(you probably can't read it, but the sign says Platform 9 3/4)
(the long banner up top says Great Hall, and the black banner below says Hogwarts)
(homemade Quidditch, made from hula hoops & PVC pipe, spray painted gold)
As the boys arrived, the plan was to play Quidditch while we waited for everyone to arrive, before having pizza. Except that Zachary dragged out the golf clubs and his new putting mat.
Finally, most of the kids had arrived so we brought out the pizza. I had bought 3 pizzas for them, assuming that most of them would eat 2 slices. Except I'm not sure how many kids actually ate, because we had 2 whole pizzas leftover. Weird. I had these really cute food labels - some of them got put out, but not all of them. We also had Potter Pizza, Snape's Cereal, an Fluffy's Fruit.
(Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. These were actually just Jelly Belly's Belly Flop - irregularly shaped & colored jelly beans!)
(Leviosa Lemonade)
(Vanishing Veggies)
(Diagon Alley Apples)
After dinner, the boys made their wands. I found this idea on Pinterest and modified it a bit. I got wooden dowels, and we cut them to 12" lengths (then I sanded the tips so no one would get hurt). Then I got some Sculpey clay - clay that you bake and then it hardens. I had bought a package of bright colors, and the boys shaped different handles onto their wands.
(washing their hands after playing with the clay)
(the finished products - Zachary's is the blue & purple swirl one on the left, and Liam's is the red, green, and white one in the middle)
I was actually surprised at how into it they got with the wands. I wasn't sure if they would want to do it or not. In fact, originally one of the boys said he didn't want to do it, but then he saw what some of the others were making and he changed his mind. Boys aren't usually interested in sitting to do a craft, but they seemed to enjoy this. And I know they enjoyed the finished product because they all grabbed their wands when it was time for the movie. I'm pretty sure I saw a few of them sleeping with their wands too...And BONUS - instant party favor!
Thankfully the weather was PERFECT and we pretty much spent the whole time outside until it got dark. We even did the cake outside!
After they were done with the wands and cake, it was finally Quidditch time. Quidditch didn't last too long though - one of the hoops came out of the ground pretty early on, and before we knew it, all 3 had tipped over.
By that point, it was starting to get dark, and it was past 8:00 - time for the movie. Most of the kids changed into their pj's (one boy had already left, and the other 2 who weren't spending the night obviously didn't change, and one of the boys who did stay didn't change). Then they got out their sleeping bags, and wands, and we set up the movie - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, of course.
(a little bit into the movie, I made Butter Beer, and served them popcorn)
By the time the movie was over, Liam and one of the other boys had fallen asleep. We knew the others wouldn't be going to sleep right away, but we did ask them to keep it down so as not to wake up the ones who were sleeping. Well, eventually, the other boy did wake up, but we told them that they would be in BIG trouble if Liam woke up. Luckily he slept through it all, and Josh laid the hammer down around 12:30 and told them it was time to go to sleep. They were quiet within 15 minutes.
My ONE complaint about the party wasn't the fact that they stayed up late. No, see those 2 boys on the couch? The one on the left conned his mom into giving him her iPhone. He spent almost the entire movie playing Minecraft on her phone, despite many please from other kids to turn it off. Oh, and he also blasted the un-edited version of Thift Store. Nice. The good news is that his mom picked him up after the movie was over. But the bad news is that she brought him (and the iPhone) back in the morning. By morning we put our foot down and said no more electronics, and amazingly, he kept it away for the most part.
The kids slept until about 7am, which was really nice - I thought they'd be up much earlier than that. We started the morning off with some back yard football.
And for the first time, Zachary opened his presents during the party. Usually there's just no time, but we had plenty of time this time around. The strangest gift he got was from the iPhone kid. Zachary opened the card he brought, and there were two $20 bills in the card. I mean really - what kind of person gives a kid (who is just a friend - not even your own kid) cash, let alone $40???
Anyway, the kids were all picked up by 9am, and that was when we realized that we survived. I'm not sure how many more sleepovers we'll have - at least ones with more than just one other kid. For the most part, they were really good. It was mainly just the 2 kids who felt like they had to play on their electronics in order to enjoy themselves. The phone kid even said to me at one point, "Well can't I just go into another room?" I told him that if he's going to go into another room, then we might as well call the mother to come get him. That was something I had not expected to have to deal with.
Liam was supposed to go to his friend Jayden's birthday party later that day. However, he ate a chocolate frog even after I told him to stop, so I told him that he couldn't go to the party. He really did not seem to care, and as it turns out, he fell asleep on the floor around 1:30, and it was really hard to wake him up at 3:30 when we were ready to go to the pool.
All in all, it was a fun time. I enjoyed getting to have some "Harry Potter" foods, and getting to decorate a little more than normal. And Zachary had a great time, which is the most important thing!
No comments:
Post a Comment