Happy Hippie Mama: Harry Potter and Halloween 2013

This past summer we entered the world of Harry Potter. I had attempted to read the first book to Harrison during fall of 2012, but he wasn't ready (much to my dismay). I had never read any of the books or watched the movies. I was twenty when the first book was written and had no interest in that genre at the time. As I grew older, I was curious but I couldn't justify the time reading or watching the movies. So basically I was depriving myself without knowing. Harrison has always liked the idea of Harry Potter, so I knew it was coming eventually. For some reason, we decided to watch all of the movies during summer break. It was a huge family event and we LOVED every minute of it. Now we have progressed to reading the books and the kids are really enjoying it. I honestly don't know how I lived those 16 years of my life without Harry Potter. I am a changed woman. Haha.

So naturally we decided that we should go as our favorite characters from Harry Potter for Halloween. Harrison obviously wanted to be Harry, as Kadie wanted to be Hermione. Sam was pretty indifferent, but it seemed natural that he should be Ron. I started pricing and researching costumes in late July. I realized at that time we would not be purchasing the official costumes because I'm pretty frugal when it comes to Halloween. I couldn't not justify spending $100 on costumes. I should have started making costumes in August, but let's just be honest...that is not how I roll.

I didn't actually start making the robes until the week prior to Trunk or Treat. This was dumb considering I wasn't even sure if my sewing machine still worked and that pretty much left me no time to accommodate for mistakes or mishaps. I thought the scarves would crochet up much faster, but they did not. They were tedious and not fun to make at all.

Somehow, I made it by our Trunk or Treat deadline and all three of my adorable kiddos proudly pranced around in their mostly mama made costumes and daddy made wands. I won't talk about all of the mishaps and lack of sleep that helped make that possible. (Cough cough...Sam didn't end up getting a scarf)

Here is the link that I used to make the Gryffindor robe.

Here is the link for the scarf. I modified the scarf a bit, but mostly followed the pattern.

The ties were made from felt and we just cut them out using a template I found online. I used a circle of elastic to keep them on their necks.

Chris made their wands this summer as a fun project.

We used white button downs, black pants/skirt for the rest of the uniform. We had most of the regular clothing for the boys, so really it just took buying Kadie the solid pieces of clothing. The nice thing about the uniform clothing is that we can wear the pieces all fall and winter. Conveniently timed, Harrison got new glasses this past week. We used orange hair spray to make Sam look like Ron.

Here are some photos of the process and the cute kids.