"Part 5: Honeydukes" can be found HERE. "Part 4: Class Lessons & the Troll in the Dungeon" can be found HERE. "Part 3: Great Hall Sorting Ceremony" can be found HERE "Part 2: Diagon Alley" can be found HERE. "Part 1: Invitations & the Entry to Platform 9-3/4" can be found HERE.
Most of the party signage was made on insulation foam. The only signage made in wood was the exterior signpost signage. Insulation foam is easier to cut, more cost effective, and more lightweight for the size. Different methods were used on each, so I'm including some process photos and details for several of the signs below...
We have made it a point in recent years to make our family Christmas gifts more 'experiences' than things. So for Christmas last year we bought tickets to spend a weekend at Universal Studios in January.
At this point in the calendar, we had several of the Harry Potter crafts for the Very Harry Birthday underway. We had made wands, signs, potion bottles, and were midway into scarves.
I knew that I wanted to do something more visually fun for our "Honeydukes" than glass jars sitting on a table, so I made the large Honeydukes sign... but I still felt that it wasn't quite "there" yet.
When we walked into Honeydukes at the Wizarding World in January and I saw the Bertie Botts display shelf, I knew THAT was what I wanted to do.
We live in the Midwest, which is 'tornado alley' in the United States. Thus, most houses have basements. We finished part of our basement this past year, and took the opportunity to install carpet into the storage area under our stairs to make a reading nook for Little Tomato.
Now... if your child is a Harry Potter fan and you're making a reading nook under the stairs, it *needs* to be a Cupboard Under the Stairs!
The photo quality is not great. I was lazy and used my phone to take photos, and this is a basement cupboard under the stairs... so the light quality isn't optimal either.
This post is less tutorial and more 'details on the invitations' for the Very Harry Party.
The invitations for the party were Hogwarts acceptance letters. I used a basic font and included the Hogwarts crest on the top of the page and Professor McGonagall's signature which can be easily found on the internet. I also printed the Platform 9-3/4 tickets onto parchment paper, the ticket graphic was also found with a cursory internet image search.
Invitations & tickets were printed on parchment paper.
I purchased basic Kraft paper envelopes and printed the miscellaneous owl imagery onto them. As I intended to hand-deliver the invitations, I used the Hogwarts crest in the 'return address' area of the envelope and used unofficial owl stamp graphics on the stamp portion of the envelope.
I used a fountain pen to write the girl's names and addresses onto the envelopes, so I also printed the ink drops onto the envelopes to give it more of an authentic 'quill pen was used' feel... but to be honest, I just wanted to add something in this corner to visually balance the envelope a little better.
The original Harry acceptance letter was addressed to "Mr. H. Potter", so I addressed the letters to Ms. [First Letter of first name] [Last Name]... after mistakingly writing out MRS.
Whoops... children definitely aren't MRS. 😣
I also purchased the Hogwarts seal and wax sealed the envelopes.
PLEASE NOTE that if you use a wax seal and intend to send your invites via traditional post... I've read mixed reviews on this. The machines the USPS uses will sometimes flatten or completely destroy wax seals. You can ask for them to be 'hand cancelled' but this will very likely come with an additional fee. Before spending the time and $$ to apply wax seals, I recommend verifying that you don't have to pay additional postage or put your wax seal on an interior envelope. The Hogwarts seal, in particular has LOTS of detail, which will be easily lost when flattened.
A quick tip on applying a wax seal: Once you place your wax seal, press firmly and hold the seal in place for a few seconds to allow the wax to cool. If you try to remove a seal too quickly, before the wax has a chance to solidify a bit, you will end up with some of the wax coming away with the seal and your wax impression will be sloppy and incomplete.
Finally, the invitiations were attached to a white balloon. I drew an owl on each balloon with a black permanent marker and attached the balloon to the envelope with bakers twine.
Because I'm a bit ridiculous, I drew a different owl on each balloon and let Little Tomato help pick the owl to match each of her friends.
We hand delivered the invitations to each of her friends. Many of them were home, but for those that weren't, they received a cute little owl on their porch when they got home.
For our 'Very Harry Party,' the main feature of the Great Hall (aka our Dining Room) was a Hogwarts crest shield. I wanted this to be a good size, so it looked proportionate to the mantle.
Hogwarts Crest
For this project, as with the many signs and large scale props at the party, I used insulation foam as the substrate. Insulation foam is lightweight, easy to cut, and inexpensive. A 4' x 8' sheet will cost around $12 -$25 depending on where you buy it and the thickness of the foam. For the party signage, I bought a total of (2) sheets of foam and made every single indoor sign AND the Bertie Botts display out of the two sheets of foam, a single quart of primer and misc paint colors.
