You may or may not know the importance of July 31….

For us Harry Potter nerds, it’s Harry Potter’s birthday! Sure, it really is just another regular day- but as with any other food/random holiday, sometimes it’s fun to have an excuse to party!

I read the books as a teenager and I LOVED THEM. I remember waiting in line with my amazingly patient father until midnight on the night of the various book releases and staying up reading til 4:00 in the morning (or beyond!) because I just couldn’t wait to dig in! I read the first 3 books at least 10 times, and as each sequential book was released, I re-read them again! A part of me wished (and secretly hoped!) that I would get my letter to Hogwarts.... Alas, it never came;). I was sucked into the magic, and even as an adult now, I love and enjoy reading my paperback and illustrated versions.

And now as a mom, I can’t wait for the day I get to share my love of Harry Potter with my children. As much as I’ve wanted to read them to my kids, I’ve held off, not wanting to start them until my kids are old enough to really appreciate the story. You only get to hear it for the first time once!! With my oldest being 8, I think we’re nearing the time that I can finally share this fun and special part of my childhood with him.

My niece has recently been introduced to Harry Potter, and she is just as obsessed as I hope my children will be! For her birthday, she received a wand, robe and Harry Potter glasses for her birthday, and her mom made such a fun Harry Potter themed cake for her.

She even put in a mini version of her, so she is part of the whole Harry Potter world! How cute is that??

I’m looking forward to July 31. In future years, I can’t wait to snack on chocolate frogs and gamble with Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Jelly Beans. And of course, we’ll drink our fair share of butterbeer! There are so many variations on butterbeer (ice cream flavors, cupcakes, etc), that I know we’ll never run out of tasty options to try!

Another fun idea I saw a local cupcake shop do was make “Sorting Hat Cupcakes”. Fill each cupcake with various colored sprinkles (red, green, blue, and yellow for the corresponding Houses), and top with a fondant Sorting Hat. What a fun and tasty way to incorporate the sorting process!

Any variety of punch could be “Polyjuice Potion”. You could make broomsticks from pretzels and cheese sticks or peanut butter cups. Snakes could be imagined from gummy worms or breadsticks. You could even make a birthday cake for Harry, complete with pink and green frosting and incorrect spelling ;). There are so many fun things I can’t wait to try!!

The point is- I’m excited. Maybe you’re not as big a fan of Harry Potter as me. But I think there is a lot of value in sharing your childhood favorites with your children! Whether it’s Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Anne of Green Gables, Marvel/DC comics- one of the joys of having children is sharing your favorite things with them. And I think it’s just going to get more fun as they get older!

And if you’ve never read Harry Potter, I’m sure none of this made sense. But thanks for letting me share my love and excitement for part of my childhood :).