We bring to your attention ideas and tips for making gifts in the Harry Potter style.
Not only children, but also adults love gifts. And a die-hard fan of JK Rowling's brilliant novel can be impressed by an original fiction, even if his love language is not gifts. If you have a potential Hogwarts graduate in your life who breathes, eats and sleeps with thoughts of the famous wizard, then Harry Potter-themed gifts will definitely take pride of place among any congratulations.
And sometimes such souvenirs, created with your own hands, can give even an adult a piece of the magic and warmth of your soul. After all, the most valuable gift is if it is made with your own hands! And in our case it will also become original!
Harry Potter themed invitation card or letter from Hogwarts
This is undoubtedly one of the main attributes of a gift themed around everyone’s favorite wizard - in the style of Harry Potter. To do this you will need to make an envelope, a sheet of text and a wax seal.
The long-awaited letter
- Sealing wax can be made from an ordinary candle with the addition of dye in the form of wax crayons (you can even use only them), but it can crumble a lot. Alternatively, you can make it with polymer clay or a hot gun with a colored tip.
- The paper needs to be aged. To do this, dip the leaf in a solution of strong tea or coffee. Make sure that the leaf has time to color, but do not leave it for too long. Then carefully hold the edges of the sheet over the fire with a match or lighter.
We use coffee
Fold it in the form of an envelope, you can additionally connect the sides with double-sided tape or glue.
Stencil
Prepare the text of the letter and write it on the second sheet. First go through the path with it, as with the first one, so that it “grows old”. The text can be written in any language. It is advisable to use a pen and ink. Write by hand, it's much more interesting. Place the completed letter in the envelope and close it.
Invitation to school in the form of congratulations
Take wax or sealing wax and heat it in a water bath. Use a teaspoon to scoop and drop onto a closed envelope. Then make a print with a pre-purchased stamp. The letter came out simply unrealistically cool!
Example of an invitation card
Scrolls can be used
pumpkin juice
It is the second most popular drink in the wizarding world, right after butterbeer. Easy to prepare, satisfying, tasty - what more do you need?
You will need:
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- Glass of water
- A quarter cup of apricot nectar
- 3 cups apple juice
- Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- Teaspoon lemon juice
Combine everything in a large saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. At the same time, beat with an immersion blender until smooth. Remove the drink from the stove and leave it for 10-15 minutes.
Harry Potter style potion collection
Such a decorative element in the Harry Potter style can be easily made: buy small bottles (you can use medicine containers), fill them with water with paint or glitter, you can also fill them with glycerin with flowers or leaves.
Idea
Don't forget about stickers, hand write names in old handwriting, such as "Potion of Love", "Wolf Antidote", "Potion of Forgetfulness", singe the paper around the edges.
Inscriptions
You can also decorate any box (can be cardboard) for storing them in this theme. By the way, jars don’t have to be small - you can even hide shower gel, shampoo or body lotion in them!
Options
As an idea, we suggest making potion storage containers from ordinary plastic vitamin jars using papier-mâché (paper with glue is laid out in a stencil for volume).
Potion
Pumpkin pies
Pumpkin pie has always been served at Hogwarts during the ceremony marking the beginning of the school year, but nothing stops you from eating the delicacy every day. We present you a spicy version with garlic and cheese.
You will need:
- A pack of yeast-free dough
- Half a medium sized pumpkin without skin and seeds
- 4 tablespoons butter
- Garlic clove
- Half a cup of shredded cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Yolk for glazing
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Cut the pumpkin into small pieces, fry in a frying pan and mash it with butter until smooth. Add garlic and cheddar cheese. Salt and pepper to taste.
Roll out the dough and cut it into round shapes. Place the filling in each layer, then fold it in half, pinch the edges and seal the edges with a fork. Leave 2-3 holes on top - air will escape through them.
Brush the pies with yolk and place them in the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the pies are golden brown.
Harry Potter style suitcase
It’s not difficult to make, and receiving such a gift in the Harry Potter style is a real pleasure. You can fold it from paper or cardboard using a stencil.
Stencil
Option 2
- But we offer another way. To do this, you will need a cardboard box of any size, preferably with a folding top, but it can also be a shoe box. Paint the box brown, glue strips of brown paper or even leatherette-type fabric, and you can use black half-beads as nails.
Box made entirely of cardboard
- For the handle of the suitcase, you should take cardboard or paper folded several times and glue it, wrap it in the same leatherette or just colored paper, strong thread. All that remains is to add a color printout of the emblem and the suitcase is ready.
Algorithm
- We put paper pasta inside (filler made from strips of paper) and fill the suitcase with: a letter, a ticket, a potion, a scarf, jars with memories and sweets, books on the history of magic and a diary, and, of course, a magic wand. Every Potter lover will appreciate this suitcase!
You can decorate with newspaper clippings or just paint
The story of a boy from Hogwarts
The legendary wizard appeared partly due to the fact that the author of the future bestseller began to have financial problems. JK Rowling began working on the book a long time ago, but she initially did not intend to publish it. And only when she literally had nothing to live on, she decided to give the manuscript to the publishing house. Thus began the story of one of the most popular boys in the wizarding world.
