Dinata Misovec

The Mequon/Thiensville public library held a birthday party for Harry Potter. Children were encouraged to wear costumes, so Owen and Cam donned their Hogwarts cloaks. They were terribly excited – and so were all the other little Hogwarts students that showed up. I shouldn’t say little. Although many were small, there were also a good number of teenagers in attendance.

Just inside the front door, we completed a questionnaire to determine which house they belonged to. Owen answered as though he was Harry. Cam stood by and, when it was his turn, he answered everything just has Owen had. That kid has a keen power of concentration and an excellent memory.

The first thing we saw was the train station. I’m rusty on my Harry Potter details, but Owen and Cam knew everything there is to know about it.

Our next stop was the Magical Menagerie, filled with fanciful creatures from the books, including an owl and a large, hairy spider.

Owen and Cam were ready to do some serious shopping, but it was not a functioning shop.

There was a quidditch field outside on the lawn. We tossed small balls through hoops.

The deiving station consisted of making those little folding paper fortune tellers we all made as a kid. This one was printed with quotations from the books for the answers.

One of the last things we tried was deciphering secret codes. I tried to help the boys but was completely baffled as to how to decipher the code. This was humiliating to me as I had some cryptology as part of my master’s degree. I asked a kid how to do it, but have not tried her method yet.

We probably should have gotten there earlier; some of the activities were over. We did not miss the cake though! I saw two librarians carrying out a huge sheet cake and went over to take a picture of it. By the time I crossed the room, they had sliced it into dozens of pieces. Oh great; another code.

Owen and Cam loved their cake and punch.

The party was a huge hit with the boys and all the other children present too. I was impressed with the job the librarians did setting it up.