Harry Potter Party: Brooms

Broomsticks today!

Of all the takeaways at Emily's Harry Potter party, these broomsticks were by far the most challenging to conceptualize. For one, there were no convenient versions on the internet that satisfied the list of mental conditions Emily had for what her broomsticks needed to look like. For another, we were mass-producing a thing which even the simplest of those internet versions claimed to require a lot of time and effort. Finally, for the longest time, Emily and I were also not on the same page regarding the finished look: I visualized a practical Walmart kitchen broom with its bristles splayed out, and Emily envisioned . . . well, the Firebolt. 

Unbelievably, we did actually design a mass-produceable version that looked quite like what Emily had pictured. We are happy to share that with you today!

If I were making just one (instead of 12), I'd have done it a little differently. For the broom handle, for instance, I'd have waited instead till I found an actual tree branch that was charmingly bent, and perhaps used actual bristles or thin twigs. 

This mass-produceable version, though, uses straight dowels and papier mache - not necessarily cheaper, but we had a lot more control over obtaining  and working with our materials.

First, start with dowels. We bought 7/8"-diameter dowels from the craft store. These came as 36" (1 yard) lengths, which was not quite long enough for a broom+bristles, but we found a way to extend the length in a later step.

These we spray-painted brown.

Next, we wrapped a piece of cardboard around one end as shown. This was for two reasons:

1. 36" was not long enough to make a proportionate-looking broom+bristles, This roll of cardboard added a few much-needed inches.
2. Rather than gluing the crumpled paper (see later step) directly to the dowel, we glued that to this cardboard layer. This way, if someday we wanted to re-use our dowels, we'd just cut off the cardboard layer and poach back that dowel.

Back on task now - wrap cardboard around one end of the dowel, so that the dowel only protrudes into it partway. We used cereal box cardboard, backs of writing pads and notebooks, etc. The exact size of the cardboard doesn't matter, but ours was roughly 4.5" x 11" (or the back of an 8.5" x 11" notebook cut down the middle to make two narrow rectangles). Our dowel end was roughly 6" into the cardboard.

Apply glue as needed

to wrap and secure the cardboard around the end of the dowel

like so.

Now rip up one grocery sack.

Crush pieces into lumps.

Hot-glue them around the cardboard tube, filling the middle portion more fully than the ends - this is meant to be blimp-shaped.

These crushed lumps create a form on which to apply the papier mache. Emily's original idea was to use a drinking water bottle shoved onto the end of the dowel for a form. We tried that, and found it too skinny and short. 

Here's a whole bunch of lumpy-ended broomsticks.

Next, tape over all hollows with masking tape. This helps smooth out the surface on which to lay the papier mache pieces. You can also use the tape to fine-tune the shape of the form.

Mix up a batch of papier mache paste, using flour+water or glue+water. We prefer the latter, because it dries faster and does not smell weird.

Cut butcher paper (or brown paper or newspaper) into squares, dip in the paste and layer over the form.

No need to make it uniform or symmetrical - there is a certain charm in those weird contours.

Tear (or cut) another grocery sack into long strips slightly longer than the form. Ours were about 13" long.

Dip the strips in paste and lay them lengthwise on the form, overlapping to cover the flat squares underneath.

Two things to note here:

1. at the bottom end of the form (where the form joins the dowel) extend the strips beyond the form to rest on the dowel. You will be tying cord around this later.
2. at the top end of the form, you will be shaping the ends of the brown strips to a point. See the next photo for this.

The finished papier-mache layers should look something like this:

When the papier mache is dry (ours took two days), paint everything. I actually liked the natural color of the brown paper, but the white paper layer was visible through the strips, so we had to paint everything (also to cover the red print on some of the strips). If you'd like to keep yours natural, be sure to use brown paper in the first layer, too.

The tips will have dried hard.

as will the ends at the bottom of the form.

Apply hot glue and wrap twine or cord around the lower end of the form to finish the look.

Finished broomstick!