The theme of Harry has become not only the basis of the plot for several films, but also fertile ground for needlewomen of all ages. Crafts in the Potter style are made for exhibitions, used as full-fledged, independent gifts or additional souvenirs to them. Lots of ideas! You can make it with your own hands:
- wizard figurine;
- his costume - glasses, robe;
- suitcase and magic wand;
- potion collection;
- Snitch or letter from Hogwarts.
Magic broom in Harry Potter style
Not just a tool for keeping your home tidy, but also an excellent Harry Potter-style vehicle. This broom can be used to decorate a garden or yard. And if you make an inconspicuous but strong stand for it, then wonderful photos for your guests on a broomstick from Hogwarts are guaranteed!
Broom
For a broom you will need branches of any tree, but it is better to take a wolf tree, a rope and a holder. If you've ever seen a broom, you probably understand that making one yourself is very easy. Place the branches together around the holder and tie them together with string or wire.
We tie the branches well
But the catch is in the holder - it must be correctly curved and with an extension at the end. By the way, don’t forget to write “Nimbus 200o or 2001” . Yes, so much time has already passed. But that’s not about that now. You can also indicate the current year - the young wizard will also appreciate it! To make such a holder, use polyurethane foam or polystyrene foam. Or, initially, we take a suitable stick and process it well.
Nimbus 2000
Also, the broom can be of any size, for example, mini and made of paper!
Harry Potter's Broom
Well, ideally, cut it out of wood!
Carved from wood
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Ch. 7. Sorting Hat
“... Albus Dumbledore stood up. He looked at the students and beamed, opening his arms wide to greet them, as if there was no greater pleasure in his life than to see them all gathered together in this hall.
- Welcome! - he exclaimed. - Welcome to the start of the new school year at Hogwarts! Before the banquet begins, I would like to say a few words. And my words will be like this: Tyutya! Reva! Rwaklya! Tsap! Thank you! Dumbledore sat down. Everyone shouted and clapped happily. But Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.
- Is he a little bit of that? - He turned to Percy hesitantly.
- That one? - Percy asked absentmindedly. - He is a genius! He is the best magician in the world! But he, quite rightly, is a little bit of that. Should I give you some potatoes?
Harry gasped in surprise - it turned out that the tables had been laden with food for a long time. He had never seen so many delicious dishes together: roast beef, fried chicken, pork and veal chops, sausages, bacon, steak, fried potatoes, boiled potatoes, french fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some incomprehensible reason, mint candies.
In general, the Dursleys did not starve Harry, but still he never ate as much as he would have liked. Besides, Dudley always took away everything Harry showed interest in, even if it made Dudley sick. Harry filled his plate to the brim with a little of everything (except the lollipops) and began to eat.
The food was amazingly delicious. When everyone had eaten, the remnants of food evaporated from the plates, and the dishes began to shine clean again.
A moment later dessert appeared - a huge amount of ice cream of every kind imaginable, apple pies, treacle cakes, chocolate eclairs, jam donuts, truffles, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding... While Harry was stuffing his mouth with treacle cake, the conversation turned about relatives."
Yorkshire pudding
This pudding is a traditional English food that Harry likes just as much as cake.
You will need:
Eggs - 3 pcs., Milk - 300 ml, Flour - 125 g, Salt - half a teaspoon, Black pepper - to taste, Vegetable oil - depends on the molds in which you will bake
Preparation:
The first thing you need to do is take all the pudding ingredients out of the refrigerator about an hour or two in advance. By the time you start preparing the text, it is very important that their temperature is the same. Another important point that must be completed is to preheat the oven to 230 degrees 20 minutes in advance.
Having fulfilled these two conditions, you can safely get to work. The dough for Yorkshire pudding is mixed as follows. Combine flour and milk, ensuring that there is not a single lump in this mixture. Then, using a mixer, beat the eggs, then add them to the milk and flour mixture. Mix everything well (a mixer will help you), add salt, pepper, and... that's it.
The pudding dough is ready. Now, pour 1 tbsp into each ramekin in which you will bake the Yorkshire pudding. vegetable oil. If your shapes are larger than traditional ones, then the amount of oil should be increased. So, after you have poured the oil into the molds, put them in the oven for 10 minutes. It is very important that the oil is very hot. When the oil reaches the desired temperature, pour the batter into each mold. You need to fill the molds three-quarters full because the puddings will rise a lot during baking. After filling out the forms, place the puddings in the oven for about half an hour.
The finished Yorkshire pudding should have a very beautiful golden color. The pudding should be served hot, straight from the oven. It is at this moment that it has a wonderful crispy crust and tender crumb.
Treacle Cake
Indeed, you can “stuff your mouth” with this cake, it is so tasty and tender. Harry Potter does just that...
