I hosted a baby shower last week for a soon to be first-time mom who is a huge Harry Potter fan. Since I seem to have a Harry Potter birthday party for at least one of my children every year (and have for the last few years) this meant I already had several items that I could use for the party, and that some of the items I purchased could be used for future parties.
I had several people ask what they could do to help, so I assigned out paper plates, bowls, cups, napkins, soda, salad, and the Happy Christmas banner. This saved me money as well as time.
We hung the Harry Potter house banner that I had made several years ago. Underneath it we hung a Happy Christmas banner that one of the guests made (using this tutorial and glittered poster board. I didn’t even know glittered poster board existed before I asked this guest if she was willing to make the banner, and she told me that she already had glittered poster board to make it!)
On the couch I put the Harry Potter pillow that I embroidered several years ago.
In the entry way over the table, we hung flying keys with fishing wire. I purchased the keys and we downloaded the wings, which I printed on vellum. My 11-year-old son,Ezrom, cut out the wings, taped them to the keys, and hung them.
Over the dining table, we hung snowflakes, a nod to the enchanted snowflakes that fall over the Christmas table at Hogwarts. Winter made the snowflakes and ironed them on low before hanging them with fishing wire. She also cut the curling ribbon and hung it.
Besides decorations, a large part of a Harry Potter party is the themed food.
Since we were having the party on a weeknight and many women would be coming from work, I served dinner. Knowing how inexpensive soup, salad, and homemade bread are to serve, I made pumpkin soup and rosemary olive oil bread. When someone asked how she could help, I assigned her to bring the salad, since I don’t have much lettuce growing in the garden right now (despite planting several times). The pumpkin soup was a mixture of butternut squash from our garden, acorn squash I bought on sale (which decorated our table all fall), and mini pumpkins I had also bought as fall decorations.
I made most all of the desserts in miniature, which made it possible for people to try several things without feeling like they had too much dessert. I used my miniature chocolate frog mold and a tiny snowflake mold to make these chocolates.
I used a half- sphere mold to make these snitches. My 11-year-old put them together, piped the design over them, and added the wings.
I made miniature treacle tarts (Harry’s favorite), snowball cookies (about double the size of normal, which was only because I had not made them before, but in the future I will make them smaller), and chocolate wafer cookies.
I made some envelope cookies with red fondant Hogwarts seals (affixed with white chocolate). These were a bit larger and though delicious, I think they were too large for a baby shower where all the women want just a little dessert. At a children’s party I think they will be eaten without a problem.
The biggest hit among the Harry Potter fans in attendance were these miniature mandrake cupcakes. I made the cupcakes in miniature and bought the smallest terra cotta pots I could find. The mandrake label is a free printable (see sources below). The cupcakes were topped with melted chocolate and chocolate cookie crumbs. We then put in the baby and added a bit of melted chocolate to his head, which we used to affix oregano leaves from the garden.
The second largest hit were the cheese and pretzel broomsticks. We made them last minute so that they cheese would be fresh. I didn’t get a photo of them, but I’ve included a link to the instructions below. I think everyone enjoyed having a savory choice in addition to the soup and salad.
All of those who had soup loved it. It was just the right thing on a winter evening.
The white pumpkin is one I bought at Lowe’s that has graced my table all fall since I purchased it at Lowe’s in early fall. The floral arrangements were apple branches, Thai basil, dusty miller, and euonymus from the garden.
Being Christmastime, we had up our Christmas decorations as well. We set up a trunk that I had (a garage sale purchase years ago) under the tree, and the gifts went into that as well as around the tree.
For drinks, I served water with a lemon from the garden. Another guest brought butterbeer, which she made by mixing up a few different recipes that she had found on Pinterest. It was delicious!
There were about 30 people in attendance.
The best part, after everyone else had left, was when the recipient told me that it was just the kind of shower she wanted: we had food, sat and talked, and opened gifts.
Resources:
vellum (opaque paper for printing wings)
Happy Christmas banner template
plastic babies: Hobby Lobby
mini cupcake wrappers: Joann’s on 50% off sale
mini pots: Hobby Lobby. They come in a package of six for $1.99. I bought them on a 50% off sale.
red fondant: Hobby Lobby. I used a 40% off coupon to buy the small package.
Free printable customizable invitation
Wilton melting chips: bought 3 for $5 on sale at Michael’s
Pretzels: I bought just a small amount (enough for the party) in the bulk bins at Winco. It was much less than buying a whole bag of pretzels (as well as cheaper per pound)
String cheese: Sam’s Club in bulk (around $2.56 a pound)
chives, oregano, and centerpiece greenery: From the garden
Recipes:
Chocolate cookies (also used for crumbs on top of cupcakes)
Cheese and pretzel broomsticks
Looking for more Harry Potter party ideas? Check out my Harry Potter party board on Pinterest.
