The whole country is once again Hogwarts-obsessed, with the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Nadia Johnson's eighth birthday party was one of the coolest we've seen.

April--a friend of Nadia's mom, Tara--printed lessons on legal paper and bound them with staples. Every child would earn a sticker for completing each lesson. She made the stickers by scanning Harry Potter designs from an old calendar and printing them on adhesive paper. The quills they used were made by sawing pencils and attaching feathers with masking tape.
 

Lesson 1: Divinations

They added an unnatural glow to the room with a red lightbulb, burned incense, and added tea lights to create an authentic mystical atmosphere for palm readings. The divinations instructor was Nadia's grandmother, Mimi. The kids checked off the qualities of their palms in their lessons booklet.
 
Lesson 2: Potions

The first potion the kids made was Veritaserum, the truth-telling potion. They used water bottles as cauldrons, and mixed baking soda, dish detergent, and vinegar to make the concoction bubble over. The second was Felix Felicis, the lucky potion. The children added Pop Rocks candy to water and then drank it.
 
Lesson 3: Herbology

The children were given starter pods and cardboard pots and chose between Snapdragon and Cactus seeds. They took them home with instructions to raise the plants at home.
 
Quidditch a.k.a Quaffle Toss

Next came a simple game of balloon tossing. The winning team got to be first in line (after the birthday girl, of course) to get their wands.
 
Wand Selection

The wand maker, Tara, gave each child a wand and told them to turn Nadia's aunt into an animal of their choice. (Say the name of the animal and "animagus transfigurus.") If the party-poppers went off and her aunt started behaving like the animal mentioned, the wand was meant for the child. If there was no sound or confetti (because sometimes the popper was a dud), the child had to try another wand. The wands were made out of small dowel rods and were given to the kids with black velvet wand cozies.
 

Nimbus 2000 Unveiling

April told all of the children that Harry Potter sent them something very special, while Tara retrieved the broom from the utility shed. The kids' reactions are priceless!
 


Afterwards, they were lined up to have their picture taken with the broom in front of the shower curtain of Hogwarts House crests.
 

The Cake
April took a photo of her dressed as Hermione for Halloween and made it look like a Harry Potter poster using a free Harry Potter font from mugglenet.com. She brought the photo to the grocery store and ordered a photo cake.

 
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