Tag: Event

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Harry Potter Birthday: Hogwarts Great Hall Transformation

We recently celebrated our Auggie’s 7th birthday. Once I suggested to him that we do a Harry Potter birthday party, there was no going back. There are endless ideas and options for Hogwarts/Harry Potter Party theme decorations. I decided I wanted to narrow down what we were going to do so it wouldn’t get too out of hand in terms of number of projects and decorations. After searching Pinterest to get some inspiration, I decided to focus on making our dining room into the Hogwarts Great Hall for a sorting hat ceremony for the kids.

I was inspired greatly by Angela Rose Home on how I could transform our dining room into the Hogwarts Great Hall. If you are looking for amazing inspiration, DIY’s, and How To’s, I suggest you check her out! I was inspired by her DIY window transformation to drastically change the space, with minimal effort and money. I’ll show my results below but check her out for the most amazing transformation.

Here are all the details on how we transformed our dining room into the Hogwarts Great Hall to have our very own sorting hat ceremony.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you purchase products through these links, I may receive commission at no extra cost to you.

Great Hall Dining Room

Floating Candles

My first thought when thinking Harry Potter Great Hall is the floating candles. When Harry and his friends walk into the Great Hall for the first time the ceiling is breath taking for all the first-year students. I knew I had to do something to recreate the floating candle look. I found my floating candles on Amazon and decided to string them across the ceiling with fishing wire. There are endless options out there for these battery-operated candles, but I think the most important feature to ensure you get is the remote control on/off. You do not want to have to twist/put batteries in while the candles are hanging.

Window Treatment

This was 100% inspired by Angela Rose Home. She used electrical tape on her windows to create the diamond shape inserts; check out her Instagram and Blog for more details. This was such a simple DIY that makes the biggest impact. It took a single roll of electrical tape and 10 minutes. Everyone commented how great it looked and thought I had bought actual inserts. This is a no-brainer to add to really transform the space.

Hall Decor & Set Up

I bought the Hogwarts House banners from Amazon. Simple hanging decor that we decided to put up alongside the wall, again there are countless options when it comes to the different House Flags on Amazon, but you definitely need a little something for each of the houses when doing a sorting ceremony.

I bought the plastic wall “stone” covers from Dollar Tree. Luckily, his birthday is in October – so these were available in Dollar Tree’s Halloween Seasonal Decorations. I bought four of them to put along the wall to recreate the stone look of the great hall.

We used kid’s tables in the dining room to be able to fit two side by side and Nate made me some benches to have Great Hall seating, but most importantly – we needed Dumbledore’s podium and a stool for the sorting ceremony at the head of the room.

Harry Potter Accessories for Hogwarts Great Hall

Can’t have a shorting ceremony without a sorting hat! We decided to order one from Amazon that actually sorts!

We told everyone that they should wear their robes to our party! Auggie was Harry Potter for Halloween, so we already had ours ready! You can buy Hogwarts or specific houses on Amazon!

We had Hedwig ready to go for added detail since we are big Harry Potter fans already. Some other details for guests include wands!

It was hard to pick and choose which details to focus on for transforming our dining room, but I think we found a good balance to really transform our space with minimal effort. We successfully hosted a sorting ceremony and had many happy kids with their results! But seriously, look at those fingers crossed to not be put in Slytherin.

Birthday Boy being sorted
Auggie being sorted.

Thanks for following along, and I hope you feel inspired to host your very own sorting hat ceremony for the Harry Potter-loving kids in your house.

Follow along for more of my home tour and Schutt Farms’ events.

Madison

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Vintage Farm Birthday Decor

Birthday Boy
Birthday Boy

We recently celebrated our Theodore’s 4th birthday. Per his request, we threw him a Farm themed birthday dinner. Because of his love for the farm, we didn’t need to buy any decorations and just repurposed items we already had. I also borrowed some from my mom, who also has a love for Vintage Farm Decor.

I’m listing out my favorite vintage decorating must haves and what I paid for these items, and then I’ll list out my favorite barn specific items for decorating for a barn theme birthday in hopes you find some inspiration to bring vintage decor into your home.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you purchase products through these links, I may receive commission at no extra cost to you.

Vintage Decorating Must Haves

Treasure hunting for vintage items is my favorite. I love having unique pieces around my house that have a story all of their own.

I have a lot of antique furniture pieces in my house, but today I wanted to highlight the small finds that are practical for home decor.