On the day of the party, we provided metallic Sharpies for guests to inscribe the name their brooms on the dowels: Nimbus 2000, Firebolt, etc.

Harry Potter Party

("Finally!" I hear you say.)

Yes, this post has been a long time coming, but when you see the scope of this party, it might become clear why it's taken me 5 months to finally share it with you: the Harry Potter universe is simply immense. J.K. Rowling is a master world-builder and her details - spells, charms, games, costumes, wands, pets, potions, characters, food, shops - are endless. By its very definition, a HP party is a role-playing game; one cannot throw this party with, say, merely themed tableware and a token box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say; if you were hoping to do a watered-down HP shindig, throw in the towel now and back away in trepidation, because there is no such thing.

My oldest child, fortunately, does not know trepidation.

In the spring of 2016, she planned this party all by herself. We had an uneasy alliance in the beginning: she declared "I can do this" and I said, "You and what army?"

Undeterred by Mother's chronic wetblanketness, she argued her case: she had all summer, and she'd be more than happy to spend those months working on this than be bored otherwise. She promised to do all the work and all I needed to do was blog about it and maybe sew some bits that were beyond her. Sounded like a fair deal, so I said (a very hesitant) yes. 

And work she did. Let me tell you, she worked this entire party down to the last detail, made almost all the props and decorations, somehow found a way to recreate Diagon Alley in our acutely non-spacious basement, including - with the help of simple electronics - Ollivander's interactive wand shop, recruited volunteer party helpers, then plotted and coordinated the traffic flow and sequence of activities on the day itself.

I wanted to give you this context not only to credit Emily for an incredible accomplishment but also to reassure you that while the effort involved was indeed phenomenal, it was conceptualized, researched and almost-entirely executed by an 11-year-old. A very dedicated, disciplined and talented 11-year-old, granted, but still: a 5th-grader, people. So yes, of course you can do this, too.

Two things before we begin the tour:

1. Wherever I helped, or actually made something, I'll mention it (or you'll see me in the photos). Otherwise, all the work was Emily's.
2. There will follow individual posts deconstructing each of the elements of the party, and that's where I'll link to sources for stuff we bought, tutorials for how we made things, and so on. If you see something you like and there isn't a lot of information about it, be assured that you'll probably find more in those later posts, okay? There's so much to share in this overview post that I want to streamline it as much as I can.

Ready for the ride?

Let's start at the beginning - here be the invitations: a personalized scroll explaining that, like in the books, the guest was to be enrolled in a school for magic and was required to report at such-and-such a time and date and place.

Here, in time-table form, was our party schedule - Emily wanted it run like a school day. Actual classes are in red.

When the guests arrived on the day of the party, they were given several things:

one, a school supply list:

two, a key to their own bank vault,

and three, a ticket for the Hogwarts Express.

The guests were then taken downstairs and through a brick wall to Diagon Alley.

Very simple setup: the many businesses of this magical shopping village were constructed of pre-existing furniture, convenient corners, and whatever props we already had in the house. Some were manned by volunteers while others were self-service establishments. 

Here are a couple of shots: Gringotts Bank against the left wall, The Wizard Wheezes Joke Shop (Jenna and Kate are impersonating the Weasley twins), Madam Malkin's Robes in the forefront, and Flourish & Blotts on the right;

Ollivander's,

Quality Quidditch Supplies and, to its left, the Magical Menagerie, which was Jenna's Little Blue House filled with the animals of Menagerie. Yes, literally.

These are the shop signs Emily printed out and/or adapted from existing licensed images - see if you can spot them around the room:

 

Let's go shopping!

First stop: Gringotts Bank, where guests presented their vault keys for a pouch of Galleons.

Armed with their allowance, they then wandered around Diagon Alley collecting all the school supplies on their shopping list. They paid shopkeepers (or a money box at self-service stations) the necessary number of Galleons for 

a Pygmy Puff kit (@The Wizard Wheezes Joke Shop);

a broomstick (@Quality Quidditch Supplies) - Emily designed these and the girls and I made them.

a hat (@Madam Maulkins' Robes for All Occasions) - I sewed these.