You will need:
225 g flour with baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. spice mixtures. 100 g softened butter, 75 g powdered sugar, 5 tbsp. l. black molasses, 150 ml sour cream, 100 g sultanas, sifted powdered sugar for decoration
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Use a square pan with a side of 18 cm. Grease the pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Mix flour, spices, butter, powdered sugar, black molasses, sour cream and sultanas into a homogeneous mass. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and level the surface.
Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, until a warm knife removed from the middle of the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack; to let the cake cool. Serve sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Famous glasses in the style of Harry Potter
After the release of the first film, every schoolchild wanted to be in the Harry Potter style, so wearing round glasses, even with good eyesight, became a kind of trend.
To do this you will need strong wire and a picture of glasses. Make two circles, connect them together and make ears. And to get a more aesthetic appearance, cover the joints (adhesions) with molten plastic. Paint them black.
How to make glasses
You can also use old round glasses; if you are giving a gift to a child, we recommend removing the glass from the frame. Don't forget to paint them black, the nail polish will stick better. To make the recipient even more excited, place the glasses in a small mini briefcase or Harry-themed box.
Harry's glasses
Invitations
First of all, make beautiful invitations .
It is best to take small cards for this, first cutting them into the required sizes. Cards can be pink or blue. Write invitations on them. Inscriptions in gold paint will look very nice on a blue card. For an example of writing invitations, you can take some words and lines from the book. So it should look something like this:
“The School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has the honor to notify you (addressing each guest by name) that you are invited to attend another school year at Hogwarts. We will be waiting for you on the platform, which is located on the third of the four parts of the path, between the ninth and tenth gates (indicate the address where the party will take place). Don't forget to include the day and time of the party.
Photos and invitation templates
Do you want to feel like the main character of a film? Then you're welcome to a Cinema-themed party!
Harry Potter style ties or scarves
Of course, every fan will want them in their own color, complete with emblems. But you can stop at, say, Gryffindor. To make a scarf, just knit it with a regular 1 by 1 elastic band, either a knitted one or a scarf. Just use the thread colors you want, but make sure the thread itself is not too thick. The emblem can be crocheted or bought ready-made and sewn on if you are not so fluent in knitting techniques. And yet it will look more realistic this way.
We offer emblems and color schemes for scarves in the Harry Potter style of different faculties:
Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw - from left to right
If you know how to sew, you can sew a tie from a suitable fabric. But it's not so easy to find. Therefore, you can make a tie from thick paper. To do this, cut out the shape of a tie from burgundy paper and stick yellow stripes diagonally. Make other faculties in a suitable color palette.
Or you can do it even simpler - take a plain tie of the desired color and simply glue 1-1.5 cm strips of electrical tape or oracal (self-adhesive tape). Please note that in the upper triangle the tape must be glued at the opposite angle to make the tie look plausible!
Ties
Macaroons
Ingredients
- 100 g almonds
- 200 g wheat flour
- 1 chip salt
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 125 g margarine
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 drop almond oil
- 300 ml boiling water
Preparation
- Pour boiling water over the almonds. Wait 10 minutes. Drain the water. Peel off the skin. Dry and grind.
- Mix flour and chopped almonds. Add salt, powdered sugar, margarine, almond butter and yolks to these dry ingredients. Knead the dough. Roll it into a ball. Wrap in foil. Leave in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into portions. Roll it out. Cut out cookies into any shape.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment. Place the liver on top. Bake for 12 minutes at 180°C.
All Hogwarts schoolchildren love this snack option. If you have an ardent Potter fan at home, bake similar cookies for him too. There will be no limit to delight.
School robes or Hogwarts robes in the Harry Potter style
If you have basic sewing skills, then sewing a Harry Potter-themed robe will not be difficult for you! The only thing is that you need to correctly calculate the calculations when purchasing fabric.
Gryffindor Robe
To do this, you will need black and red satin fabric for the base and lining, respectively. You can also use lining fabric for the bottom. Also buy fabric in one of four colors for the collar and hood, two large black buttons and rivets. The sleeves of the robe are a little longer than usual, keep this in mind. And don’t forget that the robe itself is loose-fitting, so leave 10-20 cm at the edges for a loose fit.
Pattern
If possible, measure the recipient in advance. But you can do everything “by eye”, since the style is quite universal. When transferring the pattern onto the fabric, secure it well and carefully with pins, because satin is quite slippery, but vulnerable. All sloppy punctures will be visible! Pre-sweep all seams carefully but firmly. First we sew the parts of the top and lining, and then we connect them together, placing the seams inside between the fabrics! Finally, we attach the emblem.
Scheme
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Chapter 10. Halloween
“...Halloween came unnoticed. Waking up in the morning, the children smelled the smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Thousands of live bats flapped their wings under the ceiling and on the walls, forming garlands, while thousands more hung in low clouds above the tables, causing the flames of the candles in the pumpkins to flutter and fill the Hall with a wavering, mysterious light.
