We dragged the old HP boxes out of storage again for June's 13th birthday party. This time, however, the magical party had a twist. We transformed our basement into a Hogwarts escape room!
I bought this invaluable "how to create your own escape room" paperback book from some weird guy off of Amazon. It was loaded with creative and challenging ideas that you could use for practically every theme! Next was the hard part - coming up with a story, which I finally did! June and 10 friends were led down to the "room of requirement" in our basement to practice their defense against the dark arts. They were then told that Delores Umbridge was hot on their trail and the Dark Lord would not be far behind. Their mission was to work in house teams to decipher clues that would unlock a hidden Dobby - he being the only creature that could apparate them out of Hogwarts to safety! To make it extra tough, we hid the 7 horcruxes around the room. They had to find and combine them to figure out Dobby's location! We put an hour on the countdown clock to really put the pressure on!
Here's our room of requirement! Watch out for the Whomping Willow!
Clues were everywhere - some were in plain sight and some were very hidden!
We created puzzles and cryptexes, used black lights and disappearing ink, and we made the muggles weigh stuff, drink nasty potions, eat disgusting candy, dissolve paint and work as a team. We also made use of every Harry Potter book for clues and answers to riddles!
I had so much fun making it up!
Drink me!
Weigh me!
They even had to visit the prefect's bathroom and consult Moaning Myrtle! Not many of the Honeydukes treats were left at the end of the night - nervous eaters!
Oh, and wand use was off limits!
Not regular chess - wizard's chess!
Delores had them surrounded!
The sorting hat wasn't any help this time!
Here's a look at how intense things got!
It's a good thing we had some die-hard HP fans who knew their stuff!
Sherlock Holmes would have been proud of these kids!
A few of the puzzles were pretty tough. Smarty pants Dad had to step in and help!
Yer a wizard, Klivie!
With just moments to spare (only because I used a charm to slow the
clock in an attempt to save their muggle lives from you know who) they
located Dobby, unlocked his cage, and he apparated them out of harm's
way!
They earned their special birthday treats - Hogwart's house cookies!
Thew were in charge of their own frosting! Can you tell?
Fizzing Whizbees could be added for an extra kick!
June has such a lovely bunch of friends! They made her special night so very fun!
I'm pretty sure this party was a success because when they all were leaving, they asked if we could do it again next year with a new theme!
