Fantastic Teens and Where to Find Them

This past weekend, my 15 year old and 17 year old celebrated their birthdays with a couple friends. Their birthdays were in June and July, and it's now the end of August, but summer happened and this is when we could manage to pull it off. 

Zachary (17), hosted his half of the party at the local bowling /laser tag / game room place. Haley (15), set up a magical Harry Potter party at home. That my teens are willing to share a party, and just have a couple friends over so they can catch up before the new school year begins, warms my heart. 

My husband took care of the bowling/laser tag part of the party, and then took Alia and Coren out for a couple hours so the teens could have uninterrupted fun. I am incredibly thankful that I got less active end of the stick. 

I retreated upstairs to my youngest children's room, caught up on emails, homeschool co-op stuff, and, when I couldn't stand it any longer, sorted through the pile of clothes awaiting their place in Alia's already overstuffed dresser. The teens watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them, enjoyed homemade butterbeer, and ate pizza, snacks, and Harry Potter themed candy. Laughter and animated conversation wafted up the stairs, and I did my best to let these fantastic young adults do their own thing. 

I'm impressed with the two birthday children. Zachary realized his portion of the party was out of range of our budget, so opted to pay for it himself. Haley made up potions and jars of potion ingredients, gathered decorations and suitable candy, and put together quite the display to help get everyone in the Harry Potter mood. She also got glass bottles in Hogwarts house colors as party favors and baked pumpkin muffins instead of cake. 

If you're looking for some fantastic teens, I know where to find them!