The party went great!

The Harry Potter Party for Madison yesterday went great. (Unfortunately, although I had the video camera in my hand, I forgot to record the "surprise" moment.) She was stunned, and happy. She liked "Hagrid's Dinosaur Egg Hunt" the best. She particularly liked an idea that popped into my head literally 5 minutes before the guests arrived: I took a big piece of cardboard and painted "Forbidden Forest" on it in big red letters, and nailed it to a tree at the edge of the forest part of our backyard.

The Pumpkin Potion Punch was a big hit...It was V8 Splash, orange soda, pineapple juice, and ginger ale. I went and got a square chunk of dry ice from a dry ice company (don't you love capitalism?) and put it in a roasting pan in some hot water so that it bubbled and spilled cold steam all over the place, and then set the punch bowl on top of it. Really neat!

One thing I love about my little HP fan is that, unlike me as a kid, she doesn't get all hyped up about presents (and neither does Ella). We don't open presents at our parties, because we want them to be about having fun and not everyone comparing what they gave with what other people gave. But Madison was actually perfectly happy to sit around and talk about the party for a while, and have a bath, before going over to open her presents. When I was her age, it would have been unbearable to wait, and then it would have been a gift-wrap-tearing frenzy.

Actually, I'm not positive why opening presents and getting stuff isn't that important or exciting to Madison and Ella. And the stuff they have is important to them; they never want me to get rid of anything. They pretty much have what they need. They rarely pester me for anything new, not really, and they know if they really want something they can save up for it. But I guess we mostly do rather than buy (thank you, Cindy's Porch!). So they tend to have a good time without excess baggage. I don't know, really, it's hard to say. But I was happy that it was the case.

I think the most creative present she was given was a kids' cookbook, plus measuring spoons and a big stirring spoon and a spatula, with a bunch (like 7!) of boxes of mixes: cookies, brownies, muffins, etc. I'm definitely going to copy that for someone else. I emailed the mom to thank her specially and she told me that you can find all except the cookbook at the Dollar Store.

Photos of the party are coming soon. Today is house cleaning day, after a week of house guests and a party with 11 kids. (David has taken the girls for a bike ride on the Erie Canal for a couple of hours.) And laundry! Lots and lots of laundry in my new laundry room that Alan built this week to my specs and with me hanging by as the Lovely Assistant. I learned a lot, too. I feel great about the new vent system we put in for the dryer, and the insulation around it. Photos of my New Favorite Room coming soon, too.