A Very Harry Invitation

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.

Owl post delivered!