Fabulous dishes appeared unexpectedly on golden plates, just as they did at the banquet in honor of the beginning of the school year. Harry was just stuffing his mouth with baked potatoes when Professor Squirrel burst into the hall, his face twisted in horror, his turban askew. Everyone present watched as he ran up to Professor Dumbledore’s chair, leaned exhaustedly against the table and squeezed out with difficulty:
“The troll is in the dungeon—thought you should know.”
Baked Potato with Pumpkin
What's Halloween without baked pumpkin? And Harry always loves baked potatoes - both on weekdays and on holidays, just like pumpkin.
You will need:
Potatoes - 500 g, Pumpkin - 500 g, Ham - 125 g, Milk - 375 ml, Onion - 1 head, Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l., Egg - 3 pieces, Bread crumbs - 150 g, Cheddar cheese - 200 g, Salt - to taste, Ground black pepper - to taste
Preparation:
Cook the potatoes and pumpkin separately, without bringing them to full readiness. Cut into cubes. Lightly fry finely chopped onion and ham in vegetable oil over medium heat. Mix the ham and onions with the pumpkin and potatoes and place in a baking dish. Mix grated cheddar (100 g) with milk, eggs and breadcrumbs. Pour the cheese mixture over the potatoes and pumpkin. Sprinkle 100g grated cheddar on top. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees until golden brown (about 35-40 minutes).
Tom Riddle's Harry Potter Diary
This Harry Potter-themed Horcrux will be a great addition to your collection of books or films about the wizarding world. Such a diary can also be created independently. All you have to do is buy a black diary, stick the owner's inscription on the back and add bronze corners. And your gift is ready!
But if you want to add even more magic to your gift, then use invisible ink as well. And you can read about how you can make them in our article “Invisible Ink Recipes”
And if you want to recreate a real diary, then you can make one from scratch. To do this, you will need aged leaves - their quantity depends entirely on the desired volume, a piece of leatherette, cardboard for the base and corners. First you prepare the sheets, marking the holes for stitching.
Stage 1
Then we make the cover. We need cardboard and leatherette - it’s better to glue it momentarily, since PVA does not always cope with its task. And don’t forget to place the cardboard on graph paper first. You need to keep it under pressure for at least 2 hours. During this time, we glue cardboard stencils to our block of sheets.
Stage 2
We fasten the paper to the cover. And finally we attach the corners and decorate them at our discretion. By the way, you can make some red blood splatters on separate pages for a realistic effect.
The final touch
Butterbeer flavored cupcakes
The recipe for the drink can be seen almost everywhere, but dishes with its flavor are rare. Cupcakes will require some skill and baking skills on your part, but we assure you that every minute spent will pay off with incredible taste.
You will need:
For the test
- 2 cups of flour
- Teaspoon of baking soda
- Teaspoon baking powder
- Half a teaspoon of salt
- Cup of cane sugar
- 3 large eggs
- Half a cup of vegetable oil
- Teaspoon of butter
- Seeds of one vanilla pod
- Half a glass of low-fat kefir
- Half a glass of cream soda
- Glass of toffee
For the butterscotch sauce
- Glass of toffee
- Half cup heavy cream
- A tablespoon of honey
For glaze and decoration
- 30-40 mini pretzels
- 2 bars of milk chocolate
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons molasses - you can replace it with corn syrup or invert syrup
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- Teaspoon vanilla extract
- One-third cup of butterscotch sauce
- 2 tablespoons whipping cream
Read on topic: Fantastic books and where they live: what to read instead of Harry Potter
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, in a medium bowl mix flour, baking powder, soda, salt and sugar. In a separate container, beat eggs with vegetable oil, vanilla and kefir. Pour the wet part into the dry part and bring it to a homogeneous consistency until the lumps of flour disappear, at the same time pour cream soda into the dough. The dough should be liquid, like pancakes. Mix it with chopped toffee, pour into baking tins and leave in the oven for 18-25 minutes depending on the power of the oven.
For the toffee sauce, melt the toffee, cream and honey in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Leave the syrup to cool and move on to the pretzels. For them you need to melt the chocolate in the microwave. Dip the pretzels into the hot mixture and wait for the chocolate to set on them.
To make the glaze, beat the butter, molasses and powder until the mixture turns white and has increased in size. Add cocoa with vanilla and a third of a glass of toffee sauce. Continue whisking, gradually adding cream.
To assemble the cupcakes, pour a little frosting onto each cupcake, smooth it out with a knife, top with a chocolate-covered pretzel, and drizzle the butterscotch sauce over the top.
DIY Harry Potter-style magic wand: ideas
Of course, any magic in the Harry Potter style cannot do without a magic wand. And any gift will be harmonious with it as an addition.
Forming a handle with glue
You can make them yourself by decorating a dry branch or even a sushi shelf with a hot glue gun and painting it the desired color. Although you can use a black gun rod. You can use beads or seed beads to create different shapes for the top.
Sticks
And if you want a very real repetition of a wand, for example, Bellatrix Lestrange, then take a walnut branch as a basis. After all, in the Middle Ages it was considered a symbol of sorcerers and witches. And don’t forget that the shape of the wand should resemble a long curved claw.
