Getting the last clue and setting off for the final prize.

Decorations for the party

We put this sign on the guest bathroom down on the first floor. Let me tell you that 7-year-old kids LOVE bathroom humor. So anything that combines bathrooms and ghosts is comedy GOLD for these kids. They had more fun making up stuff about Myrtle than most of the games we came up with.



Making your own wand with multicolored tapes and 12 inch dowels.



Sarah is sorted into Gryffindor--her house of choice don't 'cha know! (She was actually worried about getting into Slytherin, if you can believe it.)
She's wearing her/my "Hermione Hogwarts" tie.



What a cute cake! We didn't make this one ourselves, but took advantage of the wonderful people at Meijers. Nice!

Potions and the birthday girl

(You can get a little sense of the lights above Sarah in the background.)

The potion ingredients are: 1) bubotuber pus--green lemon-lime koolaid, 2) wolfsbane--orange koolaid, 3) veritaserum--Sprite (nice and bubbly . . . thanks carbonation!), 4) felix felicis--lemonade, 5) essence of murtlap--grape koolaid, and 6) Re'em's blood--cherry koolaid.

More images from the Marauder's Map

The clue hidden under the rug reads, Answer the following question before you begin the next phase of the search--"What clothing does a house wear?" [address, and YES one of the kids figured it out without help]. Once they get that, they cross the house, following the lines shown on the original map. Led into the office, they have to find the second portion of the map which is hidden in the office.
The note accompanying the second half of the map says Follow the staircase up to the second floor and look for another clue in a place where you might find Moaning Myrtle.
Once again, the kids figured it out without my help and quickly went upstairs to the bathroom. Once there, they found . . .
. . . the final set of questions that they had to answer. [The answers are B and C, if you are interested.] By flipping the card over, they find . . .
. . . the last bit of instructions. In the Guest Room across the hall, Sarah had one last present and all the kids had treat bags filled with Harry Potter candy--Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Jelly Slugs, and even Chocolate Frog with movable wizard cards.

(click here to go back to the original WWYG?! post)

Marauders Map for Sarah's 7th birthday party

This is the first fold in the map, evoking the magical words that must be said before the map will operate.











Once you are able to "open" the map, you see the nicknames of the four "Marauders"--Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and James Potter.









Another fold opens and . . .











. . . the map displays itself.




Partygoers begin at the front door and advance down the hall to receive their first clue.
Once found, they read the clue--Turn right and walk another twenty steps towards the fireplace. Look underneath something on the floor to find the next clue.

the cakes

We made two cakes because we wanted to be sure that the kids and the adults would be able to have some. (Marble cake--yellow and chocolate batter baked together) covered with chocolate icing. The decorative icing is piped from regular icing tubes and we embellished with old Dora the Explorer figurines that we've had since Sarah was little.

Grace's 4th birthday party