Harry Potter Party

A friend of mine organized a Harry Potter Saturday night premiere party and it was a blast. He rented out a theatre (200 seats) for a 9:50 showing of the new Harry Potter movie and invited about 80 people to attend. The movie was fantastic--possibly one of my favorite H.P. movies so far--but the real fun was at the pre-party.

From the get-go, John and his wife did it up right, including invitations with the Harry Potter font addressed to, for example, "Dena Harris, 4 Privet Drive, The Cupboard Under The Stairs..." When we arrived at their house, there was a golden snitch attached to a ceiling fan so the snitch circled round and round above us all night. The party was from 7-9 and John had a 2-hour tape playing scene highlights from the first three Harry Potter movies.

Then there were the 2 miniature Greyhounds or "house elves" as they were referred to for the night. (We were warned not to give them socks or clothing of any kind as they were but looking for the chance to escape!) There was a sorting hat on the front table surrounded by house pins, face down. You had to choose your pin and discover what house you were sorted into. Blair and I both  made Gryffendor, but my friend Maggie ended up in Slytherin. (We let her sit next to us in the theatre anyway.)

Then the food. Oh my God. The food. I can't even begin to imagine the time/expense that went into providing this spread. A full table of cookies, cakes, pies, brownies, cheesecakes, chocolates, any flavor jelly beans (Blair tried one called "booger"), candies, truffles... it was a feast for the eyes and the stomach. 

Then you moved into the kitchen for vegetables, cheeses, crackers, beer, wine, and soft drinks. And THEN you moved into a third room which had a running chocolate fountain and strawberries and cakes and pretzels and cookies for dipping.

The really cute part was that EVERYTHING was labelled. So you didn't eat a truffle, but rather a "Professor Trawley Truffle." Or a "Dumbledore double-chocolate cake." I'm not really doing it justice, as they had clever names for all the food items. I wish I'd thought to bring my camera to show how well staged it all was.

Lit candles around the house completed the ambience. It was spectacularly well-organized, with John visiting most guests the week before to drop off tickets. It was adults only and we had an entire theatre to ourselves. Blair and I didn't even mind being out until 1 a.m., and you know what early-to-bed people we are.

I'm eager to go see the movie again and very much looking forward to the final book coming out this weekend. I'm going to place my bet that Snape turns out to be one of the good guys and Harry doesn't die. I hope. Fingers crossed.