Bellatrix's Wand
Ideas
Mrs. Weasley's Sweets
The mother of the red-haired family gave them to Harry Potter for Christmas. The book originally talks about treacle fudge, but we found a good alternative for those who don't like the toffee flavor - a chocolate treat.
You will need:
- 2/3 cans of condensed milk
- 1.5 cups sugar
- Half a teaspoon of sea salt
- Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups mini marshmallows
- 1.5 cups chocolate chips
- A quarter cup of roasted walnuts
Cover a square baking pan with foil and spray it with non-stick oil. In a small saucepan, bring sugar, condensed milk and salt to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once the sugar has dissolved, reduce the heat to low and add the vanilla, marshmallows, chocolate and walnuts. Wait for all the ingredients to melt and mix them until smooth. Pour the mixture into the pan, smooth it out with a spatula and sprinkle with flakes of salt. Let the fudge cool, then chill it in the refrigerator for an hour. Before serving, cut the dish into equal square pieces.
Instead of a hat for faculty selection, you can make origami in the style of Harry Potter
Such a DIY souvenir in the style of Harry Potter can become not only a gift for an important celebration, but also for everyday life as entertainment.
First we cut out the template
First, bend the square sheet diagonally in one direction and the other to mark the center. Then we bend the corners towards the center. We turn our workpiece over and bend the corners again along the dotted line towards the center. Fold in half horizontally, open and fold in half again vertically to mark lines in the form of a cross.
Now we seem to fold the workpiece (the corners are inside) in half, but with our fingers we press a little from below and bring all 4 corners together. You get such a voluminous rhombus with 4 sides. And now from the bottom you can push back the petals to insert your fingers.
Forming
How to play: Place the index and thumb of both hands behind the petals. The person who is sorted into faculty selects one image and says any number. It is this that sets how many times to open the so-called hat. Open one way, then the other. When you open it to the desired number, then look at what is written under the selected image. Then we remove our fingers and open the corner with this inscription. And we get the answer under this selected image!
Let's play
Harry Potter And The Chamber of secrets. Ch. 12 All-Essence
“...Other gifts brought much more joy. Hagrid sent over a voluminous jar of treacle toffees, which Harry heated over the fire before putting them in his mouth; Ron gave him a book called Flying with the Guns, a collection of interesting stories about his favorite Quidditch team, and Hermione bought Harry a luxurious eagle feather. In the last package from Mrs. Wesley, Harry found another self-knitted sweater and a large plum pie. Harry read the affectionate card from her, feeling a fresh surge of guilt, and thought about Mr. Weasley's car (which no one had seen since the fall on the Whomping Willow) and about the latest series of violations of all sorts of rules that he and Ron had been up to. Not a single living creature, even one who thought with horror about the upcoming reception of the All-Essence, could not enjoy the Christmas feast at Hogwarts. The Great Hall appeared in all its brilliant splendor. Here, as always, stood a dozen frost-covered fir trees, a cheerful crosshair of fluffy garlands of mistletoe and holly hung over them, and enchanted snowflakes, warm and dry, fell from the ceiling. Dumbledore conducted, and everyone sang their favorite Christmas songs in a friendly choir. The chorus boomed louder with each subsequent cup of eggnog, a drink similar to eggnog with rum.”
Eggnog is a magical drink
The favorite Christmas drink of the British, as you know, is Eggnog or eggnog. And at Hogwarts, even young wizards drink it with rum. And Harry Potter, of course.
Preparation:
Beat 1 egg yolk, add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar, a little salt, 2 tbsp. spoons of rum and 2/3 cup of milk. Mix all this, strain and combine with beaten egg white. Stir again before serving.
From the Internet
How to make a Harry Potter-style golden snitch out of paper?
Of course, you won’t be able to recreate the Harry Potter-style Snitch using paper alone, but you can make it incredibly realistic using available materials. In addition to glue and paper, you will need wire and a tin can. We roll the ball like papier-mâché. Be sure to place it on its legs to dry - we will insert the wings into these holes. To make the ball come out perfectly smooth, coat it with putty. But you can simply wrap it in golden candy foil.
Preparing the base
We make grooves to glue the wire. You can plant it on PVA, but even better on Moment.
Wrap with wire
We cut the wings and unfold the strips.
Making wings
We fix the wings with varnish
Finally, coat it with gold spray paint.
Golden Snitch
Hogwarts at home: how a Russian woman turned her room into the Gryffindor living room
Who among us has not dreamed of learning how to cast a spell? Surely in childhood, everyone broke off a twig from a tree and imagined that they were holding in their hands a real magic wand, capable of performing incredible miracles. And the children of the 2000s know this especially well: their idols were not some abstract wizards, but the most famous witch trinity on the planet - Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.
