Meet the mum who threw the ultimate entirely homemade Harry Potter themed birthday party for her son - taking over TWO MONTHS to complete.
Mum-of-two and Harry Potter superfan, Sophie Brown, 36, went all out for Lachy's eighth birthday bash - transforming her house into a stunning wizarding world.
Each attendee were welcomed in via the handmade Hogwarts Express platform sign, flanked by a crafted smoking cauldron.
An old cabinet was used to recreate Olivander's Wand Shop, while the famous food trolley was made from a wooden baby change table.
The food on offer was equally as impressive, with Sophie even creating a mandrake from a celeriac.
Walls were adorned with gothic pictures made from vintage picture frames, while floating candles hung from the ceiling.
Quidditch rings, brooms and score displays were all crafted and upcycled by Sophie, from an old tea spoon display.
And kids were all given a vial of swirling potion to take home and their own magic wand - hand whittled from twigs she found.
Sophie's favourite creation however, was the life-like Hedwig birthday cake which was an "intense process".
Sophie, a DIY content creator from Melbourne, Australia, admits the do was "over the top" - and she fell into a "vortex of self-indulgent crafting behaviour".
She said: "I've loved Harry Potter since I was a kid but I realise this is a little insufferable.
"It's one of those things that I hoped my children would love so I've been waiting for my eldest to enjoy it and this is finally the year that he's started to love it.
"Although, the lines were a little bit blurred over whether this was a party for me or him!
"I tried to be as resourceful as I could to justify the extreme crafting.
"A lot of things were second hand from thrift stores and antique shops but a lot of the other arts and crafts I had in my studio.
"The two months captured that whole period of making and sourcing stuff, before falling down the vortex of self-indulgent crafting behaviour.
"It was nice to transform everything - less nice for my husband! I set up the gallery a month out from the party and I still haven't taken it down.
"I would like to reiterate that I 100% realise it was completely over the top but it was fun, and maybe a little chaotic."
"It's also what I do for work, I realise most mum's don't have the time to go all out in this way."
The party began days before for Sophie, when she sent out her Hogwarts Express themed invites.
She said: "I used a free template I found online and made some edits to suit.
"I also bought a cheap Hogwarts seal online and using red polymer clay to make a fake wax seal for the envelopes.
"These were 'tickets' to arrive at the platform for the party."
After the chosen few made their way into Hogwarts, they were greeted to a gallery of gothic wizarding pictures, mimicking the moving art found throughout Hogwarts, as well as potion bottles.
Sophie said: "I used a $15 box of vintage frames and giant $20 gilt frame both fo
Mum-of-two and Harry Potter superfan, Sophie Brown, 36, went all out for Lachy's eighth birthday bash - transforming her house into a stunning wizarding world.
Each attendee were welcomed in via the handmade Hogwarts Express platform sign, flanked by a crafted smoking cauldron.
An old cabinet was used to recreate Olivander's Wand Shop, while the famous food trolley was made from a wooden baby change table.
The food on offer was equally as impressive, with Sophie even creating a mandrake from a celeriac.
Walls were adorned with gothic pictures made from vintage picture frames, while floating candles hung from the ceiling.
Quidditch rings, brooms and score displays were all crafted and upcycled by Sophie, from an old tea spoon display.
And kids were all given a vial of swirling potion to take home and their own magic wand - hand whittled from twigs she found.
Sophie's favourite creation however, was the life-like Hedwig birthday cake which was an "intense process".
Sophie, a DIY content creator from Melbourne, Australia, admits the do was "over the top" - and she fell into a "vortex of self-indulgent crafting behaviour".
She said: "I've loved Harry Potter since I was a kid but I realise this is a little insufferable.
"It's one of those things that I hoped my children would love so I've been waiting for my eldest to enjoy it and this is finally the year that he's started to love it.
"Although, the lines were a little bit blurred over whether this was a party for me or him!
"I tried to be as resourceful as I could to justify the extreme crafting.
"A lot of things were second hand from thrift stores and antique shops but a lot of the other arts and crafts I had in my studio.
"The two months captured that whole period of making and sourcing stuff, before falling down the vortex of self-indulgent crafting behaviour.