Foam Cutting Tools for Craft Projects:
Box Cutter:If you use a thin sheet of foam, a boxcutter can work to make cuts. As most people have this tool already, it can save you from buying extra tools for a project. HOWEVER, please note that when you cut with a boxcutter, the edges can be jagged and not smooth. It will also be much more difficult to work complex angles (ex. the curvature around this shield). If you want a more finished edge, are cutting out details (ex. the Bertie Botts display opening), or are using a thicker foam, you will want to buy...
Foam Cutter: This tool is heated and essentially cuts by melting your incisions into the foam. You will need to fine-tune your heat settings so that it is hot enough to cut smoothly, but not so hot that it melts too much of the foam as you are cutting. It will leave a smoother finished edge than blades, and much easier to cut around curves, tight corners and thicker material.
Hot Knife Tool: I used this tool to carve out the negative space on the shield.
* When using any foam cutting tools that utilize heat, please be aware that these are essentially melting the foam, which will release a strong chemical odor. Always work in a well-ventilated area and I would highly recommend wearing a face mask when working with these tools.
Hogwarts Crest Process:
I began by sketching the crest onto the sheet of foam. I just utilized a photo of the crest and free-hand drew it onto the foam.
* When sketching on foam, be careful to sketch very lightly, as any pressure will etch into the surface of the foam.
Once my sketch was acceptable, I traced over the drawing with my pencil pressing hard enough to etch into the surface, to make the drawing imprint into the foam.
I then cut out the overall shield shape from the sheet of foam.
Unfortunately I do not have any photos of this early process. I powered through these initial steps one evening while watching a movie and enjoying a glass of wine. 😋
After the overall shield was cut out, I used the Hot Knife Tool to etch the design into the surface of the foam. I had to fiddle with the heat setting quite a bit to get the heat setting 'just right.' In some areas the tool was getting too hot and etched more deeply and wider than I would have liked, especially with the eagle wing details which I ended up simplifying to avoid ruining altogether. It was a little finicky. But I knew that it would be painted and hung high enough that the details wouldn't really matter.
Foam cut & design etched into the surface.
If I were to do this again, I'd be really interested in playing with adding wax or clay to build up the animals more, to give it a more three dimensional feel. But I was relatively happy with the end result.
Next up, I gave it a full coat of primer.
Then I painted it with a 'gunmetal metallic' craft paint and added some antique wax to make the features stand out better.
Metallic Paint Coat
BUT... then I realized that, though it looked pretty good when laying down on a table (as above), it was really hard to see the details when hung upright. The metallic sheen and dark color made it look really flat.
SO... I then bought a faux stone spray paint and gave a light coat of stone finish over the shield and reapplied the antique wax to the details.
Final shield hung above the mantel.
I apologize for the poor lighting on the shield in the photo above. Our power was out during the party (a strong storm the night before had taken down a lot of power lines), so the windows were our only source of light.
If you're planning a low-budget, quick solution, many people choose the plastic sheet with a brick print found HERE on Amazon. You can hang it and cut a slit up the middle for kids to walk through, easy-peasy.
However, if you know you will be decorating for Harry Potter more than once (Little Tomato wants to decorate Harry Potter for Halloween), a more durable solution is a good idea.
I added a magnetic closure to my brick wall, so it will close back up after each person passes through it. It definitely added time to the project, but I felt it was really worth it in the end.
* I purchased my canvas drop cloth at a home improvement store. Depending on the size, these cost around $10-$15. I purchased a 6' x 9' size, as my opening was larger than 4'-0" so I needed a larger size. You can find these on Amazon as well. (6' x 9' is HERE).
Red & Black Paint
*Black is optional, used minimally to darken the red for a second coat, to give the bricks a more realistic look.
* I purchased mine at a home improvement store on sale for $8, but it can also be found HERE.
Instructions:
For the sewing portion of this tutorial, you are essentially making rod-pocket window panels. If you can find perfectly sized window panels for your opening, that would definitely save you the sewing and you can skip right to the painting part. I opted to sew the drop cloth as it was a cost savings and I could perfectly size the panel to my opening.
To make your rod-pocket panels, see the rod-pocket tutorial HERE for in-depth instructions on the sewing steps. This site gives way better instructions than I would be able to articulate from reverse-engineering my process.
Magnetic Closure:
I allotted an additional 3" of fabric in the width of my panels to sew the magnetic screen into the back of the panels. You can either choose to keep the full mesh screen in the back of the panel, or you can cut out the strip with the magnets and sew just this piece into your panels. I kept the full panels. It may not look as nice from the backside, but I was worried that I would not be able to align the magnets properly between the two panels if I didn't keep the full panels intact.
Painting the Brick Wall:
The first part of painting the brick wall is a LOT of measuring and taping.
