with vinegar, baking soda, and dish soap.

These were labeled Mermaid Tears, Wartcap Powder, and Stewed Mandrake.

I also had tabletop Quidditch set up:

That's a Styrofoam cone, dowel rod, and paper plate. I glued Gryffindor and Slytherin crests to the appropriately colored paper cups for the two teams. I painted a ping pong ball yellow and added wings to make the Golden Snitch. The Rules were:

· 1 point (or cup) for getting the snitch into any cup

· 2 points (or cups) for getting the ball through the hoops and into the cups.

Your hands may be used to swat the ball out of the way. When you are down to one cup on one (or both) sides, the snitch must be used to end the game.

I also had a Sorting Hat filled with folded up crests of each house that guests could draw from. This was on a table with the Harry Potter "Would You Rather" Game and dueling straws, and Azkaban photo prop.

For Duelling Club, I wrapped some origami paper on the end of a straw and folded it over. There was a list of spells on the wall to choose from, and the kids could shout a spell at each other before blowing the paper off their straw.

Azkaban photo prop close up.

Guests who visited the bathroom were met by Moaning Myrtle.

There were also some flying keys above the door, cut out by the library's Cricut and stuck in the ceiling with fishing line and a thumbtack:

And some letters flying out of the mini fireplace leftover from the Alice in Wonderland shindig:

This was on the counter with the butter beer and popcorn, which I, unfortunately, did not get a picture of.

All-in-all, it was well attended, received plenty of positive feedback, and made the paper!

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