This is fantastic!
You and your children did a beautiful job.
We love Harry Potter here too and I see this in our future.
Thanks!
So cute! I’m doing HP for one of my kids’ birthday this January.
Brandy, is the happy Christmas tutorial supposed to have a link? I don’t see a hyperlink near its mention or a link in the lower list.
I fixed it; thanks Alissa!
What a wonderful job you and your children did on this baby shower, Brandy! Everything was so well thought out and done on a shoestring budget…but it certainly didn’t look it. Love the decorations and the food choices you made. I’m glad the recipient loved her party, too.
OK, so I have a little story to tell you that I’ve been waiting for the right time…and this post is perfect. So you may recall that I mentioned last September that I was in a play at the museum I work at. Well this year there was an older lady who joined our cast, who’s name was Harmione. The girl that I shared my “scene” with is also a huge Harry Potter fan, so she commented to her on her unique name and it’s obvious connection to the Harry Potter books. Harmione then proceeded to tell us that she was originally from Australia, but in her younger adult life lived in London, England where she was involved with theater stage productions. One day she was approached and asked if she would head a writing workshop. Although she had no experience with this, she agreed to do it. Harmione remembered very distinctly a J.K. Rowlings was one of the students in the class. As you may know, J.K. Rowlings has stated in interviews that she took a writing workshop in her youth that inspired her to start writing. We were totally blown away…we just met the person who not only inspired J.K. Rowling to write, her name was the inspiration to one of the Harry Potter characters! We asked her if she had ever tried to contact J.K. Rowlings to verify if she was in fact the person who inspired her. Harmione then said “Absolutely not! A few years ago, a man came forward and made the claim that he was the inspiration to the character Ron. J.K. Rowlings sued him. I’m not interested in getting sued, so I’ll just keep my silence, thank you very much!”. So although it is unverified, I believe the real Harmione is now living in Ontario, Canada and now works as a non-denominational minister! I thought you might enjoy hearing that story, Brandy. 😀
I LOVE all of the ideas for the baby shower. You have a very creative mind.
Thank you! This will be useful for a birthday banner & possibly a paper cake topper.
So much attention to details. The decor above the table is my favorite.
Oh my goodness! Absolutely adorable. The soon-to-be mom must have been thrilled!
This is SO thoughtful! I bet that your guest of honor loved all the work you did for the shower. It’s very cool to see some ladies thinking outside-the-box for baby shower themes. I think what’s coolest about this is that despite the theme being a children’s book, it still seems very modern and grown-up somehow. Fantastic!
AMAZING! Your attention to detail and creativity are just spectacular.
Absolutely beautiful and amazing! You (and your kids that helped) did a wonderful job. Just amazing to see how well everything tied together. I am in awe of your talent and resourcefulness, thank you for sharing this. Congratulations!
This sounds like an amazingly wonderful baby shower. I think it’s so great that your children helped!
I agree that it sounds like the perfect shower!
What a great story!
It’s such a fun and unique theme! I love all the details.
So inspiring! Truly beautiful! And so incredibly detailed!
I wanted to add that I found the same sphere mold on the ‘lightinthebox’ website, for about half of that amount, inc. shipping. It will take a month to 6 weeks to arrive as it arrives on a slow boat from China. The prices may chance, so watch the price of the item, and it will drop at some point. I found the same mold on a store in Toronto, the Fat Daddios one, for 24.99 before taxes, and it was identical to my $5 one. Plus, they take PayPal, so I actually paid for my mold using the money I earned doing a pinecone research survey (which can pay you with a cash option). Just another option for those trying to watch their pennies!
Brandy, honestly, I am always amazed and impressed by how you manage to make such beautiful items and experiences out of so little. Seriously inspiring.
I know that is a baby shower that the new mother will remember always. What a wonderful idea for a baby shower. It is something I would never have thought of. I have not read the Harry Potter books. I think I might just read them, everyone else seems to have enjoyed them very much.
You have wonderful ideas. Thanks for sharing the ideas and the links.
What a wonderful shower. You outdid yourself Brandy!
I did a baby shower last April we had 30 guest as well. I had zero help except a bit with the hanging of the decor it cost us a lot I did two very beautiful tables bought a very expensive gift cost me /$300 and worst of all no one not one person invited not the girl I had it for said ” Thank you” I chalked it up to this is how this generation is. And moved on. It took me months to plan months to work at all the additional cost. Best part of the whole thing when it was over! and eating the leftover food!
I love this! All such great ideas, and so well done. The envelopes are fantastic, and the snitches are so clever. It’s a wonderful job, and proof that it doesn’t take a fortune to entertain.
