Harry Potter Yule Ball

As you know, we have been crazy busy this

last month with Harry Potter activities for our

Young Single Adult Ward.  My husband is the

Bishop of the Ward and I have fun throwing

fabulous parties for them.

To end the month of house competitions, I

decided it shouldn't be just an awards ceremony,

but a Yule Ball.  Now asking these kids who

are age 18-30 to come to a ball, could be kind

of risky, but we knew that if we made it magical,

showed them how pretty it was going to be, fed them, 

and then turned the lights down they might dance!!!

I invested a little money in netting, sparkling

silver tablecloths and runners, and fairy lights,

but other than that, I used what I had.  

Our Ward cultural hall is smaller than most and

carpeted rather than a gym floor.  It also has the

advantage of having accordian walls that can make

the space smaller, so we closed off a third of the 

cultural hall.  Then we strung a wire across the back

accordian wall to hang the fabric and fairy lights from.

The tables were set with my white pinch pleat

tablecloths that I purchased for my daughter's

wedding six years ago.  The vases and votives were

ones that I glittered for a friend's wedding reception.

I purchased new silver glittered table runners.

Then I filled the vases with water beads, submersible

lights and white and silver naturals.

We had electric candles in vases leading up to the

front door of the church and hung netting curtains

at the front to make the entrance inviting.

A chalkboard sign directed them to the right

entrance door.  We had the ball music playing 

in the foyer as they entered.

As they entered the cultural hall, they saw the

final results for the competition in the bottles.  They

also were to put their names in the cup for a special

drawing at the end.

The star of the dessert table was the five tiered

chocolate fountain.  My daughter used to have a

chocolate fountain business where she supplied 

them for wedding receptions and events, but

that changed when everyone got small ones

that they purchased themselves.  I still get a 

thrill seeing a huge chocolate fountain.  

I also filled tall vases with the water beads

and placed two submersible lights in those.

Some of my metallic trees anchored the table ends.

I ordered a three-tiered cake from Sam's Club

(only $65 - such a steal) and then added a

Hogwart's seal that I printed on my edible

printer, surrounded by edible pearls.

I also created a Yule Ball Chocolate Board for 

the dessert table.

The dessert table was anchored on the other 

end with a candy selection and in the center

The Triwizard Cup (which I purchased recently

at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter).

My niece had given me a set of Harry Potter

Cookie Cutters from Williams Sonoma, and I

made shortbread cookies and dipped the bottoms 

in chocolate.  

Our final item on the dessert table was Golden Snitches

made by a member of the Relief Society Presidency.

On a side table we served sparkling apple cider

in plastic goblets from Dollar Tree.  I have used

and reused these a dozen times - I just throw them

in the dishwasher.

I came as Hermione with the side pony tail and pink 

ruffled skirt, and hubby came in his dress robes.

The invitation said, 

"Dress to impress!"  This was a ball, after all.

It wasn't required, but we had quite a few who 

dressed up.

Ravenclaw was the winning house with over 

15,000 points!  The closest competitor had 7,000 points.

It was a huge success and with the help of some of 

the Young Adults, we had the whole room transformed 

in about a total of two hours.

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Dishing It and Digging It

Sources

Water Beads (I used 1 lb)

Submersible Tea Lights

Curtain Fairy Lights (I used 2)

Silver Tablecloths

Table Runners (I used 10)

40 Yards of Tulle 

(I used 3 but more would have been nice)

Silver Cake Platter

(I have had mine for years, but this is similar)

Original Thanksgiving Menu Dinner

Welcome to our original Thanksgiving

menu feast - not your mashed potatoes, stuffing,

and pumpkin pie feast, but more closely related

to what the pilgrims would have had

with game and seafood, nuts and berries.

My husband is a Bishop in a Young Single

Adults Ward in our church

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)

and once a month members of the Bishopric

put on a Family Home Evening dinner for

the young single adults.  This beautifully attired

pilgrim couple above are our High Councilman and his

wife.  It was their turn to host and they went all out.

She wanted to have a more authentic Thanksgiving

Feast.

They rented a hall that is used for wedding receptions

and dinners - The Startup Candy Building for the feast.

It had a really cool feeling to it and we were able to

seat about 75.

The tablesetting was very casual with

silver paper plates on a white paper plate

charger, silver paper cups and silver plastic flatware.

The rustic tables and walls really added to

the theme of the dinner.

Fruits and nuts and sparkling cider were also

placed on each table.

Lesa is the foods teacher at our high school,

so she planned the menu and arranged for

Andy and others to do the cooking.  

Andy and Lesa used long salvaged boards to present

the cooked meats on.

