May Every Day | International Harry Potter Day

May Every Day is a series of daily blog posts for May 2021 sharing days and weeks that we celebrate or observe. Some of these days are well-known holidays while others are more obscure observances, some are celebrated internationally while others are more nationally focused, some are significant while others are just plain FUN!

In 2012, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron declared May 2 as International Harry Potter Day. This date was chosen because it was the date that Harry Potter beat Lord Voldemort in The Battle of Hogwarts. Honestly, I had no idea what day the battle occurred; however, I'm all for a day to celebrate Harry Potter.

I've scrapped and (shared on the blog here) our stories about reading (and re-reading) the Harry Potter books and watching (and re-watching) all the movies. 

However, I'd only created one (one!) layout about our 2014 visit to Harry Potter World in Florida and no (zero!!) layouts about our 2016 visit to Harry Potter World in California and our 2017 Harry Potter Studios tour outside London, England. 

So, I pulled out some papers and a never-before-used stamp set to create a layout inspired by Lesson 3 in Shimelle's Half and Half class. I wasn't sure about the artsy look that Shimelle created with watercolors, but I decided to give it a try using gelatos ... and I'm thrilled with the look.

Journaling reads: The first time we got a butterbeer, at the Leaky Cauldron with our lunch of fish & chips, we got one to split because we had no idea what it would taste like. But the next time, we each insisted on our own pint because it was so refreshingly yummy!

This next layout was also inspired by the Half and Half class. First, a 12x12 layout using two photos of the Hogwarts Express.

Journaling reads: The Hogwarts Express ride goes from "King's Cross Station in London" at Universal Studios Florida to "Hogsmeade Station" at Universal Island of Adventures. It's a FUN way to travel between the two Universal theme parks. The British countryside is projecting onto the train cabin's door so it feels like a ride to Hogwarts ... and then the dementors arrive and it all turns cold! We rode it between the parks several times during our two days at Universal.

I created a companion 6x12 page to include more photos and a fabulous dementor die cut.

It feels so good to get started documenting all our Harry Potter adventures over the past several years!

Bonus: Robbie has mastered the art of creating the nonalcoholic butterbeers at home. There are several recipes online and he combined a few and tweaked this and that until he was satisfied with the taste. This past Friday, he picked up the ingredients and fixed us each a mug to enjoy for movie night. We'll have another mug today, of course!

How will you be celebrating International Harry Potter Day this year?