Tristan turned eight this year.
EIGHT!!!
I'm not sure why that number seems so much more grown up than seven but it really does.
And since he mowed through the entire Harry Potter book series, it seemed only natural that we should throw him a perfectly magical Harry Potter birthday party.
The most wonderful part of this day was the extraordinary cake we were so blessed to have made just for him by a wonderful cake artist named Jacqui. We were connected with her via Icing Smiles, an organization that connects families of critically ill children with area bakers to bring some joy in the form of amazing cakes to either the sick child or the siblings.
Well, I knew that we couldn 't pass an opportunity to show Tristan just how special and brave he has been since Tiernan was born, so we put his name in and they agreed he must have a cake.
Well, Jacqui was excited to provide a fabulous HP cake for our HP fanatic and we were blown away when we went to pick it up.
We were so blessed by this generous gift.
The Hogwarts Great Hall was made complete with the House Banners
Nanny K had made these for her son when he turned 10 or so.
OLLIVANDER'S
MAKERS OF FINE WANDS
Having chosen their wands at Ollivanders, they were well prepared for classes at Hogwarts.
THE SORTING HAT
SLYTHERIN!
GRYFFINDOR!
RAVENCLAW!!
(Kathy, my good friend and mom to 2 Hogwarts students, had always wanted to be sorted.)
ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVELS (O.W.L.S)
Each young wizard or witch must complete their annual O.W.L.s (the standardized testing of the wizarding world.) There were tests in the following subjects:
Charms, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and Spells. First test was the levitation charm.
It's Wingardium LeviOHsa, NOT levioSAH.
All students were required to demonstrate their skills with this charm by levetating their balloons.
Young Louis was especially talented and received an O (Outstanding), as well as several extra galleons to spend at Honeydukes Sweet Shoppe.
POTIONS
Each student had to identify several magical potion ingredients including:
Truth Serum (maple syrup), Bloodworms (spaghetti in sauce), and some extremely foul smelling Hippogriff Gizzards (smoked oysters).
There was also a bottle of Dream Fluid (coloured water with tea leaves), Gillyweed (weeds in green water) and Blind Cat Eyeballs (Pearl Onions in pink water).
Oh, and don't forget the Dried Beetles (prunes) and Petrified Newt Brains (dried chickpeas).
In order to pass their potions O.W.L. the students had to identify each of the ingredients.
They also worked together to mix an exciting potion called Elephant Toothpaste. It was quite a hit.
In Defense Against the Dark Arts, the students had to effectively fight off a Death Eater by using such spells as "Stupify" and "Petrificus Totalus". (Tag)
In Transfiguration each student successfully turned themselves into an animal. Their success was clear due to the ability of the other students to identify them. (Charades)
In Spells, they all had to correctly match the spell to it's function. Some of the more popular being:
"Expelliarmus"-used to disarm an opponant
"Obliviate"-used to make someone forget everything
"Expecto Patronum"-used to summon a Patronus in the event of a Dementor attack
QUIDDITCH
Following the completion of their O.W.L.s, the students (and some professors) took part in a rowsing Quidditch match. For those who do not know of this exciting wizard sport, there are 3 round goals at either end. Each team consists of a "Keeper" (goalie) several "Chasers" who try to score goals, each worth 10 points, with the Quaffle (large ball) while being pursued by "Beaters". The Beaters must keep the Chasers from scoring goals by hitting "Bludgers" at them as well as protecting their own team members from the Bludgers. Bludgers are small black iron balls that occasionally go rogue. Finally, each team has a "Seeker" whose job is to find the "Golden Snitch", a small golden ball with wings. It is quite ellusive and fast. Once caught, the game is over. The team whose seeker caught the snitch is awarded 150 points. Usually, though not always, this is the winning team. In our case, Slytherin won by a score of 210-60 over Gryffindor. Tristan was, in fact, the winning Seeker. He, Louis and AJ celebrated excitedly, but not excessively. If you would like a more in depth source for all things Quidditch you can go here.
A VERY SPECIAL AND MAGICAL SURPRISE
Tristan received an official letter from Ollivanders in London explaining how Hagrid had come in the dead of night and taken all the necessary measurements in order to send the perfect wand to him for his birthday. It is an excellent wand indeed.
HONEYDUKES SWEET SHOPPE
Following the completion of each O.W.L., each student was awarded 6 Galleons. Those with the highest scores were awarded several extra Galleons. At the conclusion of the day, they were able to spend their money at Honeydukes Sweet Shoppe.
Mr. Honeyduke worked frantically to fill each student's requests and soon they bought out his entire stock of candies. They chose from candy frogs and worms, rock candy, fruit gems, gumballs, marshmallow wands, lemondrops, (Dumbledore's favourite) and of course, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. After spending their Galleons, the students were sent on their way to enjoy all their sweets with their loving families.
We had such a fantastic day. Here are a few more photos of my favourite things.
I love the colours on the Sorting Hat.
This is the wonderful Hogwarts banner Nanny K made and loaned to us for the day.
We had a fantastic time planning for and throwing this party. It definitely goes toward the top of the list of awesome Flynn birthday celebrations.