After the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, was published in 1997, and soon (in 2001) the film of the same name by Chris Columbus was released, JK Rowling became one of the most sought-after writers, and the world was swept by a wave of Pottermania. Children voraciously read books about the adventures of a young wizard and his friends, pleasantly surprising their parents with their sudden passion for literature (even fantasy), themed parties were held everywhere with an appropriate dress code, and, of course, a new niche for cosplayers arose.
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Publication from ??????. ?????????? (@gryffindor.nadiya) Jun 8, 2020 at 11:52 PDT
Today, Harry’s peers are already quite adults, many are raising their own children. But, as time shows, Rowling still managed to create a real miracle, even though she does not wield magic like her heroes. The love for the Harry Potter universe has been able to unite several generations, and today people of all ages, professions and nationalities continue to bear the proud title of Potter lovers. It’s not difficult to recognize them in the crowd: a red and yellow Gryffindor scarf flashed around the corner, and a little further away a time turner flashed. The abundance of paraphernalia associated with the world of Harry Potter is simply mind-boggling. Every self-respecting Potter fan considers it his duty to have at least two required items - a Hogwarts student's robe and a magic wand. More meticulous collectors can also boast a complete set of student uniforms, from a tie to socks, a broom, a Golden Snitch (this is a small golden ball for playing Quidditch - a favorite sport in the Harry Potter universe), and in some houses you can even find the Sorting Hat . But our today's heroine went even further - she set up Hogwarts right in her home.
Photo courtesy of Nadiya Meshcherova (Instagram: gryffindor.nadiya)
Nadiya Mescherova is an ordinary girl from Nizhny Novgorod. He works in a company supplying PET preforms for beverage factories (PET preforms are blanks for making bottles and cans from polymers), raises two wonderful cats, and in the evenings he likes to watch movies and read. But one small detail sets her apart from most people: Nadia lives in a miniature version of Hogwarts!
At first glance, this is an ordinary three-room apartment in a panel house. But the sign on one of the doors evokes a childish nostalgic thrill: “Platform 9 3/4. Hogwarts Express." This is where our journey begins.
You can stand in this room for a long time with your mouth open - what you see is so amazing. The first thing that catches your eye is the large fireplace in the corner. Of course, its function is purely aesthetic, since it is made of plasterboard. But this certainly doesn’t make it any less atmospheric. To capture the aesthetics of the Gryffindor common room as accurately as possible, Nadia decided to design the fireplace herself. Now this is a kind of “heart” of her room.
“Of course, the construction itself was made by workers, but I selected the dimensions myself. First, I drew up a project so that the fireplace would not take up much space, since the room is very small; I planned to allocate 9 m² for it. I measured it all out, then the workers constructed a fireplace. And I decorated it myself: I painted the brick myself, varnished it, glued small coals and poured real coal in there, and put a poker. In general, I approached the fireplace with all my heart,” says Nadiya.
Photo courtesy of Nadiya Meshcherova (Instagram: gryffindor.nadiya)
In her fantasy bedroom, she combined several popular Hogwarts locations: in addition to the general stylization of the Gryffindor living room, there is a workplace in the style of Albus Dumbledore’s office and a corner from Severus Snape’s dungeon. Flasks with colorful potions, jars with herbs and even the magic wand of the gloomy potions professor - an exact copy of the wand from the film - everything is strictly according to the canons.
Nadia herself lined the walls in the room with stone, and “hid” the heating pipe under a plaster structure, which she decorated as Snape’s office. So, unlike the original story, her “dungeon” is always warm and cozy.
“The repair itself lasted about a month, but the preliminary work, of course, took much longer. For probably six months, I nurtured this idea [of creating a room], thinking about where and what materials to get. I looked at pictures of the scenery for the film and wanted to make it as similar as possible. Therefore, it was important for me to look for exactly those materials that would resemble these images. It took about six months to find materials and draw up the project,” says the Potter fanatic.
Photo courtesy of Nadiya Meshcherova (Instagram: gryffindor.nadiya)
Any Potter lover will envy her collection. Nadiya has dozens, if not hundreds of magical artifacts at home, ranging from magic wands to the “Monstrous Book of Monsters,” which is sure to start growling and biting as soon as you pick it up. But every Potter lover knows a secret: you need to gently stroke the book on the spine, and it will immediately calm down.
Taking pride of place among the fan attributes is an exact copy of Nimbus 2000, the famous broom on which Harry played his first Quidditch match. This is a source of special pride for Nadiya. And here is the golden snitch - it sparkles in the light and even flies, just like the real snitch from the movie! However, this is not the only thing that the sorceress Nadia made to levitate.
“I ordered a flying snitch from an online store. It itself is quite small in size, and it comes with nanofilament. It is very thin, as thick as a hair - it is not visible at all. You twist one end of the thread around your finger, attach the other to the Snitch - and it seems to float. And there were ten such nanofilaments in the set. I just took one thread and attached it to the feather. My brother stood behind the scenes and made the pen “levitate”, and I pretended to cast magic with a wand. Sleight of hand and no fraud!” - the girl laughs.