I had 1" painter's tape on-hand, so used this and cut it in half. It was a royal pain. If you're buying tape for this, I would HIGHLY recommend buying the 1/2" wide tape and save yourself cutting.
My panels had magnets that held them together, perfectly aligned where I wanted them to be aligned. If you did not add magnets, make sure you either pin your panels together or tape your panels together on the backside to keep them from shifting when you start taping. When your panels hang, you want the bricks to align between the two panels.
I made my bricks 4" x 8" in size. To do this, I measured 4" in height with a ruler and then laid a layer of painter's tape at the 4" line.
Repeat up the entire length of your panels.
Painter's Tape...
Once I had the horizontal rows, I began measuring 8" across and adding the vertical lines.
8" across : Add Tape, Repeat.
I offset every other row to give it the brick pattern.
Once your taping is complete, get out your sponge and paint!
Dip your sponge in the paint, but don't let the paint get too thick. You want to be able to see the pores, not get globby areas of paint. And don't worry about being a perfectionist. You may see areas that appear too thick and others that are too thin, but once it dries and you take a step back (especially once the tape is removed), it will be much more natural looking than you think.
Essentially, by covering these lines with painter's tape, your natural fabric color will stay clean. The canvas color was perfect as a mortar color.
Painting Bricks
We did an initial coat of red paint, but found it to be rather flat (and some of the paint got so thick in areas, it didn't look quite 'spongy' enough. So we found a cheap natural sponge at Hobby Lobby that had a lot more natural open pores and did a light second coat, adding some black to the red paint for a darker red and a light third coat adding some white. Add VERY LITTLE white, if you want to do this. Red can go pink VERY fast.
* Painter's Tip: With a canvas this size (literally, ha!), I would highly recommend that you start at the top and work your way to the bottom. Don't paint yourself into a corner, or start with edges and then have to lean over wet paint to reach the middle.
Once all your layers of paint are dried, you can peel off the painter's tape.
Scarves are an excellent beginner's sewing project for kids. Little Tomato wanted to learn how to sew last year, so we had worked on a few exercises (which I will link at the bottom) and this was her first real project.
Gryffindor & Ravenclaw Scarves
Supplies Needed:
Scissors or Rotary Blade
Cutting Mat (if using rotary Blade)
Ruler or Measuring Tape
Pins
Fleece:
1 yd each color, two colors per scarf. This yields (5) scarves.
* Most fleece I have found is 58" wide. This yielded 5 scarves of each house (Gryffindor & Ravenclaw). Little Tomato and her friends are 9-10 years old, so this scarf length was perfect on the girls, at around 5'-6" in length. If you are making scarves for younger kids, you can get away with less yardage to yield shorter scarves.
Instructions:
Fleece is a great fabric for this quick scarf, as you don't have to worry about finishing ends. However, due to the stretchy nature of the fabric, it isn't the easiest to get perfectly straight cuts. You may find that you have extra (or not enough) fabric when you are cutting the fleece into stripes. Please note, the dimensions are forgiving. If you have any stripes that are noticeably wider, you can make these the end pieces that are cut into fringe or trim them down to match.
Step 1:
Cut the fleece lengthwise into 7" strips. This will give you a total of (5) strips of each color.
You will have (4) strips that are 7" x 58", and one strip that is about 8" x 58". You can either cut this strip down to match the 7" size, or plan for this to be the end stripe that becomes your fringe.
Step 1: Cut Along Dotted Lines
Step 2:
* Fleece can have one side with a slightly different nap or texture than the other. If your selected colors have a front & back that don't match, you will want to make sure that you are pinning your fleece together 'right sides facing' on this next step.
Pin two colors together (ex. red & gold) lengthwise.
You can choose your seam allowances for your comfort level, but I would recommend at least a 1/4" seam allowance. Sew together.
Repeat this step, adding all of the strips in a color alternating pattern until all are sewn together.
** If you chose to keep one strip wider (the 8" length), make sure that these are the first and last strips, as these will be the ends that you cut into fringe. See diagram below in Step 3 for illustration.
Once completed, this will give you a single piece of striped fleece, at 58"W x 2 yards (minus seam allowances) with a total of (10) stripes, (5) of each color.
*** MAKE SURE WHEN YOU ARE PINNING TOGETHER THAT YOU PAY ATTENTION AND HAVE ALL OF THE SEAMS ON THE BACKSIDE. I made this mistake and had to seam-rip out a full strip that had the seam on the front side. Not fun.
Step 2: Sewing Strips of Red & Gold together
Step 3:
At the beginning of this step, you have a single piece of fleece that is striped.
Now you are going to cut the fabric widthwise, to yield (5) long striped pieces of fleece. See diagram below.
Step 3: Cut Along Dotted Lines.
