"7" Is a Magic Number

Benjamin started celebrating his seventh birthday in the usual way, opening Star Wars Lego . . .

 

After that, though, he entered a magical world :)

 

We had witches, wizards, toads, cats, rats, and owls. The kids drank pumpkin juice and polyjuice potion . . . and lots of Butter Beer.

 

They were sorted into houses, and a couple of them even became prefects (just as Professor Trelawney predicted, I might add!).

Then it was time for classes. The young students started with Herbology, taught by Professor Sprout (Auntie Tina!). They planted M&M seeds in a "dirt" mixture, added a few worms, and--magically--lollypop plants grew :)

 

Next it was Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid (assisted by Rebecca the Prefect). The kids searched for dangerously toxic flubberworms in a bowl of rice, then learned how to take care of them. Plastic gloves were mandatory for this one!

 

After Hagrid's lesson the group met Professor Snape (Don't worry--it was just Uncle Ted in a Snow White wig!). They mixed and tested potions that made them stinky or hyper, losing house points for pouring improperly, etc.

 

Finally, Professor Trelawney taught them how to read tea leaves, making predictions about their futures.

The kids went outside and played a highly simplified version of Quiddich, then came back in for birthday cupcakes.

 

(I have to add, I loved how these little owls turned out--I made a practice batch a few weeks ago that did not work AT ALL, but Ben still wanted me to make them for the party, so I gave them another try!)

We had a few minutes left to open the presents.

 

Benjamin got so many fun toys and games that he is really excited about (most of which he has already opened and tried out--he keeps disappearing to his room . . .).

 

Thanks to my dad we somehow managed to get a group picture,

 

then we sent everyone home with chocolate frogs (probably melted globs of chocolatey mess by the time they got home since it was a very warm day!) and little red bags of every flavor beans (thanks to my mom who made all the draw-string bags).

 

It all sounds pretty magical, doesn't it? ;) I think seven is going to be a good year!