Yahoo TV

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 found on Gumtree. "I printed out a series of portraits and gave them an oil painting finish using super heavy matte gel and the remote control/battery operated candles were from Amazon and I hung them using fishing wire from the ceiling. "For the potion bottles I sculpted all the skeletons and dragon tails from resin based clay to go on top and the labels I bought from an artist on Esty. "The potions solution is with mica powder which makes them swirl." Lachy and his wizard and witch mates were treated to a variety of different Harry Potter inspired games, all of which Sophie built from scratch. She said: "The kids had a great time, they were over the moon and the enjoyment on their faces made all that hard work really satisfying. "We had a game of Quidditch and I used a few pieces of dowel attached to embroidery hoops and some timber blocks for the goals and the broomsticks were made from deconstructed millet brooms and a length of bamboo. "We also had a flying key game where the kids were sorted into their houses and each house had to find all of the letters to spell out their house name. "I picked up some inexpensive vintage keys with wings and made some house banners and then created some tags to go on the keys with letters that spelled out the house names." Sophie also kept score of the Quidditch game on a scoreboard, crafted from an old teaspoon display set. She said: "The cart was a baby change table I picked up for free on Gumtree. I added a simple sign with the iconic line from the movie. "The prizes were an assortment of themed items, e.g. 'goblin teeth' were lolly teeth that I cut into spiky goblin teeth. "There was a Godric Gryffindor sword, Harry Potter book, a cheap chess set, a thrifted ink well I picked up for a few dollars and a feather quill I made cheaply." The kids were then treated to The Great Feast with a variety of Harry Potter themed grub on offer. From ham and cheese Howlers, Troll Snot and Cheese Broomsticks to Hufflepuffs, Quirrell’s Quiches, Butterbeer and Butterbeer Popcorn, before the pièce de résistance of the Hedwig cake. Sophie said: "It was made out of homemade white chocolate mudcake, buttercream and homemade white modelling chocolate, edible wafer paper feathers and gelatine eyeballs. "It was so intense but the challenge was so satisfying though. "My other child is only four so I think I've got another 10 years of extravagant cake demands!" Before the young witches and wizards left the party, they were treated to their very own wand and potion bottle. Sophie said: "The wands were sticks from the park stripped off the bark and sanded and stained and then sculpted with epoxy clay. "I added marbles to the top and then stained and painted the clay. Finished with a clear glossy seal. "It was one of my favourite things to do. "The looks on their little faces when they got them made it all worthwile. "Lachy allocated the wands and he was very selective over who should have what and he wanted to bling his up with gold!" "Their broomstick party bags included Goblins Gold chocolate coins, Basilisk lollies, a “Snape’s Last Memory” mini potion, a cheap deathly hallows necklace, a chocolate frog and jellybeans."