a very potter birthday.

While we celebrate birthdays ever year (and even half birthdays too!) we usually try to do parties for the kids every other year. It's a busy season, they cost money and we find we can do something else that is still just as fun. 

But somehow, both kids convinced me into having "just a small, simple house party" this year. For each of them. 2 weeks apart. With 15 kids from their class. Simple, huh?

Despite an incredibly busy week prepping for Carter's Harry Potter themed party it was really fun. Plus I loved seeing all the new friends he's made this past year - they are really such a great group of kids.

I'm no pinterest mom but did my best to stay creative. I think it turned out pretty great too!

Simon helped with the decor throughout the week and tested out the HP glasses for each kid and "wand" (aka chopsticks) too. And no one poked their eye out during the party...success!

 I themed the food too! The vegetable garden wasn't too popular but the brownie bite cauldron cakes and chocolate dipped magic wands disappeared pretty quick.

 Our polyjuice potion was homemade pumpkin juice - straight from the HP cookbook. And they loved it!

 Those silly witches broomsticks took FOREVER to make but turned out cute too.

 All the food!

 We had about 5 stations for games and I think HP bingo was the most popular. Maybe it's because they were allowed to eat the Bertie Botts jelly beans once they were done?

 An owl post for coloring!

 I thought the potions class was so fun! We had two different potions to mix together for an eruption....so many kids came back to do this over and over again.

 Quidditch involved sticking a snitch (sticker) into the middle goal. Simple but fun. And care for magical creatures was throwing these little spiders, snakes and centipede into their cage (aka witches cauldron). I got all this stuff on clearance after Halloween saving me a ton of money!

 Matt and I even got in on the party favors!

 A simple brick tablecloth (thank you Amazon) made the perfect backdrop for Diagon Alley.

 And we turned the playroom into a charms class. Each kid had to shout a spell to keep their balloons off the floor using only their wands. Simple, chaotic and so fun.

 Dabbing. Because, it's apparently the cool thing to do in 2nd grade.

 After a huge sugar rush, lots of crazy boys and games all done we opted to turn on the first HP movie to let the kids settle down a bit (lets be honest, we had extra time and I had NO idea what else to do). Best $4 we've ever spent renting that movie from Amazon Prime.  I was so worried kids would think this was boring but I heard back from parents later in the weekend and they all said they had a great time. Success!!!

 To make the weekend even busier Matt had his company Christmas party later that night. The kids went down to grandma and grandpa's house, we cleaned the house and quickly put on some party clothes. I was exhausted but it was still nice to get dressed up and have a good dinner.

 Carter woke up on his birthday and had a delicious breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa Vance's house before we headed back home.

 He got to open up even more presents!

 He's been asking for a skateboard for over a year. We waited until he was a little older and I'm glad we did. I just love this sequence of pictures as he discovers what's in the long box.

 Testing out his new board with safety pads everywhere! (he put a helmet on too after I snapped this pic..don't worry!)

 We ended the day with a lunch out to the Old Spaghetti Factory (his annual choice) and a lazy night watching the Seahawks win a big game on Sunday Night football. It was a fun weekend celebrating our favorite 8 year old.

And now I get to prep for a special Trolls themed pajama party for Lucy. Sheesh!