Her birthday came a week after we moved, and she was a bit sad about everything, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone: plan the ultimate pick-me-upper party, while simultaneously postponing unpacking! I spent one entire week on this baby - literally from sunup to sundown. And let's have a big shout out to my friend, Shalynn the fantastic. And Pinterest.
So every Harry Potter party must begin with an owl, right? Enter helium balloons and black sharpie!
So, after i rang the doorbell and ran, Irelynd came out on the porch to find a helium balloon owl tied to a parchment envelope addressed to "Ms. I. Brown" that included her Hogwarts letter!
And a ticket to platform 9 3/4 (our house) to ride the Hogwarts Express (our cars)!
I surprised Irelynd with her invitation <screaming!> then she came with me to deliver them to her friends <more screaming!>. She invited 11 of her besties. 12 in all.
The kids arrived at Platform 9 3/4, got onto the Hogwarts Express, and we drove to Hogwarts, (a big, beautiful home in Bountiful owned by my friend Holly the Magnificent). Of course, we watched Harry Potter on the way.
Finally, we arrived!
The first order of business was retrieving a few galleons from Gringotts.
Next, Ollivander's. Remember, the wand chooses the wizard!
Next, THE SORTING!
This cool sorting hat (a birthday gift earlier in the day) has a little pocket inside for a cell phone, which we put on speaker so that we could make the hat talk! Scott, Holly's cool hubby, did a grand job of deliberating and proclaiming to the kids what house they were in. The kids were called up in alphabetical order, then sat according to their houses. GRYFFINDOR:
HUFFLEPUFF:
RAVENCLAW:
and SLYTHERIN.
Flourish and Blotts was in the study/library, so of course we had to rope off the Restricted Section!
We suspended candles from the chandelier with fishing line. And displayed lots of potions, some of which were edible.
These great labels I bought from Oriental Trading.
It's hard to tell here, but the water bottles had awesome labels: Gillywater, Kissing Concoction, Veritaserum, and Elixir of Life. I found these all online.
Vaseline! Ewwww!
Slivered almonds and flour.
Each house team was given one flashlight and set out into the Turner's amazing back yard/wooded area. Amazingly, they found all 7 horcruxes!
for some butterbeer.
As soon as they started pulling the little babies out of the chocolate soil, all the girls started screaming and covered their ears. It was awesome.
(They ended out daring each other to try both, and suffering the consequences for fun.)
The first order of business was retrieving a few galleons from Gringotts.
Next, Ollivander's. Remember, the wand chooses the wizard!
Next, THE SORTING! 
HUFFLEPUFF:
RAVENCLAW:
and SLYTHERIN.
Following the sorting, we visited Flourish and Blotts to buy some school supplies.
Flourish and Blotts was in the study/library, so of course we had to rope off the Restricted Section! 
Now that the kids were all ready for school, we went straight to potions class!
These great labels I bought from Oriental Trading. 
It's hard to tell here, but the water bottles had awesome labels: Gillywater, Kissing Concoction, Veritaserum, and Elixir of Life. I found these all online.
Vaseline! Ewwww!
Slivered almonds and flour.
It's hard to tell here, but the Bezoars are dates!
Rice with green food coloring.
Here I think ketchup would have been better....
A toast!
After dinner, we had a little Horcrux scavenger hunt. In the Forbidden Forest!!!
Each house team was given one flashlight and set out into the Turner's amazing back yard/wooded area. Amazingly, they found all 7 horcruxes!
Tom Riddle's journal, Marvolo's ring, Slytherin's locket, the goblet of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw's diadem, Voldemort's snake, and a lightning bolt symbolizing Harry.
It was a little chilly out, so we brought the kids in to Madame Rosmerta's Three Broomsticks
Yum!
Next class to attend
Is Herbology. 
Anddessert!
Better than Mandrake Cake...
As soon as they started pulling the little babies out of the chocolate soil, all the girls started screaming and covered their ears. It was awesome.
So next we played a little game, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. A bought a few boxes (these are pretty expensive for just a tiny little box.). And then I also got a huge thing of regular Jelly Bellys from Costco. I picked out all of the gross favors from the Bertie Botts, then found matching-ish ones from the Jelly Bellys, and wrapped them up in a little package, titled, "Earthworm or Cinnamon?", "Vomit or Peach?", "Dirt or Chocolate?", "Booger or Pear?", "Soap or Coconut?", "Grass or Lime?", "Pepper or Licorice?"
I handed each kids one package, and they had to pick one to eat.
And last but not least, we finished with a visit to Honeydukes. This was definitely the most time-consuming of the classes.
The most time? I think folding all of those chocolate frog boxes. And the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans boxes. (Templates purchased from etsy). But they were cool enough to be totally worth it. I also made licorice wands, cockroach clusters, chocolate flies, Drooble's Best-Blowing Gum, werewolf hair, unicorn horns, gummy tarantulas, jelly slugs, etc.
Then we played a game with the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. I got two that looked similar, like vomit and peach, dirt and chocolate, booger and pear, soap and coconut, earthworm and raspberry... And gave a pair to each kid, and let them choose which one to eat. They all ended up trying both. It was awesome. We got some really great faces there.
Ended up with a bit of dueling. Irelynd proclaimed it a perfect party. It was magical.
