A Birthday Visit to Diagon Alley

Today was GPS's eleventh birthday. And an offhanded remark led to a pretty amazing birthday present from the siblings.

A few weeks back, GPS was asked for a birthday wish list. The semi-joking response? "I just want my Hogwart's letter."

Well, of course, right? Harry Potter got his letter when he turned eleven. Isn't that what every self-respecting HP fan would want?

FutureStar and Midkid heard this and jumped into action. So when GPS got back from baseball practice tonight, this is what happened:

Hedwig was waiting at the front door, and the acceptance letter was on the front porch.

Inside, signs welcomed us to Diagon Alley (up the stairs).

At Flourish and Blotts, GPS was given the First-Year textbooks (a three book Hogwarts Library). 

Then on to Ollivanders, where GPS received a wand and bookmark, and was "sorted" into Hufflepuff (complete with house lanyard)!

Then we all went downstairs to the Three Broomsticks...

 

Where we feasted on homemade Butterbeer and pumpkin pasties.

Best birthday ever, or what? :)

Monday Movie Musings - Harry Potter 7.2

So, I finally got to see the last Harry Potter movie, and loved, loved, loved it! I thought the acting was superb, the cinematography excellent, and the entire experience moving and enjoyable.

I also saw it in glorious 2-D, since 3-D glasses give me a massive headache. Luckily, my kids are indifferent to the 2-vs-3 D debate, and were just happy to see the movie while it was still in theaters. (We're still in hot water for missing Pirates of the Caribbean 4, despite the negative reviews. They didn't care that the movie was likely horrible - they wanted to see it on the big screen!)

Next movie up? The Glee movie, most likely, since FutureStar and Midkid both love the music.

What's next on your list?

Monday Movie Musings - Harry Potter Exhibition

So today's movie musing isn't so much about a single movie, but rather the Harry Potter Exhibition I went to with the kids last weekend.

We hadn't planned on going; I figured our big museum-type experience for the winter was the Picasso exhibit, and pretty much ignored the ads for the HP event. (We live a good hour and a half from the town where both exhibits were shown, so attending them is a full day experience.)

Then Midkid entered a drawing at Borders and won two tickets to the exhibition. Couldn't let them go to waste, could we? No, of course not. So last weekend I packed up the kids and trekked to the big city for a visit to Hogwarts.

(First, though, we had to get our tickets. Because they were free passes, we couldn't reserve our spots online, and we were nervous about being able to get in. As we reached the ticket booth, my heart sank. It was 10 am and the sign posted said the first available entry time was 3:15 pm. Ten minutes after our parking pass was set to expire. I went up to the booth, showed the saleswoman the passes, and explained the predicament. She worked her magic and found us tickets for the 11:45 am entry. Yay!)

So after a quick snack and some time in the science center playing around with the exhibits, it was time to go in. And let me tell you, this exhibition was absolutely worth the effort. Part museum exhibit, part Disney-style fun, it's fascinating and enjoyable for any fan of the movies. Even if you're not a Harry Potter fanatic, it's great to get an up close view of costumes, set pieces, and behind-the-scenes movie magic.

The kids enjoyed the opening schtick, especially GPS, who was "sorted" into Gryffindor by the sorting hat and a friendly guide. The sorting was followed by entry into a circular room, similar to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, with a multimedia intro, followed by fog machines, engine sounds, and a wall opening to reveal the Hogwarts Express engine.

There were costumes galore, from early Harry Potter to Draco Malfoy to Professor Snape to Quidditch robes to so many more I can't name them all. There were actual wands used by the characters in the movies. Ron and Harry's dorm room beds were there, with items from the set to make it seem like they'd just stepped outside for a moment. There was a message board from the movies, something that had been likely just put up in the background for "flavor", but so detailed and *right* it made me smile.

The books looked like they'd been taken out of someone's library. There were professor's desks and Hagrid's hut and Lockhart's many publicity photos. You could tug on mandrakes in the garden set and make them squeal, and toss a quaffle through a hoop. (The quaffle was much squishier than I'd expected, like a cross between a soccer ball and a football, but with some of the air let out.) All three kids sat on Hagrid's chair, grinning at how small it made them seem. We studied the posters on the wall, advertisements for the Quidditch world cup and wanted posters for the characters on the wrong side of authority. We wandered through the Great Hall and scoped out all the food on the banquet table.

It was fascinating, and lots of fun, and gave me some insight into how much detail goes into creating a movie world like Harry Potter's. It's ended in Seattle, but supposedly will be touring to other locations soon. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend going to see it.

Monday Movie Musings - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One

Thursday night found me, once again, making the trek to the local theater with my two oldest, ready to watch the midnight showing of the newest Harry Potter movie. It's debatable whether that makes me a great Mom (midnight showing! Family togetherness!) or a horrible Mom (it was a school night! We didn't get to bed until three am!).

The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. I justified the decision by focusing on the fact that it's a rare occasion (please to be ignoring the two other midnight shows we'd attended since June, though both of those were during the summer months) and that school was on early release the next day so they could power through a shortened day and crash when they got home.

Okay, setting aside the behind-the-scenes agonizing, the movie itself was fabulous. I loved how much of the book was actually in the movie, really fleshing out the story and bringing in those smaller moments that made the HP series so much fun to read. I loved the special effects, the crackling pace, the characters and their interactions. (I don't want to give anything away, especially since it's so new in theaters, so I'm trying to be purposefully vague.) I do understand those who felt like the ending was missing something, since it's really only half of the book, but I thought it was overall a very well done film.

Have you seen it yet? What did you think?

Book BIN Tuesday -- You have to ask?

Finished my edits this week.

Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday.

I know there are folks out there who (like me) didn't read it immediately, and don't want to post any spoilers.

So all I'm gonna say is --

Loved it.

Made me cry.

And if you don't already have it stashed on top of your TBR pile, you really should go Buy It Now.