The Best Costumes From Universal's Harry Potter Celebration, 2016

Last weekend Universal held their annual Harry Potter Celebration, a special event included with regular admission. Though it's not exactly packed with new activities, the Celebration does include a great cast Q&A, a "Sorting Hat Experience," and a special Expo area filled with promotional items and movie props.

The best part for me, though, are the guest costumes. Unlike party-pooper Disney, which recently banned costumes on anyone over age 14, Universal actively encouraged Potter fans to dress for the occasion - with a few "guidelines," of course:

The rules were mostly common sense stuff: no face coverings, nothing offensive, and if you carry a homemade wand, it can't be too pointy. (These are all my paraphrases, of course.)

I'll be covering the events portion of the weekend - including the fan-organized tributes to Alan Rickman - in a future post. But for now, costumes!

 
 The Weasley's have never been more adorable. In fact, these two are in my top favs from the whole weekend.

 (I decided to give my pics a vintage vibe with the editing, btw. It just felt right.)

 

A dapper witch and a Blue Cornish Pixie! Hee! (Those ears are faaabulous.)

 A quidditch player and a reporter for the Daily Prophet:

The reporter had a press badge on her hat, and a custom skirt covered with Daily Prophet articles!

This group had their own Dobby and magical supplies cart:

I was delighted to see two or three Lion-Head-Lunas over the weekend:

And here's the Snape-in-Neville's-grandmother's-clothes who REALLY stole the show:

Giant Cat Heads Make Sweet Purses

So I have a new bag shaped like a giant cat head, you guys, and it's pretty awesome:

 

It actually started out as the world's tiniest backpack:

When I ordered it online, the site failed to mention it was a backpack... FOR ANTS.

:D

Considering how terrible I am at all things sewing-related, I'm actually quite pleased with my modification. I cut open the interior lining at the bottom seam:

... flipped the whole purse inside out:

... opened the seams where the straps were sewn in, pulled the straps free, and re-sewed all the seams shut again.

It turned out all the backpack straps were one piece, so I was able to re-use that for the purse strap.

The hardest part was inserting the new strap into the top seams; there were so many layers I had to hand stitch those closed again.

It looks fine from the outside, though!

 The strap is just long enough that I can wear it cross-body style. Which is good, since I only wear those or hip bags these days.

 

For some reason John wanted a turn modeling:

I actually bought this for him originally, so maybe it'll be his new man purse. ;) 

It totally suits him, right?

Oh, and the best part? The original backpack cost less than $6, and that includes shipping. You can buy your own here, plus they have a few different styles to choose from, including this redonkulous puppy dog head:

I also found some purse versions that only cost $7, though I like my strap better:

That puppy face on the bottom right is killin' me with teh cute. 

[Correction: Oops, these are actually COIN purses, and are about 6 inches across - much smaller than the backpack I used!]

I've purchased several things from that site, and while the quality isn't top notch, I've never had a problem with them otherwise. And this is NOT a sponsored post. Just sharing some fun cheap shopping links. (If you wander into their jewelry section you WILL be lost for hours. Just sayin'.)

 *****

Time to announce the winners from last week's art roundup!

So, congrats to:

Allison Anderson, who wins the Sherlock set

Kim from GiggleMonster, who wins Jack Skellington

And Zombie Edward, my wild card winner!

Congrats, you three, and please e-mail me your mailing addresses!