Mischief Managed - Gramp and Gramp Camp 2015

The five oldest grandkids have been reading the Harry Potter books this past year.  So we chose Hogwarts for our theme for Gram and Gramp Camp this year.

 

I spent a lot of time getting things ready. But, being somewhat of a "Potterhead" myself, I actually enjoyed it. I even made wizard cards to go with the chocolate frogs (gummy frogs dipped in chocolate chips).

 

 

 

 

The kids got their "Acceptance to Hogwarts" letters the week before.  They came to our house that night with "The Leaky Caldron" sign on the front door. We had a dinner of pizza and butterbeer under floating candles.

Then it was time to go to Diagon Alley for their Hogwarts supplies.

At Ollivander's, where the "wand chooses the wizard".

With robes, owls and wands they are ready to go to King's Cross Station.

Platform 9 3/4

On the train they got all kinds of treats from the trolley - Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs and Licorice Wands.


After arriving at the castle, they each hat to put on the sorting hat.  They all made it into Gryffindor!

Then they each had to go into Dumbledore's office and retrieve a happy memory from the pensieve, which we wrote down in their book, "Hogwarts, a History".

Then we each got a Maurader's Map.  We talked about the "maps" we have in our real lives, that help us know where to go and how to be safe.

 

After "Solemnly swearing we were up to no good" our maps opened to reveal a secret treasure of Gringott's gold down in the basement.  They were given a Cloak of Invisibility in case they ran into Filch or Snape in the corridors.

 

We had to go down the moving staircase, through the picture of the Fat Lady (after giving her the password), and into the "off-limits to students" area.

 

Sure enough, Filch was roaming the halls with his nasty cat, Mrs. Norris.

 

It was a good thing they had that cloak of invisibility over them.

It was getting late, so we watched "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" movie before going to their dorms to sleep for the night.  It was a good thing they had lots of snacks from the train to eat while watching the movie.

The next morning we had "classes".  First was Potion's class.  We grew crystals, mixed up coloring changing potions, made "Elephant toothpaste" that kept growing and growing, and decorated "Polyjuice Potion" drink bottles.

 

In "Charms class" we learned "Wingardum Leviosa" and made balloons stay in the air.

We had to learn how to summons a Patronus in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and how to get rid of Boggarts.

Then it was Flying Lessons with their new brooms.  Some had Nimbus 2000, other's had Firebolts.

We played several games of Quidditch on our pitch.

Everyone got a turn to be the seeker and catch the snitch.

Then we kind of took a break from Hogwarts and went to their great-grandpa Grose's house to help him clean his house.  The kids all pitched in and were good little workers.

After cleaning, they treated him to two songs in Chinese.

Lunch was at McDonalds.

The last thing we did for this camp was to go ice blocking at Lomond View park.

They all loved it.

We knew it was time to take them back home when Jack had the wind knocked out of him and James got a bloody toe.

I think the sign that they had a good time was when they all asked if we could do this again next year.

Mischief Managed!