Harry Potter-Inspired Halloween Buffet

Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween, Day #15! If you missed any of the previous days, click here!

I absolutely love today’s post. My friend Aurie from Finding Your Joy in the Journey is here, and her Wicked Witch Buffet is going to knock your socks off. Check it out!

Halloween is one of my most favorite times of the year. I love the whimsical side of it but I especially love the spooky aura mixed in. In our house we are huge Harry Potter fans so of course I had to tie some Harry Potter into our Halloween Decor. The best way I knew how to do that we to create some wickedly awesome potions. 

I set to work trying to come up with the perfect way to incorporate Harry Potter potions into my Halloween decor and I decided that the only way to do this was to create a work station on my buffet. 

I set out to collect as many different containers as I could. I got some at Hobby Lobby on sale (because goodness knows I didn’t want to spend a fortune on all the unique glass containers). I also set out on a hunt to find more at local thrift stores, I started looking for them months before Halloween so that I could make sure I was ready when the best holiday EVER rolled around. 

Then I had to make the labels. I used PicMonkey to create most of the labels and attached them with ModPodge. I created as many Harry Potter names potions and ingredients as I could. I also found some labels on Amazon for different Potions. I just googled Harry Potter Potion labels and found a long list of options.

After the bottles and containers were ready I set out to find just the right items to make the ingredients. I used colored sprinkles, food dye, corn syrup, vinegar, spices and various forms of candy (among other things) to fill each container. I think this was my favorite part, hunting down just the right liquids and spices to make my items looks authentic.

This was the part where I got to get creative. I think my favorite was the Armadillo Bile. I mixed corn starch (to thicken it up) with vinegar, corn syrup, lemon juice and hot sauce to give it the perfect “bile” look. I may or may not have totally gagged at the smell when I was making it, but man was it worth it, the mixture turned out perfect.

Polyjuice Potion was fun as well. That’s where my inner Harry Potter geek got to shine. I mixed green bean baby food with corn syrup, chocolate sprinkles, vinegar and corn starch. The mixture was such a thick gooey mess that it was sure to fool any Hogwarts student.

After I created all the potions and ingredients I set out to decorate the buffet. I gathered my spider, skulls, rats and other Halloween decorations to mix in with the vials and containers.

I searched my book collection and found some of the books with “creepy” titles: The Hot Zone, Zombies, Treasure Island, and Inca Gold. {I don’t have a lot of creepy books, so those titles had to do.} I tied some twine around them and added a spooky key. I also grabbed my skeleton candelabra and my wooden raven statue to add to the mix, just to send the creepy up a notch.

I found the coolest fake heart and brain at the dollar store, along with a creepy black rat and some plastic spider. I love the dollar store when it comes to decorating for the holidays, they always have the perfect little things to add to the mix, so you don’t have to worry about spending a fortune on your decor.

I LOVE how it all turned out, it was definitely worth all the extra work. My 6-year-old keeps telling me that it’s the coolest thing he has ever seen. He loves inspecting the different ingredients and asks me what each one is for. My older two boys keep asking me if they can create potions of their own. We are having a Halloween party and I think I just might let the kids use all the ingredients to make their own potions. I find myself walking into our formal dining room just to look at this buffet. It’s probably my most favorite decorated space and by far the most intricate.

 

 

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