Harrison's Second Birthday Party: Trains

Harrison's second birthday had the difficult task of matching the first. Fortunately, I decided early on that no party will ever be as good as a Harry Potter party. With that weight off my chest we decided fairly early on what the theme would be. We had several ideas: doggies, paint, trucks, and trains. We decided on trains because that seemed to hold Harrison's attention the longest. I began planning around August again, this is mostly because I try to spend the least amount of money possible. Having a theme very early helps me collect as many free things as possible! For example, this year each of the children made a box car. For several months I collected boxes from neighbors and our own amazon deliveries. It was quite a collection in our garage!

 

The first thing we did was take pictures at the Hawaiian Railway Society. The colors of the party were blue and red and the society has a beautiful red engine on static display. We thought this would be the perfect place to take Harrison's "two year old" photos. I had my neighbor cut out a giant number 2 and painted it red. It came together rather quickly once we got the overalls from OshKosh. The custom hat came from a gal who makes them on etsy. 

The birthday cards also came from a gal on etsy. I was going to design them myself but unfortunately ran out of time! She did a beautiful job and they matched the theme perfectly! 

For the cake I decided to go simple this year, I prefer simple cakes as opposed to fancy ones. I think its just my aesthetic but it could also be that I don't have time to make a super fancy cake! I also loved this one because it was a 360 cake and had such an interesting effect when you spun it on the lazy susan. 

The favors this year were bags filled with a coloring book and crayons. The bags took forever to make and I don't think I will do that particular favor ever again! I bought the train fabric on spoon flower to match the color scheme. The solid blue fabric and red fabric for the handles were fabrics I already had on hand. My neighbor was getting rid of two wooden crates and I asked if I could have them. She obliged and I was able to use them for the party!

There were several activities for the kids to do and once they completed them they were able to come to me to get their conductor badge! It took forever to get the machine to cut them correctly but once it did they looked fabulous! This was my first party using my Silhouette Cameo and it came in handy so many times! 

Some of the decorations from the day. Again, the Silhouette Cameo came in handy! I made "Birthday Crossing" signs from reclaimed wood I found on the street. I had some white paint and some black vinyl already on hand. The Thomas costume was made with paint, boxes, and paper! Of course, Harrison refused to wear it but I had fun making it! 

 

My wonderful neighbor was kind enough to blow up the balloons for me. All I had to do was let them out of the bag and Harrison played while I set up the party! 

The entry way greeting table. I filled this table with pictures of the birthday boy, the number 2 from his photo shoot, and a ballon bouquet. We also had a train going around the track on the table. The kids loved playing with it! We wanted folks to make sure they felt welcome! 

Our neighbor had this train toy and she offered to let us borrow it. It was the hit of the party and all the kids wanted to play with it! 

The food table. We had so much food! Pretty basic party fare: fruit salad (Fruit Car), vegetable platter (Vegetable Car), pretzels (Log Car), sandwich station (Sandwich Car), olives (Coal Car), etc. We also had water and juice boxes. The cupcakes and cake for dessert!

The dining tables were decorated with mason jars filled with pictures of Harrison and cutouts I made on my cameo. I also put trains that we had around the tree when I was little on the tables. 

 

  

We had a lot of activities for the kids! Coloring station, decorate a train cookie station, light toss, coal toss, build your boxcar, reading station, and a railway building station (I brought Harrison's massive train track set and laid a carpet down, this was very popular with the littles!). 

The present table. I made the "Snyder Railway" sign out of reclaimed wood, old paint we had, and cut out the letters with my cameo. 

Hanging out with mommy and daddy! We borrowed the popcorn machine from a neighbor!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to the Birthday Boy! 

Very, very tired little one after a wonderful morning! 

Harrison's First Birthday Party: Harry Potter Theme

Harrison's party was fairly epic in proportions. I started working on all the elements in early August, with the party being on December 10th. Planning was essential as there were so many pieces and I only had about 15-30 minutes each night to work on the elements. I wanted the attendees to feel like they were in a pop-up Hogwarts, details were important to me and making sure that everything had a Hogwart's feel was essential.

I combed pinterest and google for ideas and while borrowing heavily from other sites, came up with some ideas of my own.

We created invitations based on the one in the movie, with details of where the party was to be held along with a ticket to platform 9 3/4. We delivered these by hand, when possible, dressed as Hedwig and a Hogwart's student.

And now for the party!!!

