Teen Board Member, Cat S., attended a midnight release party for HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD and shared her fun experience with Teenreads. Relive the magic of the night and Harry Potter by reading her post.
As all Potterheads know, J. K. Rowling’s HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD was revealed at midnight on July 30th. Here in Michigan, Barnes & Noble held midnight reveals for the eighth book. For those of you who don’t know, Michigan also has this thing called a curfew law which means teenagers cannot be out past midnight. Thanks to TeenReads, some pleading, and help from my local librarians at Oxford Public Library; I got to go! I attended the event in Rochester. Here's how the night went!
I was one of the first people to arrive. I met the event planner, Mr. David Knapp, and some of his crew and talked for a bit. The Barnes & Noble employees came up with the ideas and activitites themselves; they don’t come as a kit from the publisher. There was a howler-making table, a wand-making station, colouring, face painting, a golden snitch hunt, a sorting ceremony, trivia, a painting demonstration, a costume contest, a raffle and a photo booth.
My personal favourite activity was the trivia table, run by two very polite young ladies. They soon ran out of questions and had to wrack their brains for more! Pretty soon, it turned into a full on trivia battle, with two teams: two friends and me versus them! There were also house magnets and buttons as prizes that you could win for correctly answering the trivia questions.
The snitch hunt was also very fun! One of the the employees hid a golden snitch somewhere in the building. If you saw it, you told the front desk and won a poster! Pretty soon, though, the snitch's location was widely known, so an employee moved it! I was able to find it both times.
The sorting ceremony was more of a game of chance. You sat on the classic three-legged stool and had the old wizard's hat placed over your head. Then you drew a slip of paper from a nearby cauldron and shouted out the house written on the paper. When it was my turn, I was lucky enough to get Slytherin, which is actually my house. Several people were not so lucky and got different houses than they were actually in, but it was still great fun.
The photo booth saw a great deal of action all night from people of all ages. Many people posed with paper Dumbledore beards, wizard hats, and even a real wooden broomstick! The backdrop was the Platform 9 3/4 brick wall with Hedwig perched above, and a few of my new-found friends had me film them running full out into it. They were a bit banged up, but everyone was clapping for them.
Four hours is a long time to wait so we made some fun of our own, too. Some people started a game of wand tag, chasing each other around. Several more had an accent contest to see who could say lines from the books with the best sounding British accent. I participated since I have a rather nice accent, thanks to our former British librarian! Most people ended up at Starbucks, having deep discussions about the new book while colouring pictures of house crests or embellishing the art on their howlers.
The best part, besides getting the actual book, was the costume contest. One of my new friends had sewn a Helga Hufflepuff costume with her mom, and it was gorgeous. She even had the Hufflepuff cup! She had even made house cupcakes she wasn’t allowed to bring because of health codes. Isn’t that just like a Hufflepuff to be so nice? Others included a boy dressed as Sirius Black with his head in a mugshot frame; a fabulous Moaning Myrtle with a toilet seat around her neck; a sweet old woman dressed as Professor Sprout; a girl in a pillowcase and one sock as Dobby (complete with elf ears!); a Professor McGonagall; Sybil Trelawney; and numerous Harry, Ron, and Hermione costumes. The winner was announced on Twitter. It was a girl who transformed her wheelchair into an antique-looking desk covered in potion bottles, an owl cage, and spellbooks. It really was awesome.
When it was one minute until midnight, everyone lined up by coloured tags (obviously Barnes & Noble has gotten this system running perfectly!). Someone started a countdown that we all joined. Several people were taking videos of the whole thing, and there were even a few people crying. I know I felt a little teary when I bought my own copy! I finished it within hours of getting it, even though it was around four in the morning when I finally went to sleep.
I'm really glad that I went, instead of pre-ordering the book online or getting it at the store in the morning. Following a book’s release and actually being present for it is an incredible journey, especially since I’ve grown up with these books. The release was so much better because of the crazy fun at Barnes and Noble.
