My oldest son loves Harry Potter. This is him decked out in his Quidditch robe at Dragon*Con last year. He's loved Harry since he was barely two years old. His early affection can be blamed on HBO's constant running of The Sorcerer's Stone. It captivated him. We took him to see The Chamber of Secrets in the theater and it may very well have been his first movie theater experience. When Hagrid returns to the dining room cheers in the final scene my little boy stood up and cried because he knew the movie was ending.
Fast forward five years when Thing One is 8 years old he began reading the Harry Potter books. He had never seen any movies beyond those first two in all the years between. When he began the books his Harry Pottter love was reborn with an unquenching thirst. He voraciously read the books from the library. And soon wanted to own them all.
Here he is with one of his favorite birthday presents on his ninth birthday, the remaining six books he could keep. Once he had completed reading the series we rented the Prisoner of Azkabam through the Half-Blood Prince for him to watch. He already knew disappointment from a book converted to film but was satisfied with the adaptation of Harry Potter.
The second Harry Potter Thing One ever saw in a movie theater was the first he actually remembers: The Deathly Hallows, Part One. He was over joyed and immediately a year long conversation began about seeing the final film. And during this year his Harry Potter love manifested in new ways.
His closet shrine for instance.
With a shelf dedicated to all thing Harry Potter.
His painted pumpkin for last Halloween was an homage to Harry Potter.
His Halloween costume last year even came with a request to cut his shaggy locks shorter and spray his hair dark.
And more recently our Museum of Natural History hosted a Wizards and Witches Weekend and he committed again to a costume as a Hogwarts student.
So as the date grew close for the end of Harry Potter in cinema we discussed the idea of a Harry Potter viewing party complete with Harry Potter snacks. I made a grave error in this discussion forgetting each film is approximately two and a half hours long. No one would come to a party to watch over 21 hours of videos. Oy! How would I tell my dear boy his party could not happen? Then I had another idea I pitched first to my man. A Wizarding Week of Harry Potter! We'd determine what day his father would be taking him to see the new movie then count back seven days and show one movie and serve one themed snack per day. My man was on board and I presented it to Thing One. He was sold!
Well, today is the day my man takes my biggest little man to see the end of Harry Potter. I imagine this may be a tad bitttersweet for him but I'm glad to have wrapped the event around some fabulous memories. Here's how his Wizarding Week went....
Day One: The Sorcerer's Stone and Chocolate Frogs
I bought a candy frog mold for only two dollars at my local cake decorating shop. They filled easy as you please.
And in less than thirty minutes we had a plate full.
Day one was a success!
Day Two: The Chamber of Secrets and Lemon Drops
I could've simply served the candies but that seemed too easy. Instead I also created a special Lemon Drop Soda the kids really enjoyed sipping during the movie.
Lemon Drop Soda
Ingredients
- 3 ounces Seltzer Water
- 1.5 ounces Stirrings Lemon Drop
- .5 ounce Simple Syrup
Directions
- Combine all, stir, serve over ice.
Day Three: The Prisoner Azkabam and Butterbeer
First step is to chill your glasses in the freezer. I'm so happy I held onto my childhood A&W mugs.
Next assemble all the necessary ingredients. I used Bakingdom's recipe for Butterbeer. I didn't change a thing. This stuff is tasty!
The cream is essential to good butterbeer and this buttery cream is lick your finger good. Mmmmm.
Crack open a chilled Cream Soda.
Mix the cream soda with the butter extract then top with a generous serving of cream.
Enjoy!
And make sure you get a butterbeer cream mustache.
Day Four: The Goblet of Fire and Licorice Wands
Open Twizzlers and leave them out overnight to firm up a bit. Dip one end in melted chocolate. I had yellow Wilton Candy Melts on hand and used them to create Griffyndor colored wands. Before the chocolate melts sprinkle with gold sanding sugar. Lie flat and place in refrigerator for candy to set.
These were my husband's favorite.
Day Five: Acid Pops and The Order of the Phoenix
With the exception of the honey, all my ingredients for this inexpensive snack were from the local Dollar Tree.
I couldn't find sour lollipops so I opted to use only the Sour Green Apple Jolly Ranchers for an added mouth surprise.
Crush the sour hard candies. I used my mallet and a freezer bag. Good thing the bag was thick, these sharp little buggers still cut through the bag. I was hesitant to use my food processor and damage the blades with such a hard, sticky candy. This method was surprisingly fast and effective and nothing to clean!
Pour all the smashed sour candies into a bowl.
Pour Pop Rocks in a bowl. The Pop Rocks will begin to lose their pop if left out long so this treat is best prepared just before serving. Otherwise you'll want to wrap your lollies in wax squares.
Heat a small dish of honey in the microwave so you can dip each lolly in and apply a thin coat.
Roll in sour candies.
A quick dip back in the honey. Tap and remove as much excess honey as possible.
A final roll this time in the Pop Rocks.
Rest them on wax paper to dry.
Then display and call the kids up to the candy cart. Another hit. My son prefered these over the Licorice Wands. I think if I made them again I'd mix the sour candies with the Pop Rocks and coat them with both at one roll.
Day Six: The Half-Blood Prince and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
I took my son to the local Super Target and indeed bought three pounds of every flavor bean.
And I do mean EVERY flavor since I also picked up two boxes of these...
These flavors include skunk spray, rotten egg, canned dog food, booger, baby wipes, pencil shavings, toothpaste, barf, moldy cheese and centipede.
Then much to my son's chagrin I mixed all the good and bad together in one big bowl! He hoped the bad would be separate. Silly boy, I told him Harry never knew if he got a good one or a bad and neither should you.
Since the beans didn't involve me making anything I felt like I was being lazy. So inspired by the trays of candy witches' hats and beans at the Halloween festivities in The Sorcerer's Stone I dipped ice cream cones in white chocolate then rolled them in sprinkles.
And served all the beans along side on a large silver platter.
A few boogers and cans of dog food were consumed but day six was still declared AWESOME by my 10yo critic.
Day Seven: The Deathly Hallows, Part One and Cauldron Cakes
I mistakenly thought I had a mini ball pan among my collection. But the night I go to make the cakes I discover I do not. Oooops. A quick turn to the cupboard and I opt for baking chocolate cake in various bowls to see what happens.
Bowls of batter go into the oven.
And happily bowls of beautiful cooked cake come out.
The white bowls produced the best shaped cakes.
Just to be safe I also baked the remaining batter in my cupcake pan without liners.
And these beauties wound up stealing the show.
I dipped the bottoms of the cooled cakes in melted chocolate then sat them atop Reese's Mini Cups to be the cauldron feet. This was much better imagined in my mind. The warm chocolate and weight of the cakes began melting the mini cups.
Fortunately I also bought a bag of Hershey's Mini Kisses on the baking aisle in case I ate all the Reese's Minis didn't work out. While they may look like chocolate chips the Mini Kisses are slightly larger.
I also changed my strategy of sitting the cakes on the chips and started placing them upside down and placing the feet on.
After a trip in the fridge to firm up the feet were perfect.
Then with tip #10 I piped a ring of chocolate buttercream around each cake.
Again with the same size tip I filled each cake with a soft cream cheese frosting colored golden yellow.
I attempted to make chocolate handles but when I saw these at the store I thought they might prove simpler.
Cut in half with a bread knife...
...and they made perfect handles for the cauldrons.
The last touch was a sprinkling of gold over the yellow frosting to truly make them look like pots of gold.
A finished Cauldron Cake
If I were to make these again I would skip the round bowls and just bake them in cupcake pans. They made the cutest little cauldrons, don't they? And a fabulous end to our Wizarding Week.
I hope Thing One enjoys the movie tonight and I hope even more that he continues to love reading...and magic.
I've already been told by my younger two that as soon as they are old enough to read all the books they want their own Wizarding Week wherein they get to see all the movies. Seems only fair to me.
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