I have a nephew with a birthday coming up, so I created this card for him. I’m challenging myself to keep creating – the more I do, the easier it gets.
Author: cyndikesavan
Photography Class
A fragrant yellow frangipani flower in the rain. Jakarta, Indonesia. February 12, 2023.
Fresh leaves growing on a mangrove tree. Desa Laguna Resort, Indonesia, March 26, 2023. Mangrove trees serve as a major “blue carbon sink”, meaning they are excellent at absorbing and storing carbon from the atmosphere.
Bamboo that has been harvested for use as building material at Desa Laguna Resort, Indonesia, March 26, 2023.
A baby coconut found on the Desa Laguna island of Indonesia on March 26, 2023.
A canoe anchored on the regenerative resort island of Desa Laguna in Indonesia, March 26, 2023.
Jakarta, Indonesia, February 11, 2023.
Lego Derby
We have now been in Cub Scouts for a few years. Jackson has participated in two pinewood derby races, and we were prepared to do the same this year. (We even bought powdered graphite to lubricate the wheels), BUT here, they have LEGO derbys!!! Jackson loves Lego, so we certainly got behind this new adventure.
Jackson built his racer with Lego parts that he had. He ended up adding some coins for weight, by sliding them into the windows of his car. His Cubmaster called it the ‘PiggyBank Racer’!
Jackson won the first heat, but then his car went off the rails! The winners of the race this year tested their cars on the track in advance. We’ll be sure to do that next year!
Roni the Barber comes to the house
I asked our Pembantu for a recommendation on who to take Jackson to, for a haircut. She found someone, and said it was easier for him to come to the house, especially when it is raining. So, Roni the barber now comes to cut Jackson’s hair. He does a nice job. Is relatively inexpensive, and we don’t have to go out into the traffic! I even asked him if he would pose for me as part of my school project, and he agreed. What a good sport!
Harry Potter Birthday Party – Activities
Once everyone arrived and they changed into robes and selected a wand, we moved into Defense Against the Dark Arts class, where the kids decorated their treat boxes. We used paper gabled boxes and decorated them to look like luggage trunks. The had to glue on the Harry Potter stickers, use washi tape for the straps, and with some help, used brass fasteners for the finishing touch. (It was funny to see that many of the kids had not used the brass fasteners before and didn’t know they had to ‘open’ the backs of them to make them stay in place.) They tied a luggage tag to their trunk, so they could fill their box with goodies, and take them home at the end of the party.
We then moved outside for potions. I had three tables, set up in a U-shape. I put four kids on each side, with two helpers in the middle. I was at the head table.
We started by ‘hatching’ dragon eggs. I made the eggs in advance by forming balls of baking soda, water, and food coloring around plastic dragons, into an egg shape. I popped them into the freezer until party time.
We made glow in the dark slime. Mixing Elmers clear glue with a slime ‘reactor’, and then adding in the glow in the dark powder. The kids mixed everything up in black paper cups with tongue depressors, and once they had slime, they put it in a plastic jar with a lid to take home. I had printed labels for the jars, with everyone’s name on them, so they didn’t get mixed up.
We made popcorn to demonstrate another chemical reaction. I used an outside ‘camping’ stove with a clear glass lid, so the kids could watch the popcorn popping. They were suitably impressed, and enjoyed munching on the popcorn.
We next put vinegar into a plastic ziplock back, and then tossed in a tissue filled with baking soda, zipped the bag and tossed it out into the driveway. They kids got a kick out of watching the bags expand and then explode!
We made root beer floats. The American kids were like “ROOT BEER FLOATS – YEAH!!!” The other kids were like “don’t drink that!!! It tastes like medicine!”
We (attempted to) put mentos in Coke. Everyone had a bottle of Coke, and a stack of 6 mentos that I glued together, so that they would all go in at once. Well, the birthday boy put mentos into his Coke. I could only get my hands on seven 250ml bottles of Coke…the teeny tiny ones. I had to use one 350ml bottle, so the larger bottle went to the birthday boy. It turns out the cute little bottles were too small – and the mentos would not fit! The kids didn’t care. They shook their bottles and sprayed the foam, without the mentos. All in the name of science, of course!
I had one more activity up my sleeve, but I was nervous about it. I need industrial grade peroxide. The type you would get from Sally Beauty Supply. Unfortunately, there is no Sally here, so I ordered peroxide. Instead of getting 15% peroxide, I got 50%. Eek! As we were running out of time, we skipped this activity. The idea was to make ‘Hagrid’s toothpaste’, and mix the peroxide with baking soda, add some plastic spiders and watch it all explode from the recycled jam jars that I had collected from my neighbors. Oh well. Maybe next time!