Backstory: the original plan was to mass-produce robes like this one,

but after Emily did the Math, she realized they required for more fabric than we wanted to splurge on. So we went with hats instead for the party, but a couple of months later, I made a Gryffindor robe for Emily, adapted from our robe dresses here. Thought I'd include that in this post for completeness' sake, even though we didn't actually have them at the party.

Continuing the shopping-for-supplies now: a cauldron (@Potage's Cauldron Shop);

a quill and inkpot (@Flourish & Blotts);

The Monster Book of Monsters (@Flourish & Blotts);

The Standard Book of Spells Vol. 1 and 2 (Flourish & Blotts);

a pet rat (@Magical Menagerie);

and a wand (@Ollivander's). The photo below shows a trial series of wands which Emily made and sold at the Kids' Craft Fair earlier in the summer. She really enjoyed tweaking her designs and experimenting with new techniques to create different handle and shaft textures, and pommels.

Here are some of the wands she eventually made for the actual party (click on the collage to enlarge). I think they are absolutely gorgeous.

She made the labels and we worked on the wand boxes together.

Do you recognize the shelving unit for Ollivander's Wand Shop? It's from our cardboard greengrocer stand! 

Mr. Ollivander (played by the girls' cousin Alex) gave his 'the wand chooses the wizard' presentation when guests came to buy their wands.

Emily, who has never been to Harry Potter World (yet), watched their wand-selection process on a youtube video, and recreated it for her party using her Makey-Makey electronics set.

Here's a video she and Jenna then made for Alex to explain what his presentation would be like. You might want to turn up the volume to hear all the sound effects. She also made another "training" video to help him learn to work the Makey-Makey set-up to produce all the sound effects. We'll share that video in a later post about how we made the wands and wand boxes.

Having finished stocking up on school supplies, the guests then headed out to Platform 9 3/4 

to board the Hogwarts Express,

which was a double row of chairs set out on our driveway. This turned out to be a nice waiting area for guests to sit and visit as we waited for everyone to be done shopping.

Look at all those eager-eyed Hogwarts freshmen, placidly waiting for the train to depart!

Unbeknownst to them, however, this was actually a demented game of musical chairs. One by one, the guests were ejected from the train to the sound of Hedwig's Theme being turned on and off, until only one guest was left. Great fun. If you ever host a Harry Potter-themed party, you have to play this game, okay? It was a total hit.

From the Hogwarts Express (now sans most of its chairs), the guests proceeded to lunch, which was served on our deck. When Emily was planning this party, she found no end of ideas on the internet for themed food. Everyone, it seemed, knew how to do food (activities, however - not so much) so this was the easy part. We put out bowls of jelly beans for Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, threw the Sorting Hat in the middle for a centerpiece,

set out lemonade (we tried DIY Butterbeer but found it oversweet and thus unacceptable) and catered in pizza (because everyone knows Harry Potter and his very British friends ate nothing but pizza).

After lunch came the Sorting. We made our own Sorting Hat, concealed a walkie talkie inside it, 

and had Grandpa, hidden downstairs with a second walkie-talkie and a guest list, provide its disembodied voice. The sorting wasn't random: Emily had pre-grouped her guest list into the four houses as fairly as she could as they'd be remaining in their respective houses for the games later.

Then began classes in earnest. 

The first class was Care of Magical Creatures, in which the guests each made a Pygmy Puff from a kit.

Charms (and Spells) was next. This was a game-show-style quiz. We set up this grid of numbered squares (which I drew).

The guests called out a number, under which was a prompt which they had to answer with the help of their Spells textbooks.  

There were two kinds of prompts. If the prompt was the name of a spell, they had to explain what the spell did. 

If the prompt was an action, they had to provide the name of the spell responsible.