Original Thanksgiving Menu

Venison

Roast Fowl (chicken)

Smoked Ham

Sausage

Salmon

Boiled Lobster

Breads

Assorted Fruits

Nuts

Sparkling Cider

(Salmon getting ready to go on the grill.)

Servers were asked to come up with some

kind of costume.  This is my hubby dressed

in his mountain man leathers, bringing the meats

out by candle light to the tables.

The end of each table was left open so the

serving board could be placed on the table.

The kids came up and sliced off what 

food they wanted.

You can tell these guys didn't really want their

pictures taken.

The meal was amazingly satisfying, and even the

venison was delicious.  I have had venison quite a

few times in my life and have always had it taste gamey,

but they had soaked it overnight in buttermilk and then 

topped it with beef fat and slow roasted it.  

The picture is missing the lobster.  They almost

forgot to bring those out!!!

At the very end, Andy felt the kids couldn't get by

without pumpkin pies and whipped cream, so

they did serve that.  I have to say at our table, 

people were so full and satisfied that they didn't

eat much pumpkin pie.

Here I am in my leathers too.  When we built our

cabin 25 years ago there was a local lady who

sewed leather clothing.  She is not there anymore,

so our outfits are real treasures.

What a fun way to teach the Young Single

Adults a little about Thanksgiving.  They really

enjoyed it and it was a fun evening.  I truly

didn't miss all of the modern twists - in

other words the carbs, which are my favorite

part of Thanksgiving dinner.

We have so much to be grateful for.

Our prayers go out to all those who

have suffered lately with storms and

fires and who don't have a warm home

left and who are missing loved ones.

I hope you and yours 

have a lovely Thanksgiving.

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Harry Potter Feast

Having gotten back from New York just

a little while ago for the debut of 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,

I thought now would be the perfect time to go 

back in time - with my personal and unconfiscated

time turner, of course, to show you our 

Harry Potter party we did for our Young Single Adults.

The Family Home Evening Committee (those young

adults that plan Monday night activities) asked

me to play Professor McGonagall and do the

sorting hat to separate the kids into their houses.

Little did they know that crazy old me would take

this to a whole new level.  I found some green fabric

that I had bought for curtains and fashioned a

Minerva-style robe using my Harry Potter robe

as a pattern, but extending the sleeves and adding

a silver broach.  I used a black velvet witch hat

I already had and added a feather.  Underneath

I wore a black turtle neck with some jewelry I

thought Minerva would approve of.

Those who follow me on Instagram would have

seen the collection of around 65 wands that I

created using plain chopsticks and bakeable clay,

which were then painted.  I had asked my niece Shaunna

to come over and help me with these, but I got started

without her and had so much fun, I was finished

before she got there.

The church cultural hall was set up with four

rows of tables using plastic tablecloths

for the four houses, with their house flags

hanging over the tables.  I found the house

flags online.  We also strung tons of electric

candles from wires going across the room,

and electric candles were placed in candelabras

on each table.  This view is from the head

table which was set in gold and black.

The tablecloths, plates and napkins for each

of the houses were purchased at Dollar Tree.

To create the head table, this particular cultural hall or

gym had risers, so we placed those up front and 

collected wooden tables from the Relief Society

and Primary rooms for the professors to sit at.

We borrowed the podium from the Primary

room, and I had taken a picture of the podium

prop when we went to the Harry Potter Studio

tour while in London, so I had that blown up

and cut out the owl and taped it on the podium.

Behind the podium hung the Hogwarts banner,

also found online, and in front of the podium we

had a large collection of packages and letters

ready to be delivered by owls.

My husband is always so fun and supportive,

and we had dressed up a few weeks ago and

gone into the Relief Society and Elder's Quorum

classes on Sunday to invite everyone and get

them excited.

My niece Shaunna created tickets for the

Hogwart's Express for everyone.

When they entered the church they were greeted by 

 left to right, Hagrid, Trelawny, Ollivander,

Dumbledore (hubby), McGonagall (me), Rita Skeeter, and

Snape. 

There first stop was here at Ollivanders where inside

this small writing desk were all of the wands.  Of

course, you don't pick the wand, the wand picks you,

so they were asked to give two numbers, the first was

to be between one and five and the second was to

be between one and twelve.  The first number

determined which drawer was opened and the 

second number determined which of the 

twelve wands they were to receive.

Next they came over to me to have the sorting

hat placed on their head.

I had purchased mine from the Wizarding World

of Harry Potter.  They were told that if they came

in costume for their house, they wouldn't be sorted,

but otherwise I sorted them and tried to listen

to their wishes (and to make the groups fairly even.)

Then they were escorted into the Great Hall by

one of the professors or Rita Skeeter.