Here are items I’m always on the look for when I’m out and about at antique shows, garage sales, flea markets, resale shops, and/or estate sales. You can also follow along on Instagram to see more of my everyday vintage finds.

Antique Flower Frog

Vintage Farm Decor
Vintage Farm Decor Display

First up is a flower frog. It’s perfect for holding and displaying photos/paper decor. Here I’ve used it to display a vintage sight word flashcard.

I use these for my everyday decor too. It’s easy to incorporate in every corner of your home.

Flower frogs can be purchased new on Amazon, if treasure hunting is not necessarily your thing. But there is something about a vintage iron flower frog that makes it’s hard for a new one to compare.

All of my flower frogs were bought as part of a $5 fill-a-bag sale. That means I paid a flat $5 to fill my bag with anything at the sale. To give you an idea, I’ve never paid more than $0.25 per item when I participate in this type of sale.

Vintage Pictures to Display

There are a lot of ways to display little pictures via frames or flower frogs to help bring a vintage feel to your decorations. Some of my favorites to tie into decor are antique flashcards and post cards.

Flashcards always bring a vintage feel. Another item that looks cute around the house with everyday decor, but they are nice to pull out for themed events to easily add decoration.

Post Cards are another one of my favorite items to run into. There is something about finding a post card from a place near and dear to your heart. I always look for seasonal post cards when I’m thrifting. Bonus if there is a note and date on the back from the original purchaser.

Again, I love the vintage look, but you can purchase both of these items new to display around your home. I never pay for than $1.00 for an antique post card. It needs to be really special if I’d consider paying more.

Risers & Platforms to Elevate Decor

Image of vintage barn party decor.
Vintage Barn Decorations for Dessert Table

Last on my list is repurposing items for platforms and risers. There are many creative ways to add height to a display. To get the vintage feel, using old printer trays and desk drawers are an easy and affordable way to add height.

Trying to buy these specific antique items online can be pricey when searching for antiques, but when you find them in the wild for a good price (I paid $1.00-$5.00 per item in the ones shown throughout this post), it’s worth it to add to your collection.

Vintage Farm Decor

Shifting to more of a focus on the Vintage Farm Decor for how we decorated for Teddy’s Birthday Party. The items described below can easily be used for other themes, but I’m narrowing in on the farm for this section and descriptions.

Vintage farm birthday decorations
Another look at the dessert table.

Vintage Books

For our farm theme, we pulled out all of our vintage farm books. I always look for used, old books when I’m out thrifting.

Teddy LOVES farm animals so of course he loves reading these books, so they have a dual purpose. Don’t we all love functional decor?

I’m always picking up vintage books that are on my kid’s favorite topics to display in their rooms. I also like to flip through all the picture books at sales because sometimes there are cute pages you may want to frame and display in your house.

It depends on the topic and how much I fell in love with a book, but I try to not pay more than $1.00 per book at used sales.

Antique Toys for Decor

We used all of our vintage farm toys for decorations. I always look for vintage versions of toys to display in my kid’s rooms on bookshelves, and these also end up being some of their favorite toys to pull down and play with.

Some items I’m always grabbing at sales if they are the right price are listed below.

First, are old wooden blocks. These are used time and time again to bring a vintage theme to our decor.

Next, wood or plastic farm animals. Teddy loves playing farm, so I know these won’t just sit on a shelf. He has over 5 barns, and they are constantly filled and organized with all the barnyard animals.

Third, are metal tractors/trucks/cars. These make great vintage decorations. Teddy loves a trailer tractor hook-up, so it’s hard to pass these up when I find them at sales. I pay anywhere from $0.50 to $5 for the items shown in his birthday decor for these tractors. These can get really pricey, even buying used – but I don’t splurge on these items and wait until I find good deals.

Fresh Flowers in Antique Blue Ball Jars

Vintage Farm Decor Flowers
Vintage Fisher Price Farm as Center Piece

Last on my vintage farm decor list is fresh flowers in ball jars. I had to borrow these from my mom because I have not come across the large vintage blue ball jars in the wild yet, but it’s something I’m always waiting to get my hands on for my own collection.

These make beautiful vases and centerpieces for parties. I stopped at Walmart the day before the party and picked up fresh flowers to create these centerpieces. I wish I had my own garden to be able to fill this many jars with fresh flowers, but I only had some wildflowers and stems from our yard to help fill my bouquets.

Thanks for following along, and I hope you feel inspired to bring some of these vintage items into your decor.

Follow along for more of my home tour and Schutt Farms’ events.

Madison