Harry Parker's 9th Birthday Party
Lisa Wrote: We had fun planning Parker's Harry Potter-themed party. Our home was the St. Louis Extension of Hogwarts for Parker and 11 friends from school, Scott and Thomas, and even Grandma and Grandpa McDermott who came for the weekend. We wore costumes, had mixers in the common room (basement), dinner in the great hall (living room), opened gifts, played muggle quidditch in the backyard, had cake and butterbeer, ate weird flavored jelly beans, gave gift bags with all sorts of stuff including "wands" that were Parker's brain child, and had a great time. The wands were large tootsie rolls and we made our own label to wrap around them. It said, "Your Wand, by the Gingerbread Wizard Specializing in all things edible. This wand was specially designed for Hogwart's St. Louis Extension, September 2008" and included a copyright, of course.I was very sore and exhausted after the party. I figured out that I had only sat down long enough to eat my breakfast that day and write one list. But Parker and all the kids had a great time. We will have to get some pictures posted. Since Carol was here we have plenty of pictures. We couldn't believe the decible level of the kids--and it was continuously loud! I have to say I was glad to see that it's not just my kids who get so crazy and loud. It was definately the norm for this group. We only had a couple of quiet ones. Rich Wrote: I was short-haired Snape (thus the mean looking picture of me when I was directing a game), and Lisa was Professor McGonagal. I gave different names to Parker's friends during the games, giving a particularly Snape-like hard time to 'Harry Parker'. The 'Muggle Quiddich' was played using dodge balls as bludgers, soccer balls as quaffels, and a human snitch. To catch the snitch, one had to pull the sock out of the back of the snitch's pants. The inspiration for the game came from Muggle Quidditch on YouTube, which has really 'taken off' at colleges. I am currently just finishing up the series for the first time myself, and was relieved last night that Harry escaped from the Malfoy's. Parker has started the series again, but is also reading Candy Shop, by the same author as the Fablehaven books that we've been reading to the kids. Happy Birthday Parker!!