July 31 marks the birthdays of both Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling, and it has always been a significant date for my cousin Dianne and I because the Harry Potter books have been such a huge part of our lives. This year, on July 31st, we celebrated over fifteen years of fandom with a redux of Harry Birthday!
We had gone back and forth on the idea of another Harry Birthday party for months now. For one, in the past decade and a half, I think we’ve already done at least half a dozen Harry Potter parties, among other crazy things for the love of Harry Potter. Also, for a while the party didn’t even seem like a possibility. July had been an incredibly busy month, with my involvement in the NCBD activities, and my cousin had just moved across the country (read: separation anxiety like I’d never known before). But because it’s Harry’s 35th birthday and JKR’s 50th, we thought the time was ripe for another Harry Birthday.