Happy Birthday, Harry!

So, as you know we usually do a big party to celebrate Harry Potter on his birthday, but last year we had to do it virtually, and this year we’re waiting to see how things go and have already moved it to September and turned it into game night instead of the usual big do up. We’ll be celebrating Harry and the return to Hogwarts for wizarding kids. 

That doesn’t mean we didn’t do anything for Harry on his birthday. We did. The week before his birthday I helped run the PDXpelliarmus Harry Potter Activists‘ booth for Wizarding Weekend at a local hotel that was once a school. For 3 days we have magical vendors, the movies going, themed food, and games. Considering we had to skip last year and we weren’t sure how well received this would be with everything going on this year, we were blown away.

Usually, this weekend is the end of our back-to-school supply drive, but we pivoted this year to end Accio Books with this big event and were overwhelmed with book donations. With the money we made from selling our buttons, bags, and other HP-related goods, we were able to cover our entire book list for a charitable organization that works with the houseless, so we can provide them with young adult and adult books. 

Here are some pictures of our table, Diagon Alley, kids dressed up for the costume contest, and my own outfit. (Yes, this was an event where we encouraged masking and all volunteers had a mandatory mask rule.)

On Harry’s actual birthday, Eric and I convinced some vaccinated friends to go to an annual Harry Potter tea near to us. We have gone every year except last year, where everything was still shut down for indoor dining. This year they had welcome cocktails, tea leaf reading (a must for every year), and a Muggle magician. If you’ve seen my IG reel, you can watch me volunteer. I wrote my name on a piece of parchment, we set it on fire, and then it reappeared inside of an orange. Amazing! Here are some of my favorite pics:

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