She orders most of the paraphernalia from abroad, since not everything can be found in Russia. “There are things that we can’t get here. For example, I ordered the [Gryffindor] sweater from Scotland. The broom was given to me, and I ordered the robe in London - directly from the Warner Bros. film studio store. But my friends who live in London helped me, because they do not have direct delivery to Russia, and at first it was quite difficult. But it was a childhood dream!” – Nadiya admits.
Photo courtesy of Nadiya Meshcherova (Instagram: gryffindor.nadiya)
Like any collector, she tries to constantly expand her collection of figurines, sticks and other themed items.
“You know, I want to add a lot of things, because now there are a lot of all kinds of paraphernalia that were not there in our childhood,” admits the owner of the mini-Hogwarts. – There are some paraphernalia that very well copy the design of those items that were in the film. For example, I want to collect all the Horcruxes because they are very realistic, very detailed and very high quality. I want to collect the entire collection of magic wands of all the heroes, I want to collect all the Funko POP figures - in general, everything related to Harry Potter. This, of course, is not very feasible, but at least there is something to strive for,” says Nadiya dreamily.
She became a Potter fan in early childhood – back in 2002, when the first film in the franchise was released in Russia. Then Nadia could not even imagine that someday she would have her own personal Hogwarts.
“As a child, I came home from school and always put on a black cloth, took a pencil and imagined myself as a wizard - these were my robe and wand. Therefore, getting a real robe was a long-time dream, and finally such an opportunity arose,” the girl smiles.
Nadiya and her peers will probably always feel this story a little more deeply than representatives of other generations: after all, they went all the way of Harry and his friends at the same age - in fact, they grew up with these characters. “You live in parallel with these heroes for ten years - the period when you grow up and become a person. Therefore, we [Harry’s contemporaries] are very lucky,” Nadiya is sure.
Photo courtesy of Nadiya Meshcherova (Instagram: gryffindor.nadiya)
Two years ago, she started a blog on Instagram, began posting photos of her room there and found many new friends and like-minded people from different countries. At the same time, she began to actively collect merch (this is the name given to various products with certain symbols associated with cinema, music, etc.). Of course, many consider this strange: Nadiya often hears caustic remarks addressed to her from people who believe that such a hobby is a sign of infantilism. But this doesn’t bother her at all. Moreover, the family, on the contrary, actively support and share the girl’s hobbies.
“I hear these kinds of remarks mostly from strangers, but not from my family. One day I told my mother: “Let’s watch Harry Potter together.” She agreed and has been hooked with me ever since! She really liked it. Now both my mother and father support my hobby, and even my brother, who is ten years younger than me. He sees this passion of mine and also grows up with these heroes. Every time I sat down to watch Harry Potter, he would also glance out of the corner of my eye, then he began to grow up and also began to delve into this story. And now I see that every time Harry Potter is shown on TV, he goes and watches it. For me it was surprising at first! But you know, it’s so nice to know that the film really deeply touches any generation, if you look at it a little closer and are not guided by stereotypes that it is a fairy tale for children,” says Nadiya.
In some schools in the UK and USA, books about Harry Potter are included in the list of recommended reading, and in our country in recent years there have been more than once proposals to include Rowling’s works in the school curriculum. And there are very reasonable reasons for this. Still, the Harry Potter saga, in the eyes of most readers and literary critics, has long ceased to be just a children's fairy tale. These works carry something deeper, more authentic and valuable than just a cute story about good and evil wizards - and the latest book confirms this especially clearly. “I like this fairy tale for a reason. This is not a fairy tale for children, but rather for adults, because children see simply magic in it, but for adults there is a lot of things there. It contains such good and important concepts and life values that every adult should watch it,” agrees Nadiya.
Sweets from the world of Potter in the style of Harry Potter: stencils
Bertie Bots beans or a chocolate frog will be appreciated not only by children, but even by adults. And not only in the Harry Potter style. It is worth noting that the beans have been sold in specialty stores for a long time, and yes, they, like the original, will have different flavors - boogers, vomit, earth, lemon, etc.
But, you can also give regular chocolate or M&M's (they are very similar to beans). The frog can easily be recreated using a stencil or even a toy, filled with chocolate. Or you can make it from gelatin and also fill it with chocolate. But the most important thing is the box, so we offer several stencils for inspiration.
Stencil 1
Cards
Stencil for frog 2
Bertie Bobs bean box
We are very pleased with our daughter's new bedroom
Now I'm struggling to get my daughter out of her bedroom. She loves it very much, spends most of her time there and, by the way, has started cleaning it every day. She is also extremely proud of the fact that she designed and created everything herself, with only a little help from her parents. She often brags about this to her friends who come to visit. Needless to say, we ourselves are in awe of how magical the room looks. But we just searched the Internet for Harry Potter bedrooms and took inspiration from various photographs.
How to decorate a room in Harry Potter style: ideas
If your child or even an adult friend is a fan of a magical story about a magician, then you can not just give paraphernalia, but decorate the room in the Harry Potter style to create an incredible holiday atmosphere.