After potions class, we headed to the Great Hall for cake and ice cream. The party was between meal times, so we had lots of healthy snacks out: cucumbers, tomatoes, hummus, cheese, almonds, etc.
We had lemonade and water to drink, and then a three-layered birthday cake, made to look just like the one Hagrid brought to Harry on his 11th birthday. Pink frosting, with green lettering: Happee Birthdae, Jackson. With two layers of vanilla cake and a strawberry layer in between there was something for everyone, and the birthday boy was on cloud 9! We also had a choice of vanilla or strawberry ice cream.
Once everyone had finished eating, they headed to the trolley to fill their treat boxes with popcorn, chocolate frogs (that I made from Ghirardelli chocolate and plastic frog molds), jelly beans (Bertie Botts and the ‘nice’ Jelly Bellies), and gold coins. They also took home the dragons they hatched, the slime they made, and their robes and wands. It truly was a magical birthday!
Harry Potter Birthday Party – Decorations
Platform 9 3/4 and Hogwarts Express: I had suitcases and trunks along with Hedwig (and cage), Scabbers, and Crookshanks at the front door. I also had a chalkboard with the message “Wizards Welcome – Muggles Tolerated”. Using a spring load rod and ring clips I hung backdrop with a brick design and the slit already cut – the for the kids to walk through. I made a Hogwarts Express sign with cardboard and paint. Once ‘aboard’, the kids changed into robes and selected a wand. I used graduation gowns and ironed on Gryffindor badges to make the robes and I used hot glue and paint on large chopsticks to make the wands. (include picture of sign, wands, robes)
Defense Against the Dark Art class: Brick patterned plastic sheeting that looked like castle stones to cover up the junk on my bookshelves. I set up Wizard’s Chess, keys with wings, greenery to represent Devil’s Snare, and a plush Fluffy – the three headed dog on this table. This is where the kids decorated their treat boxes, so I also set out glue, Harry Potter stickers, washi tape, luggage tags with their names, and brass fasteners.
Potions: Outside, I set up three folding tables. A head table for me and all the extra supplies. I had a cauldron, glass bottles with cork stoppers that were filled with colored water, and lots of vinegar, baking soda. I had brooms leaning up against a potions sign (add photo). The tables were set with gold paper trays holding all of the ingredients they would need. (Coke, mentos, Root beer, glow in the dark powder, Elmers glue, paper cups, glass jelly jars, tongue depressors, etc.)
Great Hall: I set up the dining room table with a tablecloth, cloth napkins, gold chargers, candelabra, stemmed (plastic) cups. Nearly Headless Nick was looking on. (a cardboard knight cutout taped to the door)
Bathroom: There’s a TROLL in the dungeon sign, with a picture of the troll – hung on the bathroom door.
Harry Potter Birthday Party – Early Planning
There are so many options and ideas for a theme – it is so easy to go overboard. I focused on the first movie – The Sorcerer’s Stone and kept it very light – nothing scary. My goal was to use props and supplies that I already had, and to buy things that could be reused for future party decorations. I ordered most everything from Amazon, and I ordered early – knowing that mail often takes a month or more to get here, and frequently gets lost along the way.
I organized everything by station: Hogwarts Express, The Great Hall, Defense Against the Dark Art class, and Potions class.
I even gave Jackson his Lego gift early, so that he could put it together before the party, and we could use it as a decoration!
Harry Potter Birthday Party: Invitations
Back in December or so, I convinced Jackson to let me plan a Harry Potter birthday party for him. He has been quite against it, but once I convinced him to watch the Sorcerer’s Stone with me, he was all in. We agreed to have a small-ish party at the house, and we set the guest list to 8 kids total.
I started with the invitations. Most invitations are digital these days, but I went old school and created ‘flat card’ paper invitations, with a Hogwarts wax seal for the envelopes. I used 4 Privet Drive font for both invitation and envelope, with black ink for invitations and a green ink for the text of the envelopes. I think they turned out marvelous!
We are Penn State
I have a few years left of work, but it is time for me to focus on what comes after retirement. I have a lot of ideas that will make me happy, but I’m working to ensure I have a way to pay the bills too!
I’ve started taking classes part-time through Penn State World Campus to get a degree in Digital Multimedia Design. So far, so good. I’m taking a photography class and a basic design class this first semester. Most days, I’m getting up at 3am to fit in the classwork. Fingers crossed that I can get to the finish line!
Getting Ready for February Birthdays
My brother and his daughter have birthdays in early February. I created these adorable birthday cards for them, and Jackson helped me with the scoring tool, so that we could fold them easily and get the in the mail.
I created both cards in Adobe Illustrator, using a template I had set up previously. It is for a 5X7 card, with fold and cut lines. I also bought these cute watercolor woodland animal designs from Creative Market.