On this step, you will have a little excess fabric, as shown above. You will find that, with the fleece salvage ends and the stretchiness of the fabric when you sewed the stripes together, this excess is much less than the illustration shows in reality. 😋
Step 4:
Now you should have (5) pieces of striped fleece that are 11" wide.
Take one of these pieces and set the other (4) aside.
Fold the fleece lengthwise so that the finished (right) side is on the inside, together.
Step 4: Fold Along Middle & Pin Long Side Together with Right Sides Facing.
Pin the long side together, making sure to line up the stripe colors as closely as possible.
* All of your seams should be visible - the right side of the fleece should be folded together.
Sew along this pinned side.
* Once again, seam allowances are to your preference, but I recommend at least 1/4".
You are essentially making a tube, so that when you finish sewing the long side together and turn it right-side-out, all of the messy seams are inside the tube.
Repeat with the other (4) pieces of fleece until you have (5) completed 'tubes.'
Step 5:
Once you have completed all (5) tubes, turn them all inside out, so the finished side is exposed.
If you want fringe, cut about halfway into the end stripes. I did not measure these, but just 'eyeballed' a general 1/4"-1/2" width for the cuts.
Voila, House Scarves!
Gryffindor Scarves
Ravenclaw Scarves
And for some fun sewing practice sheets for kids, check out the sewing machine practice sheets HERE from the blog "So Sew Easy!"
One of the first activities we did together as a family for the Harry Potter themed birthday party was to make wands. Details on wand-making are below!
Wands
Supplies Needed:
Wood Dowels or Chopsticks
Hot Glue Gun
LOTS of Hot Glue Sticks
Primer
Paint
Paint Brushes *I favored sponge brushes for this project.
Optional:
Miscellaneous Beads
Instructions:
Wood Dowels: We used a couple of different sizes of dowels for this project. I would recommend visiting a craft store and looking at the gauges of dowels to determine which size(s) work best for you. OR you can use a variety of thicknesses by purchasing an assorted pack like THIS. The benefit of dowels is that they are typically sold in 12" (or longer) lengths.
Chopsticks: The benefit of chopsticks is that they naturally taper from a thicker end to a thinner end. The downside for chopsticks is that they do not come in a particularly long size, many are only 8"-10" long. HERE is a set of chopsticks that is a bit longer, at 9.75".
Optional Step:
Use a saw to cut a little bit off of several of the wands so they aren't consistently the same 12" in length. Take a light sandpaper and smooth out any splinters or rough edges from the cuts.
Step 1A:
Heat up hot glue gun and begin adding glue to the dowels. You can spiral up the dowels, or drips, or thicken the wood by completely covering it in glue and building it up thicker as it cools by adding additional layers. This is the fun part. We bought a couple of packages of dowels and did several at once. The glue cools relatively fast, so you can lay the wand down to finish cooling as you move on to additional wands.
Wands in the Making: Glue Application.
Step 1B:
Optional beads can be added to the wands to give additional thickness or unique texture. We added some wood beads around the handle side of some of the wands to make the handle thicker. We added seed beads to some of the wands to give it a more rough texture. We added some decorative beads to the ends or handles of the beads to stay exposed as decorative elements. We essentially found old beads from our craft stash and repurposed them for wand-making!
Step 2:
Once the glue has cooled and you have finished adding glue layers, you can begin to prime the wands. We had purchased a single quart of primer @ a home improvement store, and used it for every single project of the party, and there is still primer to spare.
Priming took a couple of steps. We primed one side of the wands and then used mason jars to hold the wands upright as that side dried. Once dried, we primed the other half and repeated this step.
You can see in the photo below that we had filled the mason jars up with old coffee beans to help the wands stand upright so we could fit multiple wands in each jar without them touching and sticking to each other.
Wands in the Making: Glue Applied & Primed Steps.
Step 3:
Painting, layer 1. We purchased a brown craft paint, black craft paint and had a grey craft paint. We used the brown by itself on a few wands, added black for a darker brown on a few wands, and grey on a few wands. This is getting the base color onto the wands.
We repeated the two-step process with mason jars that we did for the primer to paint each half of the wand.
Wands in the Making: Base Paint Layer.
Step 4:
The final step was to add a layer of gold to highlight the details on the wands. I took a sponge brush and got it a little damp to dilute the potency of the gold color (you can do this by running it under the faucet and then squeezing the excess water out). I then lightly brushed the gold paint over the wands. This will only apply gold on the thickest three-dimensional parts of the wands. We also did this with black (instead of gold) on a few of the light brown wands to make these darker and more 'aged'. Little Tomato found a few metallic paint colors she liked and added accent colors on a few wands as well. Have fun adding depth and character to the wands, so the color isn't so flat. 😊