Of course, we use the emblems of the faculties
We use flying keys that guests can take away as a gift
Making our own platform 9 and 3/4
Surprise your guests with invisible shelves
And don't forget to hang the candles
And don’t forget to surprise your guests with your book about monsters
This is a wonderful list of gifts for those who are in love with Harry Potter, Hogwarts and all its magic. Be it New Year or Birthday, these gifts will definitely make you feel like the wizard or witch you love.
And of course, don't forget about gift wrapping, you'll find plenty of Harry themed wrapping paper on sale. But, if you don’t have time to search, just print out a couple of drawings and cover the gift box. Collect your Muggle money and buy a magical Harry Potter themed gift!
Party Games
An important stage in this party will be entertaining games . In order for the magic to take effect and guests to fully feel themselves in a fairy-tale world, you need to come up with good competition tasks.
Search for the Golden Snitch . This game has other names such as Quidditch. It is one of the favorite games of wizards. White tennis balls are suitable for this game. Write numbers on them with a marker: 10, 15, 20. These are glasses. Paint only one of them gold. Write 100 points on it. Hide all the balls in different corners of the room. Hide the golden ball especially carefully. Guests must split into two teams. The captain of one team reads, in advance, questions you have prepared for his opponents. If they answer correctly, they go in search of the Snitch. They have 5 minutes to find him. All found white balls with points are added up. Then the next team goes looking. If the team answers incorrectly, then the right to search is transferred to the opponents. And so on until one team finds the golden ball. Whose team scores more points in total wins.
The second game could be making a magic potion . To do this, you need to take a variety of juices and carefully mix them. You can also provide guests with whipped cream and fruit to garnish cocktails. Each prepared “potion” needs to come up with a name or what it is intended for (a love spell, healing a disease, or a potion for disappearing objects). Transformations. To do this, it is not necessary to divide into teams. You can simply take turns portraying some animal, and everyone else must guess it. Guess the password to the portrait of a fat lady. For this intellectual game, you first need to come up with a password. For example: magic stone. Someone must play the role of this lady. He will answer leading questions, to which she answers only with agreement or denial.
- Is this edible? -No. -Is this sweetness? -No. - Is it alive? -No. -Is this an inanimate object? -Yes. And so on until they guess right. If the game drags on for a long time, you can give a little hint. Although the lady did not do this. But this is a game.
The next entertaining game may be one of the most difficult. This is a search for treasure or the philosopher's stone .
To do this, we give the guests the first coded note, or it can also be disguised between scattered other pieces of paper. We roll these pieces of paper into tubes and place them around the room. Only one of them contains the first riddle. For example: the answer will be a table or a shelf. This is the signal for the second riddle. Place several envelopes with riddles around the house, each answer indicating the location of the second, third and all subsequent questions. The last envelope should contain a blank piece of paper. But, in fact, there is a mysterious code written there with a white felt-tip pen. To see it, you need to draw an invisible code or object (a secret place where treasures are hidden) with a gray felt-tip pen. If you decipher the message correctly, then somewhere in the “secret room” or pantry the guests will find candy or other gifts.
Dragon hunt . Here you can try to play in two ways. For the first one you will need a poster with a picture of a dragon. Hand out imitation spears to the guests - a stick with a plasticine ball at the end. Blindfold the participants, spin each participant in turn and have them try to hit the dragon's eye. The second method is no less interesting. For this competition, you need to tie opaque bags on ropes and place candy in half of them, and place small toy dragons in the other half of the bags. Participants, also blindfolded, cut off one bag and receive their prize.
Interesting children's bed in the form of a castle: decorating a small palace
In childhood, all girls and boys identify themselves with some fairy-tale characters they see on TV screens or the pages of books. As a rule, boys have one preference, while girls have completely different ones. What to do in the case when children are the same age, but different sexes?
A children's bed in the shape of a castle will become the defining idea for the interior style of this room. After all, a castle is a house in which both boys and girls can live.
And if, in addition to everything, your castle is two-story, and with beautiful, carved windows, then it will be very interesting for the little heirs to be in such a house. In addition to the antique style bed, you can equip other pieces of furniture and your entire room will look like a fairy tale kingdom.
A room in the form of a palace with a children's bed that looks like a castle will look very interesting and creative.
What royal style elements can you bring to the nursery:
- If the room is quite large, then you can put a play set with royal symbols;
- Table lamps in an antique style are perfect;
- Soft poufs with elegant legs will come in handy;
- One of the walls can be decorated with photo wallpaper depicting a prince and princess from any fairy tale;
- A chest of drawers, a piano or a desk can easily be designed in the form of a carriage;
- Decorative elements in the form of crowns resting on a shelf and fake candelabra will add a natural feel to the style;
- Beautiful satin curtains on the windows and crib windows will fill the room with the cozy charm of a palace;
- Soft, light carpets on the floor will add luxury and protect against hypothermia.
In such a room, the young prince and princess will feel like royalty, and you can rest assured that they will confidently walk through life in the future.
