Welcome to Diagon Alley, where you
have to enter and buy your cauldrons and
other necessities before you enter Hogwarts
Castle.
Obviously you can tell that we have a
theme for Halloween at
Purple Chocolat Home this year.
Spend a while with us and see
what fun we have been up to!!!
My daughter in law came up with the idea to
decorate our porches as Diagon Alley, and
she and my son created my fabulous stacks
of cauldrons from Potages - cauldrons of
all kinds. We got them for fantastic prices
at Zurchers, and they drilled them and stacked
them with a dowel, keeping them in place with
spray foam and then painting them,
first with a stone texture and then with paint.
They also cut and stained the signs. I
did all of the Cricut work on the
signs. It was a super fun project
to do together (although they ended up doing
most of the work).
Invitations went out to the family to
Celebrate 20 years with Harry Potter.
We are all big fans. When the kids were young
we always had to have multiple copies of the
newest books, as we were all reading them at
the same time.
My niece and I just did a Harry Potter marathon
at a local theater, where they showed three
movies a day for three days, including
Fantastic Beasts. It was a lot of fun to see
them all again on a big screen, and with
fun theater food - this theater has great food,
not just popcorn!
Beaulah was quite excited to be a part
of the fun, as we decorated the house
and set up for the party (parties, but that will
come later - hubby always wants to have multiple
parties once I get the house decorated.)
She said she was dressing up as Bathilda Bagshot -
pretty appropriate as Bathilda is a old, ugly witch.
(Hope Beaulah doesn't read that!)
We didn't even get our regular Halloween decor
out this year, as everything is Harry, Harry, Harry!!!
You have to be a Harry Potter fan to appreciate a
lot of the decor.
This is an authentic Pumpkin Juice bottle
from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
in Orlando.
Beaulah and I found wonderful new plates
on Amazon this year. We had to buy quite
a few to accommodate this crowd.
The sets contain all four of the house crests.
They set quite a festive table.
Of course we would be eating in the Great Hall.
And all of the houses are represented
(Amazon again).
Chairs were set up for 20,
with all of the houses mixed together.
A tribute was paid to our dear
departed Dumbledore. You will notice
his blackened hand.
We can see where everyone is on
our new clock, patterned after Mrs. Weasley's.
One of our favorite features is
Harry's old broom flying around.
Should anyone need to head to the
Ministry of Magic quickly, we are set.
(I got a lot of my HP images from Etsy
in SPG files for use with my Cricut.)
And since we have had lots of those
nasty dementors circling Hogwarts lately,
we are prepared with chocolate.
the free printable for these.
An agenda was sent to everyone letting
them know how the festivities would
happen.
And Professor Mc Gonagall and a
Death Eater were there to greet them.
This is the first sight they would see as they
finished up at Diagon Alley and entered
Hogwart's Castle.
Beaulah and I decorated the banister
with an animated sorting hat, a basilisk skeleton
and quotes from Dumbledore.
The doorbell rang to the castle and we
answered the door and found this
little baby all alone on the doorstep.
Little Harry seemed happy to arrive.
That was quite the fun surprise for us
as hosts. The baby had been dropped
off and the family had hidden.
Their family was the first to arrive.
Dobby was so cute and stayed in
character all night.
Of course we had several Harry Potter's.
How nice to have an avid fan.
Gryffindor house is always a favorite around here.
A more grown up Harry and his lovely wife,
who is expecting in December, also appeared.
Only the three year old was frightened
by our resident Death Eater.
He was glad to see another Death Eater
come, along with a Quidditch player.
One of our favorite Gryffindor students
showed up with her broom cookie creations.
Professor Trelawney was able to make it.
We have such a soft spot in our hearts
for dear Professor Trelawney, and we were
so glad when Umbridge wasn't able to kick her
out of the castle.
Even Newt Scamander showed up! He really
knows how to pose.
Newt was able to bring his older brother along,
they are a handsome pair.
This little Mandrake is almost ready.
They are growing them cuter these days.
Luna is another one of my favorite characters,
so glad she found her shoes.
And of course, every Harry Potter party
needs Wonder Woman, in case of a
Death Eater attack!!!
They all received their personal invitations to Hogwarts
after the meet and greet in Diagon Alley.
And then everyone was seated in the Great Hall.
We invited each family to bring a
Harry Potter themed food.
We had English pot roast, and a
Havarti Ring appetizer.
Cornish pasties,
broom cookies
chocolate frogs
and of course, Butterbeer to drink.
We even made some frozen Butterbeer.
But I get ahead of myself, no feasting took
place until Professor Mc Gonagall read a
headline from the Daily Prophet for everyone
in attendance.
I won't make you read all of them,
but here are a few to give you a taste
for the fun we had.
I just searched for Daily Prophet images
and then used PicMonkey to add my own
photos and headlines.
I couldn't quite contain myself as I read these off.
We laughed and laughed and passed each
newspaper around the table.
Everyone had a wonderful time at the feast
and I think the Daily Prophet news articles
were the hit of the party.
As I mentioned, hubby (our resident Death Eater)
always likes to see us maximize the house decorations
with more than one party. So the table was set for
our craft group. Disappointingly, not everyone
understood Harry Potter (we will have to have
an activity where we get together and watch
the movies - of course they are even better
if you have read the books.)
But they all tried on their Harry Potter glasses.
We had a cauldron class that night where
Mrs. Mc Gonagall taught them a secret
recipe for homemade donuts.
We feasted on soups and this really fun
Hedwig appetizer.
Quite a lovely photo of all of our
visiting professors.
Our last party was our Ward Council for
our Young Single Adults. We left the table
set up in the Great Hall and served them
breakfast before their meeting. We decided
to make quiche in honor of the visiting
Beauxbatons. Of course more Butterbeer
was served. You can find my recipe for
Butterbeer here. It is always a favorite.
Thanks for stopping by Diagon Alley
and Hogwarts to visit with our festive
and crazy family.
We will be posting this party with
Share Your Cup
Dishing It and Digging It
