My 7 Year Old

I know the best part about Tade's 7th birthday was the Harry Potter party and it's already been posted, but I need to briefly acknowledge the actual day Tade joined our family.  May 17, 2004 Tade entered our lives becoming our beautiful baby boy.  7 years later he's so much more than my beautiful boy.  He's no longer our only child he's our eldest child.  He's a big brother and best friend to his brother and sister.  Tade is also the nicest and most considerate boy in the world.  He has so many friends who adore him.  He comes home from school telling me all about how kids in his class are fighting over him and his attention.  While he's distraught about it I am so happy to hear these stories.  It lets me know we did something right.  Tade is liked by everyone around him because of his kind spirit and desire to love everyone around him.  Often when I pick him up from his friend's houses their moms ask if they can just keep him.  They let me know how calm and polite he was and how he always included the younger siblings.  The parents are amazed how inclusive Tade is.  It makes my heart so happy to hear these things about my little, or not so little boy.  Tade we love you and are so proud of you.

 Tade got a new bike for his birthday with a helmet that fits.  It's the exact same color as Dad's.  Now it's time to learn to ride this thing!

Tade also got to celebrate at school with cupcakes.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Party

I absolutely love putting together my boys birthday parties.  Tade is only turning 7, but I don't know how I'm going to top this years party.  I went all out with the planning and crafting.  I was even impressed with myself.  Normally I'm VERY critical and end up disappointed with how things turn out.  Not this time.  Yeah I know it sounds like I'm totally bragging and maybe I am a little, but it was an awesome party!

For Tade's 7th birthday he was first asking for a Beyblade party.  Beyblades are pretty much fancy spinning tops that battle.  I didn't see much that I could do with that in the creative department.  Then I remembered my friend Carrie had sent me a link to her friends blog a year ago.  Her friend had thrown a Harry Potter birthday party and I loved it.  I sat Tade down and showed him the blog post.  Half way through he turned to me and said, "mom I'm totally having a Harry Potter party!"  So the mental planning began.  Then I started looking for things at the stores.  Then a couple weeks ago I started putting everything together.  Like I said before I went all out with this party.  To save money I spent a lot of time making things.  Just to warn you there will probably be a lot of pictures showing off everything.

All that we did was based off of the first Harry Potter movie.  It all began with a letter from Hogwarts.

For the invitations we altered Harry's entrance letter from Hogwarts.  They were of course addressed to the cupboard the stairs which we hand delivered because of the wax stamp on the back with an "H".

Next came platform 9 3/4.  I had to create a brick wall for the kids to walk through.  Take a brown curtain, brick shaped sponge and paint and this is what you get.  I think it turned out pretty darn good.  I just love it when craftiness works.

To go with the wall we needed the proper sign.  Once again I think it turned out pretty good.

Put these two together and this is what you get.  Platform 9 3/4.

As each kid arrived we had them wait outside.  Once everyone was there we entered through platform 9 3/4 into...

...the wizarding world.  First we had to make a stop at diagon alley for robes...

...wands (which my amazing father made) and...

...their Spells, Charms, and Potions book.

Each child picked a wand.  Drilled into the bottom was a hole.  These holes were for the wands core.  In the movies each wand has a unique core.  For the party the kids got to choose one of four cores.  They could choose sequins (dragon scales), star confetti (star dust), gold pipe cleaner (dragon claws), or feathers (phoenix feather).  After the wand was filled we used a glue gun to close it off.

I think one of the best parts was seeing the kids use their spell books.  Since they all love reading because it's so new to them they really got into it.

After Diagon Alley the kids headed to Hogwarts to begin their semester.

These materials turned into...

...THIS!!  The Sorting Hat.  Awesome!

The best part was the baby monitor in the hat that made it speak.  Jake and I had created a list of the kids ahead of time.  Then he went up stairs and talked into the other end.  The looks on the kids faces were priceless.  They just couldn't figure out how the hat was talking.

Once they were sorted into their houses it was time for Herbology class.  There wasn't much magical about this class, but it was fun to get outside and plant a seed which will then grow into a flower.  I guess that's beautiful magic in itself.

Then we were off to Care of Magical Creatures with magic worms which the kids made dance around.

The best class was Potions.  Can I just tell you that dry ice makes everything awesome.

The first potion consisted of explosive clear liquid (water), troll bogies (bubbles), and ice rock (dry ice). 

The second potion was ground werewolf fangs (corn starch) and liquid solid juice (water).

After a hard day of classes came quidditch.  I painted hula hoops gold and my dad set them up in the yard. We had a quaffle, two bludgers, and the golden snitch.  The golden snitch was hidden in the yard and during the game we rotated Seekers to find it. 

Thanks to a wooded backyard I was able to make some great broomsticks.

The looks we got from the cars driving by were great.  Some had big smiles and you knew they could tell what was going on.  Others probably thought we were teaching witchcraft.

After Easter Micheal's had clearance eggs.  I thought they would make wonderful dragon eggs.  So I got a bunch and painted them.  Then I made a nest and hung the pinata over it. 

The final class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.  For this class we pretty much just beat the dragon.  I moved it from over it's nest and the kids went at it.

The final event at Hogwarts was the banquet.  I tried to make it look like the great hall they walked into in the movie with the night sky and floating candles.  I found a Hogwarts banner which worked nicely and I also found a bunch of owls to decorate with.

Magic candles for a magic party.

There were several cakes I was going to make for the party, but then I saw these Harry Potter cupcakes.  Cupcakes are so much easier to serve at a birthday party so I went with these.

Here are some of the extras.  Decorations for potions class...

...presents...

...magic jumping frogs Tade made for the goody bags...

...and my favorite are the chocolate frogs.  I just love the internet.  I found a pattern for the box and then got a mold for the frogs.  This was the result.  I think they turned out perfectly.  Only down side is they didn't even have one good jump in them.

My 7 year old little wizard.  Thanks Tade for letting us throw the Harry Potter party.  It was so much fun to plan and just as fun to watch you enjoy the day.