Partying Like They do at Hogwarts

A photo diary of the Grand Hallows Ball at Border's in Torrance, California (supposedly the biggest Harry Potter party in the South Bay). I wanted to take more pictures, but my sister had the camera in her purse and I kept losing her. There were a lot of Hermiones and Harrys, but I also saw Tonks, Snape, random Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students, but I think my two favorites were a girl dressed as Ron and Hermione's child from the future and a woman wearing a Save Lupin and Tonks shirt. This is the culmination of Harry Potter month. After attending the premiere, the midnight showing of the movie, a John Williams concert, and the midnight book party, I've been observing the different levels of Harry Potter mania from the perspective of a fellow fan. I was happy to see that the book caused much more excitement than the movies. It may seem a little scary to see fans dressed up as wizards, but I still think it's amazing that all this was started by a book.



We pre-ordered our book, but Borders started giving out wristbands when it opened at 9 a.m. They organize the lines according to colors. I got there a little before 9 and there was a short line which went really slowly, but I got orange, which was the first group. Three thousand people ordered books from the Torrance Borders and the store ordered about 1,000 more than that for those who did not pre-order.



The entrance to the Grand Hallows Ball (yes, that's me, dressed as Hermione, it's more fun when you get into the spirit).



Wizards and muggles milling around Borders. Many more activities were advertised than there ended up being, but it was still quite an amusing evening. There was a dance floor, face painting, and wizard hat making. The spelling bee and Snape debate never happened, although there was a costume contest.



There were giveaways, such as these glow-in-the-dark "wands"



and stickers



The snake cake.



The books,covered in a grey packaging of some kind. When the Borders employees started wheeling these out, the excitement really started to build.



The books out of the grey packaging and now only in boxes.

My brother messed up taking a picture of us buying the book, but the line went very fast and we were out by 12:14 a.m.