A magical 6th birthday

Lately Ellie has been enamored with Harry Potter.  She has seen all the movies and is reading through the books with Jason at bedtime.  She decided quite a while ago that she wanted to have a Harry Potter birthday party.  So, about two weeks before Ellie's birthday, we made up these invitations to deliver to her friends:

Tatum School of Mischief and Wizardry

Student of Honor: Ellie Tatum

Dear friend,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to the Tatum School of Mischief and Wizardry - 406 Eagle Heights. Please come prepared to have fun and celebrate Ellie’s 6th Birthday. The house-elves have been working hard to prepare a delicious feast – followed with butterbeer from The Three Broomsticks and sugary confections from Honeydukes Sweetshop.

This party is on Monday May 2nd beginning at 4:00pm. We await your RSVP via owl (or email or muggle telephone call) no later than April 30.

Proper attire for outdoor mischief is required. Wizard robes and hats are strictly optional.

Yours sincerely,

Jason and Kirsten Tatum

Headmaster and Headmistress

And then the planning and work began.  The day of Ellie's party, I was scrambling around to get all the food done, which led to this:

A clingy baby exhausted to the point of sleeping in her high chair

It all was finished in time for the party.  I didn't really plan out how much food to make for how many people would be there (partly because I wasn't really sure how many people would be coming), but luckily I made tons of food because lots of people were able to come - we counted 49 people total and barely enough food.  But it was sooo fun!

Party food, complete with a witch's pot of Butterbeer

After we had some food, we started the activities.  Each "student" was given a report card with subjects that he/she must complete before graduating from our Wizardry school.  There were three subjects:  Potions, Herbology, and Transfiguration.  We had three stations set up for the students to perform each task and then receive a stamp on his/her report card upon completion of the task.

Completed report card

For the potions class, students could concoct their own potions using the many ingredients provided.  This was a very popular class and the potions table was always crowded.



Potions ingredients



Potions class taught by Miss Nina

For Herbology, Jason had a bunch of different herbs and plants on display, along with a printed out picture of each herb.  The students were instructed to match a picture with the correct herb (then taste the herb if desired).

Transfiguration was all about making "goo" using a borax solution, glue, and water.  Students poured the different ingredients together, then said the magic word to transfigure the liquid into a solid.  Then a sample of the goo could be taken home to study further.

Herbology and Transfiguration

Gooey goo














After the classes were completed, it was time to turn in the report cards for the real prize, CAKE!  There were also lots of star-shaped cake balls, jelly beans, and chocolate covered pretzel wands, but they disappeared too quickly to get pictures.  Those students were hungry!

Ellie's owl cake as requested - vanilla cake with chocolate frosting.

Ellie really had a wonderful time at her party and loved having every single guest come to help her celebrate.  She also received many fun and thoughtful gifts that she really enjoyed opening.  We made a special thank you message that many of you will be receiving soon:

And now I just have to share some pictures from a special gift she received from one of her best friends.  Noah (with the help of his mom and friends) made Ellie a book of spells that is just so creative and beautiful.