Very nice, and what a cute idea for the mandrake baby cupcakes!
Wow! What a lot of thought and work you did. (With help..) You would do well as a party planner!
That is a terrible shame that people cannot take a minute to be grateful for such a wonderful gift of your time, talent and money. I will say it—-Thank You!
I’m so sorry you had to experience that Janet, but please don’t think it is just because “this is how this generation is”. It really is about the individual. I’m getting to the age where friends are getting married and older friends are having babies. While some people didn’t lift a finger to help and left without a word (and this applied to people from all generations), plenty of others like myself go out of their way to help set up, help take down, and make sure the host knows how much I enjoyed the party. Your shower sounds lovely and if it means anything, I appreciate your efforts just hearing about it.
Brandy, thank you so much for the post. The shower looks absolutely lovely and I love your attention to the tiniest details to really make the theme come alive, especially the flying keys. I am getting to the age where I might have to start planning these baby showers for friends soon. About the food: since it was a women’s only party, was soup and bread and salad enough for dinner? I imagine the plethora of desserts also helped quite a bit!
Most of the women’s activities I attend at church activities have simple dinners. The last one had salad, rolls, and a baked potato bar (and cake for dessert). One woman (who also attended the shower) mentioned to me that she didn’t think she could finish the whole baked potato (they were the very large ones).
When I did a 50th birthday party for my husband, I had soup, salad, and bread, and everyone was very happy with it. I had enough for everyone to get seconds, and some people did. I had men and women there and no one had any complaints about it being soup, salad, and bread. Everyone was filled and fine.
Calorie-wise it was definitely enough to be plenty–in fact, depending on how many desserts a guest took, it could be too many calories! I made a double batch of soup and there was a little bit left, we went through 2 loaves of my bread, and most of the salad. Many people only took salad, bread, and dessert; not everyone had soup.
I had only asked the woman to bring lettuce for a salad (I was planning to provide toppings) but she went above and beyond and brought an amazing salad that had lots of things in it, including avocados. It was delicious. She still took some home; enough for her and her husband to eat for several days.
AWWW Brandi
so exquisite and wonderful….you have a wonderful natural talents for color and handcrafting…you could really expand your resume to party planner, as i would hire you…
always an admirer n devoted blog reader
sheeba m.
Thank you so much for your response, Brandy. You’ve really opened my eyes to what is enough for a filling meal – I’m so used to going to events where there is an excess of food (I once went to a baby’s birthday party where they threw away a whole customize cake!) that I never even considered soup to be a main course. I will definitely take this lesson and scale down the amount of food that I provide at dinner parties to make life easier on me. Thank you for your reassurance that soup, salad, and bread are plenty as it is and satisfying. 🙂
It looks absolutely gorgeous! You put so much thought in all the details. I especially love the snowflakes and the enchanted keys that your children made and the dessert looks delicious.
Brandy this is beautiful! I am borrowing a few ideas for our scout Harry Potter night over Christmas break. 🙂
Janet, I am sorry for your unappreciative party go-ers. But I am glad you were able to enjoy the leftovers! Unfortunately, there are me-me folks among all generations.
Thank you so much for this post! So incredibly helpful and a real treat for the eyes.
It sounds like Brandy’s choices were perfect for her guests, but what you serve really depends on the guest list. A significant number of my acquaintances are gluten free, low carb, avoiding processed sugar or dealing with food allergies. If I know for certain someone with celiac will be in attendance, I do not serve bread, as breadcrumbs can easily contaminate an entire buffet. I always serve crudités and usually a platter of cheese and grapes in addition to the main course. Dessert includes fresh fruit and only one or two other options, as I know most people in my circle are going to refuse dessert. What I serve now is very different from what I served 15 years ago, and in much smaller quantities than what I served when most of my female acquaintances were nursing mothers.
Love the keys and the gold banner! It looks like it was a fabulous event!
Andrea,
I love your suggestions for parties! It’s great that you knew about your guests needs. I wasn’t privy to any of that information about the invited guests.
I only had one guest who was a nursing mother. Most were older than I am; a just a few were close to my age. I did cookies as it was a Christmas theme, but at another time of year, I would love to serve fruit. I don’t buy a lot of fruit (as I grow most of ours) so I would only have grapes when they were in season. This time of year, the only fruit ripe in the garden is lemons 😀 But come summer I have lots of fruit (especially in May and June). The last time I hosted a party (not a children’s birthday party with just grandparents) we were in early April, and it was too soon for fruit, but lettuce was plentiful in the garden,which was perfect!
It looks like so much fun! (I wish it were easier to comment-I’m lazy, lol-, I would comment much more often, but I know you like to review your comments first.) I hope you and your family and readers all had a wonderful Christmas and will have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!~TJ