Happy Birthday Old Friend!

If you know anything about me then you know I'm talking about Harry Potter. His birthday was last Thursday and Becky and I threw him a birthday party, of course! I have been celebrating Harry's birthday for years, I know I did it as far back as high school (my whole family is also obsessed), but we could have had parties earlier than that. Many people (who are not Harry Potter people) often question my odd desire to celebrate a fictional person's birthday. 

{By the way it is really not that odd, many people of my generation (the Harry Potter generation) celebrate his birthday or at least acknowledge it.}

I often just tell those people that I love the books, grew up with them, etc. (plus, it is super fun)---but it is more than that. I got the first book when I was in 4th grade. I then read the next two quickly, then waited a year or so for the fourth book and also waited for subsequent others. I went to the midnight parties at the bookstore and my family usually bought two sets of the book and all six of us had to share (except for the last book--I had just graduated from high school and had my own money and so bought my own book). I grew up with Harry, sometimes he was older, but we eventually caught up and were the same age as the series closed. We both had finished childhood and were now on the brink of adulthood (though clearly Harry had had a lot more life experience). We had done it together. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were and are my friends. The fact that the books and characters matured with me (as in the characters aged, but also the depth of the plot increased as well), made it so these books heledp shape my character as I grew up. They are part of me in an unexplainable way (I have tried to explain it).

And so, as I have said on a yearly basis, thank you Harry. Thank you J.K. Rowling (who has the same birthday). 

Oh, you wanted pictures of the party? Here they are!

I made a snitch cake! Mrs. Weasley made one for Harry on his 17th birthday and I have been wanting to try to make one forever. It is quite huge! I quadrupled my chocolate cake recipe and baked the cake in two large pyrex bowls. I then cut each half circle in half, and put frosting in between each layer and put it all together (so four layers total). I then covered the cake with marshmallow fondant (which I made) and sprayed it gold. I made the feathers out of card stock and glued feathers on them and supported them with skewers.

Tyler was Harry (of course, as he looks just like him!), Elanor is a Swedish Short Snout dragon (4th book) and I am Fleur Delacour (I made the cape, but found the hat and dress on Etsy). 

I made Elanor's dragon costume. The Swedish Short Snout is a silvery blue dragon and I head fun putting this costume together and picking out fabrics.

Travis (Salazar Syltherin), Becky (Helga Hufflepuff), Lauren (Rowena Ravenclaw),  and Tom (Godric Gryffindor)--they are the four founders of Hogwarts. 

We had meat pies again this year, but also delicious frozen butter beer, Every Flavor Beans, mini apple pies and of course the Snitch cake.

Elanor and Micah

More of my cake.

A cute little dragon.

Becky and I did a trivia game again. We love coming up with questions! Ravenclaw won again this year...

 I think these pictures Travis got of us are pretty hilarious.

It was a fun party and thank you to everyone who came!

Until next year!

Little Owl

I love this little owl costume.  Sewing does not come easily for me and I got some much needed help from my sewing champ of a friend, Becky. I did sew everything completely by myself and I even enjoyed it! The trick is to either sew with a friend or listen to an audio book (I have been listening to HP 7, since it is Harry's birthday and all). I made this for our Harry Party this past weekend, since wizards/witches use owls to carry their mail and they are pets. It was Becky's idea and it turned out so cute!

 This owl costume was pretty easy to make--and this is coming from someone who has to have anything sewing related explained to them like they are a toddler. Yeah... I am talking about myself.

 The wings were surprisingly fun to make. I just cut out a wing shape the length of Elanor's arm (using Becky's already cut out wings as a pattern) and also cut out tons of feathers. I cut them into two sections for each row, but I have seen it where they cut it out all in one piece. Then, starting from the bottom, I sewed on each row. I used white felt, grey flannel, and the cotton blue feather fabric to make my feathers. The felt helps to give the wings some sturdiness.

 The dress was really easy. Elanor already has a dress that is exactly like this one and very simple. I just made a pattern from the dress and then cut it out of the blue feather fabric. I simply hemmed everything and sewed it all together. I also cut a slit in the back so we could get it over Elanor's head. I hemmed the slit and added a button hole and a button at the top. I don't really know how to sew button holes, but I just used the zig zag stitch and made it quite small and went around the hole. I am sure it will be good enough for a costume. I also cut out some feathers and sewed three rows of each color on the front of the dress to make the dress more owl-like. If I can make this dress, then anyone can.

 I decided to attach the wings to the dress. All of the tutorials I looked at were just for wings and they were attached around the shoulders or neck with ribbon. I did not want Elanor to have the option to take the wings off and I wanted the costume to be comfortable. I attached the wings at each shoulder and then sewed down the wing (just on the blue fabric) a little ways to make sure it  would stay and to make the wings more flappable. 

 For the wrists, I used two hair ties. I sewed them on the wings (being careful to sew underneath the feathers, not on top) using the large zig zag on my sewing machine. It worked perfectly and was super easy and comfortable for Elanor.

 The mask was easy and fun to make--so I want to make some more! Becky had already cut out owl masks for her boys, so I used hers to cut Elanor's out. We cut out two felt owl masks and sewed them together so that they would be more sturdy. Then, using a cup I cut out the large circles and hot glued them onto the mask. For the beak, I cut out a yellow triangle and glued it on. Tyler had the idea to add in the black spots since many owls have those sort of markings, especially snowy owls. I loved the way it turned out!

Tomorrow is Harry Potter's (and J.K. Rowling's) birthday, so tomorrow I will post about the very fun Harry Potter party we had this past weekend. Today is Neville's birthday, by the way! Happy Birthday Neville!

Is anyone else as into Harry Potter as I am and are having parties in his honor? Let me know, because I always love finding Potter friends!