"It was nice to transform everything - less nice for my husband! I set up the gallery a month out from the party and I still haven't taken it down.
"I would like to reiterate that I 100% realise it was completely over the top but it was fun, and maybe a little chaotic."
"It's also what I do for work, I realise most mum's don't have the time to go all out in this way."
The party began days before for Sophie, when she sent out her Hogwarts Express themed invites.
She said: "I used a free template I found online and made some edits to suit.
"I also bought a cheap Hogwarts seal online and using red polymer clay to make a fake wax seal for the envelopes.
"These were 'tickets' to arrive at the platform for the party."
After the chosen few made their way into Hogwarts, they were greeted to a gallery of gothic wizarding pictures, mimicking the moving art found throughout Hogwarts, as well as potion bottles.
Sophie said: "I used a $15 box of vintage frames and giant $20 gilt frame both fo
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Come with me as I take you down a Harry Potter crafting vortex where I spiraled for two months
00:05 making these DIYs for my kids birthday.
00:06 Now if you are a mum or a child with a mum who has not thrown you an elaborate Harry
00:10 Potter party, don't complain, most mums don't have two hours, let alone two months.
00:13 This is what I do for work, I make stuff and I show you how.
00:15 Also, as a massive Harry Potter fan, the lines became extremely blurred about whether this
00:20 party was actually for my child or really just for me.
00:23 Now you can see I turned my living room into a gothic manor which annoyed my husband and
00:26 made my family think I was crazy.
00:28 But perhaps the insanity can be put down to this miniature Ollivander's cabinet that
00:32 I made and possibly acquired lead poisoning from.
00:35 Inside the cabinet are wand boxes that I made and inside those boxes are elaborate wands
00:39 that I sculpted.
00:40 I realise what I'm about to tell you sounds completely insufferable and that is because
00:45 it is ridiculous.
00:46 I collected a series of branches from our local park which I sanded and stained and
00:51 then sculpted into various shapes.
00:53 If my child came home from a party with a wand made by the mother from a stick that
00:57 she had whittled from the local park, I would also think she was insufferable.
01:00 Or that she had experienced some kind of craft-induced medical episode.
01:03 For the sorting hat ceremony, I made these little caramels I saw on Pinterest and added
01:07 a coloured M&M to sort them into their houses.
01:09 You might have seen one of my earlier videos where I made these swirling potions and we
01:12 set up an activity station for the kids to make their own miniature swirling potion.
01:16 All the ingredients were food safe in case a child decided to test it to see if they
01:19 would turn into a werewolf.
01:21 And in an extremely niche Harry Potter reference, I made these Snape's last memory bottles
01:24 for the party bags.
01:25 It's not a kids party unless there are some thinly veiled threats, at least not in my
01:29 household.
01:30 Our Halloween spider Mavis also made an appearance.
01:32 This was a key game I made using these flying keys from Timu I added some tags to and the
01:36 kids had to spell out the name of each of their houses.
01:38 I made some Quidditch rings and broomsticks.
01:41 One child told me that the broomstick didn't look like a firebolt.
01:43 Spoiler alert, it was my own kid.
01:45 I made the scoreboard from an old teaspoon display and this prize table from a baby change
01:49 table.
01:50 The House Cup winners got the first chance to win a prize off the prize table.
01:53 They were all numbered and the numbers corresponded to golden snitches in the golden snitch claw
01:58 machine game.
01:59 I just added a few stickers to a claw machine from Amazon and the golden snitches were Ferrero
02:02 Rochers.
02:03 Safe to say it was a hit with the kids.
02:04 Here's the party spread.
02:05 Lots of great food ideas from Pinterest, the gorgeous silver platters and the suitcases
02:09 you saw at the start you can hire from Frog Goose Bear Party High in Melbourne.
02:12 And here's my corpse after two months of crafting.
02:14 Just kidding, it is a celeriac that I decided to sculpt at 1045 the night before the party.
02:19 Please send help, I know that is not normal behavior.
02:22 Also finishing off with Hedwig Alkay.
02:23 I will be sharing some of the step by step DIYs if that's something you're in to stick