But first they had to stop at Platform 9 3/4

to have their photos taken.

My great assistant and party planner, my niece Shaunna,

provided a lot of the props.  She made the broom herself

and purchased the brick background at Home Depot.

Then she printed a sign for the platform.  She works

for my husband as his graphics designer, so she always

gets to help out on our big parties.

We had a dessert table filled with goodies I had

made, with the centerpiece being

The Monster Book of Monsters Cake.

Chocolate Fudge with Pop Rocks on top.

(Don't put the Pop Rocks on too soon, they

start popping right away from the moisture 

of the fudge and can become wet and sticky.)

I ordered a chocolate mold to make these.

These were Lindt Truffles sprayed with gold Wilton Color Mist

and wings that I printed off and cut out glued on with a

dab of frosting.

I purchased mostly regular Jelly Bellies, but threw in

a few Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and

I made a few molded chocolate rats - Scabbers,

you know!

The Cauldron Cakes were domed cupcakes made

from a silicon shaped mold, then cooled and

dipped in melted chocolate and decorated.

Handles of chocolate were attached at the end.

I had a lot of fun making the Monster Book of Monsters Cake

by stacking two 9x13 chocolate cakes, frosting three sides with 

white frosting and then creating grooves and brushing

a little brown food coloring on for the pages.

Cover the back in chocolate frosting, and create

the page marker tongue and gums and teeth

with fondant.  Attach those, then pipe on some

chocolate tendrils.

The book is finished by using a grass tip and covering 

top of the book with "fur".  Mound up a little

frosting and add gumball eyeballs that have 

food coloring "paint" for the slits in the eyes.

Cover the back, sides and between the eyes

with fur. 

Pages from the Daily Prophet were scattered

on the house tables.

Once everyone was all seated the Professors

came from the kitchen carrying the platters

and bowls of food and made a processional

down through the rows of tables.

We followed the menu similar to The Three Broomsticks

feast at Wizarding World of Harry Potter and served

chicken and ribs, roasted vegetables and salads.

And of course we served my version of Butterbeer.

We played the game Who Said it, Dumbledore or Uchtdorf?

( one of our First Presidency in the LDS Church)

and finished with the dessert table.  We had about 70

attend, and there were no treats left on our trolley!

We even had our Stake President (a local ecclesiastical leader)

and his daughter come.  

It was truly a FEAST AT HOGWARTS!

The houses were then used for competitions for

Family Home Evening throughout the month.

How did I like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

you might ask?  I had read the book/script, but had

kind of forgotten it.  We had the original London

cast, so that was really exciting.  The special effects

were just magical, and you definitely wondered how

they could enter The Ministry of Magic through

a telephone book, or how they could be sucked into

a bookcase.  I don't know that it had to be put into

two plays as that seemed to make some of it drag,

but it was exciting to go at 2:00 and then come back

again at 7:30.  The theater has been transformed and

the carpet and wallpaper were specially made for

Harry Potter.  A grand foyer has beautiful patronum

 on the walls.  They were fun to take pictures in front of.

One last thing - for both parts of the play they handed

out cute little buttons saying, "Keep The Secret".  We

all wondered what that was for because the script was

published in a book and we couldn't necessarily figure

out all of the special effects, but it was kind of fun to

get the pins as little mementos.

Big disappointments - Hermione Granger was nothing

like the Hermione we have come to know and love.

She would have been better playing Umbridge.

She was stern and mean and one dimensional.  Even

Malfoy comes across as nicer than Hermione!!! What??

As we sat at intermission we heard the same discussion

all around us.  So we were unhappy with the way

the character was played or the way the actress

was directed - not sure which.

We also couldn't believe that with all of the attention

to detail there was absolutely not a drop of Butterbeer

or Chocolate Frogs or any other Harry Potter foods

that are sold at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

They have a really cool little store but instead of

Harry Potter related foods they had sandwiches 

and candy - nothing themed, with all the high

quality theming going on all over the theater.

We think they really missed it on those two points.

Other than that, we all loved it and that was the

reason we had come to New York, but we snuck

in Frozen - which was absolutely delightful, and

Hamilton, which is great, but not three times greater

than any other Broadway play, despite the fact that

you will pay three times the price - that is if you

don't pay more! (Although I do have friends with

season tickets in SLC who payed a normal price -

the rest of us are just at the mercy of those who

want to and can make a killing on reselling their

tickets.)  But in the end I figured I wanted to see

Hamilton - so I payed the price - choke, choke!!

I hope you had a fun peek into our Wizarding

World of Harry Potter and how we feasted

both in New York and for a party.

I am taking this party to

Tablescapes Thursday

Share Your Cup Thursday

Dishing It and Digging It