Being a teacher, I thought it would be fun for the attendees to become real students. They were first sorted into a house by the sorting hat. Our good friend stuffed his wife's cell phone inside and hid in the bathroom with his cell phone. I would say the name of the student and he would make up a rhyme. I would also say where the child hoped to be sorted, for some reason the student got their wished upon house every time! ;)

Once sorted the students were given a course assignment list (see below for the one I created!). The students had to go to each class and complete the task, then stamp their card. I had these beautiful stamps from before the movie first came out. They were at each station with an ink pad. After completing all the tasks they could go to Gringott's to exchange their stamps for galleons. Then it was off to Honeyduke's to spend their hard earned wizard money!

Potions
For potions class the students created their own "Growth Gurgle"potion. I used the tutorial found here while adding a bit of my own magical ingredients. I was surprised at how bubbly and frothy it was! The cauldrons were hard to find and I resorted to buying them here. Everything else I had on hand or was bought easily in the local store! I laminated the recipe card and I'm very glad that I did! That table was soaked by the end of the party.




Care of Magical Creatures

For this class the students had to color a picture of a creature I had photocopied from the many Harry Potter coloring books that I have. They also had to "hatch" a dragon out of an egg! This was by far the most popular station! Everyone wanted to hatch their dragon and compare color and size. The eggs were a combination of baking soda and water that, once stuffed with dragons were shaped into eggs and left to dry. I colored them with food coloring and that was it! I made these about a month before the party and I was surprised at how well they held up. The students used a spray bottle of vinegar but eventually resorted to pouring vinegar over the eggs to speed up the process a little bit. Again, I laminated directions and a card showing pictures of the different eggs.

Divination
I had so many lofty goals for this station but ran out of time! Instead of doing what I really wanted to do I decided to write fortunes inside of old tea tins I had around the house. The student's picked one and read their fortune. It was a very short and sweet station that could have been much more interactive.

Quidditch Practice
There were supposed to be three hula hoops hanging from the ceiling, but the ceiling was so incredibly high and I forgot a ladder! Enter a child on a man's shoulder's and, after much haranguing, a single hoop was hung. To avoid injury we settled on that and let the kids throw balloons through it for two hours. This was the MOST popular game for the toddlers. Hint: give toddlers a room full of balloons and they will be happy!

Ollivander's and Charms
This station took quite a lot of time! I created each of the wands by hand using the tutorial found here. Then attached a hand-written label to each wand. Once a wand was chosen by a student they had to master a spell of their choosing from the poster on the wall. I really loved this station because it was so interactive and the students got a party gift they had to work for! Each wand was different and special to the student.

Herbology
For herbology the students had to plant a mandrake seed after decorating their own pot. It was, again, hands on and lots of fun! This activity was great for our guests who were 3-5 years old. They loved getting their hands dirty and feeling the seeds.

Transfiguration
Transfiguration was a photo booth with many, many props! I found old graduation gowns at my local thrift shop, everything else I already had, printed, or made! We had a hedwig costume, gryffindor scarf, luna love good glasses, extra wands, gowns, hedwig stuffed animal, gryffindor tie, Harry Potter glasses, etc, etc. The background was created with crepe paper and fabric I already had laying around the house!

Food
We had many delectable goodies for lunch! I followed the ideas of this blog, but created the labels myself. Labels are included below!

Weasley Wizard Wheels: sandwich pinwheels from costco

Gillyweed Gurgle: vegetable platter  

Dragon Scales: guacamole chips

Forbidden Forest Fruit: fruit salad

Pumpkin Pasties, handmade by me and delicious out of the oven. They, however, lost their charm once cold. 

Pumpkin Juice, made inside of old orange juice bottles. Highly recommend doing this as it made transport a breeze!

Troll eyeballs: costco meatballs in costco marinara sauce. The hit of the food! Everyone gobbled these up and they were so delicious!

Desserts

Cookies I had made as favors for the adults! Don't forget them!

Harrison's birthday cake surrounded by House cupcakes!

The Dessert table was covered in chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting coated in colored sugars. Pick the cupcake that corresponds to the house you were sorted into! There was also a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting for Harrison to smash. Which he happily did!

Honeydukes and Gringotts

The Honeydukes and Gringotts stations were right next to each other. I wasn't sure how well the idea would go over until I went over to check out the damage half way through the party. Most of the candy was gone! It was quite amazing how well everyone took to a candy table. I might do this for all his parties as the favor!

More pictures from the day! 

After smashing his cake!

Here are all the documents I created for the party. Unfortunately, the fonts were not preserved in the translation to google slides. Feel free to look up fonts for your party on the internet. They are super easy to download and add a lot of pizazz to a party and invitations!