Transfiguration Class

Transfiguration class was really just a ruse. We put it in the invitation so I wanted to incorporate it somehow. We gathered back in the main room and I put a stuffed toad on the velvet covered table and pretended to turn it into a rat (which I'd hid up my sleeve).


As I did that Professor Dumbledore walked in with a scroll that announced class was cancelled so students could help look for the missing Golden Snitch.

The Search for the Golden Snitch

After Potions Class I, Professor MacGonagall, helped the kids clean up their potion stained hands and started "Transfiguration class" during which time Professor Dumbledore quickly hid the paper clues for the "Golden Snitch Hunt". We did it at the last minute so there was no chance a kid would notice a clue hidden in the bathroom or somewhere else before the search started and spoil the whole thing.


I had just transformed a toad into a rat when Professor Dumbledore hands me a scroll announcing the Golden Snitch is missing.


It says Transfiguration class is cancelled so students can help aid in the recovery. A reward of 1 Galleon, 1 Sickle and 1 Knut will be paid to each student that helps. A suspicious person was spotted by Prof. Snape near the girls lavatory. That clue starts the search in the bathroom..


Squeezing this many kids into our bathroom was quite a feat.


We hid a decoy clue in the bathroom just for fun.




The real clue found behind Moaning Myrtle.


Searching Diagon Alley.


Evie put it together and found the clue in the skull. She did not know any of the locations or clues. She wanted it all to be a surprise.

This was a Halloween decoration.

Craziness on the stairs as we headed up to the "restricted section library". I think it was hardest for me in my full length skirt. I wanted to be right there to make sure nobody fell down the stairs.


Again cramped spaces made for a frenzied search.


We had to help them make the connection between the Golden Snitch and the Golden Book by asking "What color is the Golden Snitch?" Amazingly I found this book a few days before the party for sale at a Safeway for $1 donation. (It's called Surgeon by Frank Slaughter and was not originally gold. I wish I knew why they painted it. If you want a gold book you'll probably have to paint one yourself but I didn't have to so I don't have instructions.)




The clue inside the book leads us back down the stairs to the Gryffindor Common Room.


They know they are looking for a musical instrument.


See the green tip of the flute on the right? It was easier to see in person.


They head back to where Fluffy was.


Evie plays music to Fluffy and we unlock the basement door.


The clue under Fluffy's paw.


They slide through the Devil's Snare.


Into the room with the flying keys.


The big key "unlocks" the "door".


Which is really a curtain with a paper lock Evie made.




The kids each take a turn looking into the mirror of Erised to see if their heart's desire will reveal the location of the missing Golden Snitch. After they've all had a turn they say to me "YOU do it."


I pretend to look hard into the mirror and then say "Ahhhhhhhh. I seeeeeeeee... it is....(long pause)...in a drawer nearby."


After a quick look around it is found!


The chest was slid pretty far back to make it a little harder to find.


This is what we were searching for. Yay! We recovered the missing Golden Snitch so the Quiddich tournament is saved.  (I bought the Golden Snitch from Alivan's for $3.59. The Harry Potter chest is from the Harry Potter Uno game.) We headed upstairs to dole out the reward money.

The Reward - 1 Galleon, 1 Sickle & 1 Knut Each

We decided to keep the Golden Snitch reward payout simple, one of each coin. I purchased pirate doubloon from Great American Coin Company. I was a bit disappointed to find they were all one size but at least they were old looking and made of a nice heavy metal so they felt real.  We used gold for Galleons, silver for Sickles and bronze for Knuts.

After each child received their reward coins I surprised them by saying I was taking them to Honeydukes to spend it.

Honeydukes - The Trip to Honeydukes Candy Store

I could have simply set the candy out on a table but we knew it had better be somewhere that the kids wouldn't get into it if they happened to find it. This cabinet is actually my home office in my kitchen. I also really wanted the candy store to be a surprise so I was pleased that we were able to keep the kids out of the kitchen until the surprise trip to Honeydukes.

After the party I heard from many kids this was their favorite part of the party (That and potions class.) I guess that's no surprise. They got to take their selections home with them as party favors. Details explained in the Honeydukes - Creating the Store post.

Honeydukes - Creating the Store

This is a picture of the completed store. I had gone to a lot of trouble collecting the candy for the store. I knew this had the potential to be really amazing if we did it right. This is really my home office in my kitchen. It was Evie's idea to use it for the candy store. Brilliant. Except that we had to remove a lot of books and binders to make space for the candy. And then what to do with the computer?

I used some purple fabric with stars and moons that my friend Janet brought over to make curtains. This way I only had to remove the books from some of the shelves. Luckily we were making a restricted library so I had a place to stack all the books from my office. I pinned the fabric over some tension curtain rods we already had and placed them inside the upper shelves. We then tucked the curtains onto the shelves to give the impression that perhaps this is where we kept our candy backstock.

When the cabinets were built the cabinet maker made a back panel to go in the middle. We ended up not using it but had stored it in the basement. We realized it would be the perfect way to hide the monitor, lamp and phone etc. I painted it with primer intending to turn it into a chalkboard. When I discovered the black chalkboard paint had to cure for three days I decided to simply use the sidewalk chalk directly on the primer. We needed a sign that explained there was a limit of one per "customer" anyway so the kids in the front of the line didn't take all the chocolate frogs or whatever. So the sign served two purposes. We printed the Honeydukes logo on 8 1/2" x 11" sticker paper that I adhered to the sign. My husband screwed a piece of hardware to the back which then went under the lip of the overhead cabinet to secure the sign in place.

The day of the party we removed the printer, covered the computer with some fabric and moved the final candy jars into place.

I happened to have a lot of glass jars with clamping lids that I thought would work okay. But I didn't have enough and some of the candy would be too big. So I headed to my favorite place, the Goodwill on Dearborn. For a few dollars a piece I found large glass candy jars that were missing their lids. I was able to use some vases I already had for the Cow Tales and Gummy Worms. I already had the icy looking candy dish that was perfect for the Ice Mice.

Originally I thought I'd make labels for each jar. My husband had the idea to make fold over cards to place in front of the jars. In the end it was a lot easier and made it really look professional. We designed the cards together in Photoshop using a Honeydukes logo image we got off the Internet. We printed them 4 up onto matte photo paper and used a paper cutter to cut them.

A big challenge with the Honeydukes concept was how to price the candy and structure that activity to keep it somewhat simple. I didn't want the kids to get one of every kind because I knew their parents would kill me if they came home with that much candy. I also wanted those expensive pirate doubloons back so I could reuse them. We decided that each child would get only 1 of each type of coin. Then it made sense to "price" the candy from the most expensive to least expensive. I wanted every child to get a chocolate frog, ice mice and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. So like at the grocery store I made them 3 for 1 Galleon since the Galleon is the most valuable coin. Since there was a limit of one per "customer" each child simply turned in their gold Galleon and got one of each. Then we let them pick 4 of the candies on the left for their silver Sickle. And pick 5 of the candies on the lower right in exchange for their bronze Knut. The signs were labeled with the "prices".

Still the whole candy picking was chaotic. Understandably they were very excited. We had to have them make single file lines on each side. Professor Dumbledore helped the kids with the candies on the right while I helped the kids on the left side.

I didn't account for the fact that it would be hard for the kids to decide. But maybe that was part of the fun.


Candies on the left side.


Candies on the right side.

The sign. If I'd had more time perhaps I would have written something about the pricing but this was the best I could do at the time. The wood thing was used to collect the coins. We got it at Christmas gift exchange this year. At the time we had no idea what we would do with it.


The fold over candy labels up close.