Each correct answer earned a point for their house: a simple tally mark on the respective hourglass on this House Points poster. You can see the tally marks on this poster in the next photo.

Next was Transfiguration, in which Emily taught the guests how to turn a sheet of striped paper by magic (aka origami)

into a necktie.

Everyone picked whichever house colors they liked (or made up their own)

and colored in the stripes. You can see the striped pattern on the sheets of paper in the photo below.

Defence Against The Dark Arts, the next class, was split into two parts, with a break for tea in between. In the first half, guests drew their choice of Patronus animal on paper, colored it bluey-green and cut it out. Emily's Patronus was a hedgehog.

Then everyone took a short recess for treats.

In lieu of a birthday cake, we ate Chocolate Frogs 

and Cauldron Cakes, both of which Emily made herself, with everyone helping, regardless of whether or not she wanted them to. It's hard not to help when there's chocolate involved was our excuse.

We sang to the birthday girl, read cards 

and opened gifts.

We resumed Defence Against The Dark Arts after tea. The plan was for everyone to stick their Patronus animals on the garage door, trail blue party streamers from the tips of their wands and mime calling forth their Patronuses for a group photoshoot. This, unfortunately, did not happen as planned, because everyone drew very elaborate animals and were in danger of coloring themselves into a stupor. For the sake of time, we decided to skip ahead to Quidditch. 

Everyone knows Quidditch, right?

Here are the balls: a red Quaffle (store-bought), two black bludgers (sewn) and a Golden Snitch (made).

And here is the Quidditch pitch - modified for non-flying earthbound players. 

The rules were simple: 

• There are two teams (we combined two houses into each team).
• Each team gets (and defends) one goal post.
• The Golden Snitch gets hidden somewhere in the yard.
• Anyone can throw any of the remaining three balls.
• Each shot of the Quaffle through any of the hoops is a point for the other team.
• Each time you get hit by a Bludger, you freeze in place until someone (ostensibly your team-mate) hits you again with another Bludger.
• Do not throw the Quaffle at people.
• Do not throw the Bludger(s) through the hoops.
• Casting Unforgivable Curses in frustration at people is cheating and bad manners, not to mention illegal.
• The person who finds the Golden Snitch first gets 150 points for their team.
• But who cares about points when you really just want to shoot hoops and throw balls at everyone until your parents arrive to drag you away and into their cars to go home.

Good fun was had by all.

Here is a shot of what each guest took home (Diagon Alley refunded all the Galleons and let the guests keep them) Update: Emily just reminded me that Diagon Alley did not offer refunds of Galleons. Apparently, all the Galleons are still somewhere in our house.

And I have to show you one more photo:

Caught up in all the excitement of the party prep, Kate made these mini-cauldrons from polymer clay as prizes for the games. Those round things on the tops are bubbles, but some had fallen off by the time I got around to taking this shot post-party. Aw. I am all mush inside whenever one of my kids wants to do something sweet for another of my kids. Because it's so much more pleasant than fighting with each other, I mean.

Back to Emily now:

Epic doesn't even begin to describe this party. Yes, I am awed by and proud of her for a job very well done, but far prouder of how hard she worked, and how disciplined and organized she was in seeing it from start to finish. You go, girl!

Two more things to say:

1. Emily and I will be sharing the how-to posts over the next weeks. Expect loads of posts. 
2. You're probably going to ask if we will also be sharing templates and downloadable stuff so you can more easily recreate favorite bits for your own parties and such. That was the initial plan: she'd saved all her images, files and templates with the hope of compiling them into a pdf file of printables for you to buy and download: a very enterprising move, I thought. Unfortunately, this is Harry Potter; there are copyright and licensing issues regarding the use of any of its, well. . . anything, and not only for commercial purposes. After more research, we've decided to share only instructional tutorials on the blog, with links to the original sites from which Emily sourced her material. We  have a pdf file you can buy that contains original templates and printables not specific to the Harry Potter franchise. Read more about it and purchase it here.

Check back soon for the how-to posts!