Reading the Harry Potter Series
During the fall of 2022, I was asked the question it feels like I waited forever to hear: “Can we read the Harry Potter series?” The answer was a resounding, “Yes! Let’s do it!”
We celebrated completing each book with a family movie night and themed popcorn bar (for most of them). Here’s how we spent the summer of 2023 Harry Potter obsessed!
The Sorcerer’s Stone
Right after the boys asked to start reading the books, we took a family vacation to New York City just before Christmas (read about our trip here). As we were at the hotel packing our backpack for a second day of sightseeing, Jacob suggested we bring the book. We were planning to explore Central Park, which felt perfect. We found a bench and read a chapter together. It was magical.
Afterwards, we hopped on the subway and headed to the Harry Potter store. I am so glad I never got a wand before that day. It was an amazing experience to pick out our wands together. Jonah picked Harry Potter’s wand. Jacob chose Neville Longbottom’s. I got Hermoine’s and Brandon opted for the elder wand, Albus Dumbledore’s.
We finished the book sometime in January and had our first movie night. At the time, we didn’t realize how special these viewings would become.
We immediately began the second book after our first movie night and flew through it. By this time, both boys were hooked.
To honor their defeat over Tom Riddle and the basilisk, we added Slytherin snakes (gummy worms) to our popcorn bar.
It was also at this time that we began planning Jonah’s 6th birthday. He chose a Harry Potter theme. Read about the Harry Potter birthday party here.
Summer Break
Jonah’s birthday party was at the very end of the school year. Once we were on summer break, we decided to challenge ourselves to read the rest of the series before school started again. This meant reading 3 chapters per day. We put together this progress tracker to color in and keep us motivated. Not only did we meet our goal, but we ended up completing our reading of the final book on July 31 (Harry’s birthday). We had our last movie night that evening, but the fun didn’t stop there.
The Prisoner of Azkaban
For his birthday, Jonah received a 6-pack of butterbeer. He decided he wanted to wait for the next movie night to drink them. We also celebrated with stuffed animals: Hedwig and Buckbeak.
The Goblet of Fire
As the midpoint of the series, we opted for the Ultimate Popcorn bar and got the following from It’s Sugar: golden dragon egg gummies (mango gummy bears), durmstrong victors (muddy bears - chocolate covered gummy bears), Slytherin snakes (gummy worms), black lake transfiguration (gummy sharks), gilly weed (sour gummy rope), grindylow bait (chocolate covered cookie dough bites), riddle graveyard tomb stones (gummy citrus slices). We repurposed some wrapping paper by drawing on the backside and set up our spread. We all agreed, we found our limit. This was over the top and more than we needed.
The Order of the Phoenix
After the ultimate popcorn bar, we opted for a more modest movie snack. This time we added phrophecy orbs (airhead bites) and half giants (sour gummy bears). To accommodate all the time we were spending at summer camps, this is also when we began relying on the audiobooks in the car.
The Halfblood Prince
By the end of book 6, we were popcorned out. Instead of homemade pizza, we ordered pizza and breadbites from Domino’s. I believe this is the movie when we started to play Who is Missing from this Scene? since so many of the book events were depicted so differently in the movie scenes.
The Deathly Hallows
After we made it through chapter 25, we watched Part 1. We did have popcorn, but without the candy. We also had a friend going through chemotherapy at the time and signed up for her meal train. Instead of our homemade pizza and popcorn bar, we opted for her favorite: Alberto’s pizza and Merk’s wings.
For Part 2 we made a cauldron pot roast and ate it out of themed dishes: Harry Potter cauldron and Black cauldron mug. We also made a polyjuice potion to drink with our popcorn.
The morning after we watched the final movie, the boys woke up to a Horcrux hunt. I had a ordered these bookmarks and had a note that explained how it worked. It read…
Jacob and Jonah,
We are so proud you finished your goal of reading the Harry Potter series this summer.
In this box, were 7 horcruxes. They are now hiding around the house. Their locations make sense to the object. For example, you will most likely find a ring where jewelry is stored. Your best bet is to hunt the horcruxes together. After all, even Harry had help.
Grab your Harry Potter glasses and wand for more fun. Happy hunting!
We love you!
Mom & Dad
Theme Park
Before going back to school and as an additional celebration to finishing the series, we went to Universal Orlando to immerse ourselves in the magical world. We bought themed shirts: Quidditch jersey (youth), Dobby is Free (youth), Cartoon Harry Potter (youth), Herbology (mens), and Hogwarts (womens). Jonah couldn’t decide which design he liked better, so he ended up getting two shirts.
Since it was August in Florida, we also got water bottles to take with us: Tervis with charms wrap (Jonah) and Red bottle with Harry Potter shield (Jacob).
Overall, we had a blast reading and watching the books. We thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in the wizarding world. We even still test each other to see how much we remember about the characters and events with these Trivia Pursuit cards.
We even dressed up as Harry, Neville, and Luna for Halloween last year. Check out our Family Halloween Costumes here.
Are you ready for the next series? Check out how we celebrated reading "The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan.