Birthday Parties

For a long time we avoided the whole birthday party thing. once Reese had his first, epic 39 clues party, it was hard to hold back the floodgates, and we've had parties for the other kids earlier than he did. which he will remind us of occasionally, and  therefore how deprived he is.
After the first, time/money intense party, we re-thought the whole thing, and set certain parameters to keep it from being so consuming, and the kids have had generally smaller parties. Though the set-up incentives for small-to-no party has never prevented them from wanting a party. and I get it; I'd rather have an experience too, a celebration, than a thing. So when Reese turned 12, he tossed around a lot of ideas, but settled on a big party. And as usual, it took way more time and money than we anticipated. sigh. He better remember it for a long time!
The set-up of course took the most time, looking for printables online, ideas for games, etc. Reese did a lot of this himself, which was great. As is so me, I didn't get organized till several days beforehand, but my sister saved me with her amazon prime shipping for frog molds and other stuff.  I found an idea for making wands, which was supposed to be easy, but took forever. I didn't realize how big a difference a mini glue gun can be for a regular glue gun job.  Reese pitched in that late night.

Making the chocolate frogs, bagging and creating their label took most of a day, it was so annoying. But I think the extra time tempering the chocolate was worth it, and thankfully they even tasted good. I was trying to find the right font liek the package, and when I finished, I looked at them, and thought, these 11-12 year old boys aren't going to care a whit what font this is. I guess it was mostly for me. It was initially pretty fun. Reese wanted ice cream more than cake, which I was totally ok with, easy! but then a friend couldn't have processed ice cream, so I could either make a cake or homemade ice cream. I went with the ice cream, then the night before Reese said he changed his mind and wanted a cake. sorry, bud, tough luck, but he was ok with it.

 I am so glad so many people do Harry Potter parties, cause I used all their ideas. I found a print for a potions book, as well as a handbook of  'potions' to do with the kids, and RD got it all set up. Reese and I made some liquid luck and stuck it in some vials. We were finally set!

Except I still had to pick up pizza and make butterbeer during the party.
RD was a rock star and created an awesome way to do our own version of the sorting hat, it was awesome and hilarious. We had lots of cheering and chanting.

 After we split into houses the kids all left me and Bree to make the butterbeer and pick up pizza. They played 'quidditch' over at simplot. Grace played for a bit, but it got really physical, so she hung out in the coats, but Cameron stuck in there and held his own. There were lots of house points given and taken away for fair play and fouls. The quidditch game was Reese's favorite part of the party.

When Bree and I came back with the pizza they were all painting their wands,

and after they were done and had lunch, we had 'duels' of potter trivia, winning points for their house to win a house cup.We ran out of time for our potions class, squeezing in time for a quick pic and ice cream.

Gryffindor won the house cup, which was Reese, Carson, and Corey, with 110 points, but Jaren and Cameron on Slytherin were close with 100 points. It was a lot of work setting up, but it was a lot easier having 11 or 12 year old boys than the younger groups we've had before! We were impressed with the boys, Reese has good friends, which was probably my favorite part of the party. Reese really enjoyed the party. I think it was worth it.
I think.