Happy 11th Birthday Bugaboo

As you know by now, Bradyn likes to have specific themes for her birthday parties.  This year was the year of Harry Potter.  Although Bradyn's birthday fell on Family Day which was a stat holiday, we planned to have her friends over on Sunday February 12 as it was going to be a later evening.  (fun, followed by a movie, from 4 - 9 pm)

In the first Harry Potter movie, Hagrid made Harry a birthday cake and this is what Bradyn wanted for her cake.  God help me, the kid wanted me to make a cake!

Assuming things would not go well (and not wanting to invest too much money), I got my supplies from Dollarama. (gotta love dollar stores!)  On Saturday we jumped in and started baking.

First step was a success.

Bradyn was very particular about what she wanted for the filling in her cake.... melted marshmallows and chocolate chips.  We microwaved the marshmallows and tried spreading them on the cake but they hardened pretty quickly so we mostly had globs of marshmallows on the cake.  No worries.  Bradyn took it upon herself to take care of the middle layer and it turned out pretty good.

The final product - nailed it!  The smell of the cake was so sweet my stomach lurched, but Bradyn was very excited to dig in and eat it.  

Bradyn also wanted to make Golden Snitches (one of the balls used in the game of Quidditch).  Rather than trying to make cake pops, we dipped Timbits in melted yellow candy melts and Bradyn made the wings out of fondant.  Here are the snitches drying - final product to be seen later. 

You must have theme-appropriate decorations for a proper party.  Our front door displayed the brick wall and sign for Platform 9 3/4....

.... and the dining room was ready for a proper feast with the Hogwarts and various house logos. 

I was very impressed with the owls that Bradyn drew.

And what would a Harry Potter party be without the themed goodies?  

Based on how quickly they were devoured, I think the favourite was a tie between the Hufflepuffs and the Licorice wands.

After everybody arrived, the festivities started with a dance party.

Snacks in hand, the girls went down to the basement and started watching "The Philosopher's Stone" (the first Harry Potter movie).  After about an hour, there was an intermission for dinner (although I must admit I was shocked they were actually hungry after all the snacks!).  Only Little Caesars pizza and Crazy Bread will do for our girl.

The cake was a huge hit.  Whenever Bradyn makes her birthday wishes, she looks like she's praying.  Not sure when that started, but she's been doing it for as long as I can remember.

First try at blowing out the candles was a fail, and Bradyn couldn't stop laughing.

Not sure if this was attempt #2 or #3.

When Bradyn's friends started offering to help blow out the single birthday candle, she got a little possessive, but her "it's mine" strategy of putting her hands around the cake actually helped get the candle blown out.

I was happy to cut the cake but Miss B would have none of that.  She wanted to do it herself.  I was fine with the plastic knife.....

... but the real one concerned me a little.

After the cake, the girls sat on the floor to play Bradyn's version of Spin The Bottle.  We've done this many times before so I wasn't concerned.... whoever the bottle points to is the person whose gift Bradyn opens.

One more rounds of snacks before heading downstairs for the last half of the movie.  Bradyn did an awesome job with the wings for her Golden Snitches.

The movie went past 9:00 so we had parents gathered around the dining room table, chatting away and some even agreed to have wine while we waited for the movie to end.  I really enjoyed Bradyn's party this year.  It's a whole lot easier to do now that they're older.

On Monday February 13, while we were standing in the kitchen and Bradyn was watching me make my breakfast, Bradyn asked if she could have breakfast in bed.  ???  "But you're already up and in the kitchen!"  Not to be a spoil sport, I asked what The Princess would like for her birthday breakfast and told Bradyn I would bring it up when it was ready.  She was very happy.  (I hope she remembers this on Mother's Day!)

We headed to Dallas and Ita's for lunch where we had a family celebration for "The Birthday Buddies".  Bradyn on her 11th, and Grandpa on his 75th.  

Happy 11th Birthday my love.  I hope the upcoming year is as wonderful as you.

xoxo