Once upon a staff meeting we were discussing my co-worker, Lynette’s, momentous accomplishment of celebrating 30 years with our company. To me, I cannot begin to fathom the dedication and perseverance it takes to stay with the same company for 30 years. I wanted to do something special for Lynette and started planning a work-appropriate anniversary party.

Lynette LOVES Harry Potter, so since she was celebrating in October, this seemed like the perfect fit. A Harry Potter Party in order to celebrate Lynette’s 30 Years of Magic (she works with children and has impacted thousands of lives with her amazing hard work!)

I began by creating a banner for Lynette and for all the party guests so that they could tie the theme in with why we were celebrating. I used black banner paper and stencils to organize and outline ’30 Years of Magic’.  I then painted in the outline with craft paint. Once the paint was dry, I painted the letters with school glue and then sprinkled glitter over the top – because let’s face it, glitter just makes everything better. I found 2 print outs for the Harry Potter crest and house Gryffindor to add to the banner.

I asked a co-worker to find a cake and she went to a local cake artist, Monica Kjerstad, who created this amazing work of perfection! As Julia Child said ‘A party without cake is just a meeting’. The rest of the food was pot luck style with everyone bringing in their favorite dish. I decided to create Butterbeer in keeping with the Harry Potter theme.

Next I gathered up décor. I covered the tables with purple and black table cloths and then laid out potion bottles for center pieces. Over the years I have collected cool old bottles at garage sales and then add stickers to theme for Halloween décor. I decorated the cake table with a cauldron, full of spell bubbles, wands, and creepy spell book décor. Finally, I hung candles from the ceiling in order to mimic the candles in the Great Hall from Harry Potter.

 

Overall this was a very simple party, in big part because it was a last minute plan. However, the party turned out great and Lynette was very excited to celebrate.