How To Feel A Little Bit More At Home (And By Home I Mean Hogwarts
If you’re anything like me, every year around the colder months and as the holidays are fast approaching you fall back into the Harry Potter obsession you had when you were younger and each year around the colder months you get an urge to reinvent yourself and prepare for the New Year! What better way to appease both of these desires than to combine them. So, here’s my ideas and some inspiration for how you can feel more like a true witch or wizard studying at Hogwarts and maybe try some new things along the way!
Tea: Tea is a must! Everyone at Hogwarts definitely drinks tea. I love waking up and drinking a hot cup of orange cinnamon tea while watching the early morning rain come down outside and listening to the Harry Potter soundtrack. It makes the world feel just a little bit more magical and unlike coffee, it doesn’t leave you jittery or anxiety ridden for the rest of the day. I always have a cup of tea near me all day. When I wake up, while I’m doing work, and before I go to bed, you can find me with tea.
Cursive & Calligraphy: All Hogwarts students have to write their assignments on parchment with an ink and a quill, while that seems quite extensive for the average muggle, we can definitely spice up our writing. Writing on old looking paper or tea-dyed paper in cursive automatically makes you feel more like a Hogwarts student. Or, if you’re looking for a new hobby, try out calligraphy! You can find calligraphy pens for relatively cheap, and it’s not an incredibly hard skill to pick up. If you put in the time and hard work, it’s a very beautiful talent!
Preppy Clothing: I feel like this one is a given, but if you want to feel like a Hogwarts student, dress like a Hogwarts student! Most of the clothing worn in the movies is incredibly preppy, in almost uniform style, or very casual on the student’s day off. I like to do a good mix of both. Plaid, houndstooth, argyle, pleats, and dark and neutral toned clothes are a must! If you need some fashion inspo, pinterest is a great place for that. I would recommend searching “academia fashion” or “*your hogwarts house* fashion”. The Hogwarts or more preppy academia style definitely works best in the fall or winter time when it’s chilly enough for some of the more common preppy staple pieces. Which means now is the perfect time to be very extra and dress like a British private boarding school student!
Gryffindor
Paint Your Nails Funky Colors: Gryffindors never shy away from being bold and that's why painting your nails in crazy, fun colors is the perfect new thing for a Gryffindor to try out! You could do your house colors, red and gold, or try an even bolder color combination. I really like painting my nails the night before a fun event to match my outfit. It just adds another layer of coordination and is a major power move.
Catch Up On Some Movies: Take a break, it’s ok, you don’t have to constantly be doing something. Take the fall and winter breaks that we are blessed with to catch up on some movies that have been on your watchlist for way tooooo long. Maybe grab a friend, get some popcorn and a blanket and have fun watching some movies! Movie marathons are always fun too. (maybe have a Harry Potter movie marathon???)
Host A (safe) Friendsgiving or Other Potluck: I know in the time of covid it might be hard to get together but if at all possible to do safely, throwing a friendsgiving or other potluck style gathering is so much fun! Definitely reminds me of the Weasley burrow during the holidays or summertime. Better yet, make it a Harry Potter movie watch party! Invite a bunch of friends over and have them bring a wizarding world themed treat, then watch one or two of the Harry Potter movies together. I can’t think of a better way to spend time!
Dance Party: Dance parties are the best thing in the entire world. The infinite joy that fills your body when you blast your favorite music and dance around your room like a maniac is insane. You can’t convince me that music wasn’t playing 24/7 in the Gryffindor common rooms and the dorms. I just know that Gryffindors were always having dance parties at Hogwarts, especially the twins!
Hufflepuff
Go On A Picnic: Picnics are the most fun! I love picnicking by myself or with friends. It can be a great way to let loose and relax or have fun being productive in nature. You should definitely pack some snacks, maybe a creative project to do, and some music to listen to. If you’re hanging out with friends don’t forget to pack some fun card games or board games. Then you can find the perfect spot, preferably in a meadow or forest and enjoy the soft presence of nature around you.
Pick & Press Flowers: Pressing flowers is so much fun and they always turn out so cute! Go out on a walk and pick a large variety of flowers. Make sure you thank the plant and mother nature and never pick flowers from anyone’s private property. Better yet, pick flowers that might have fallen on the ground but still look fresh, and if you ever get a flower bouquet make sure to press as many of those as possible. Then find a big heavy book, line it with parchment paper, place the flowers in it, wait about a week and ta da! You should have lovely pressed flowers, I love to include them in letters, art projects, little gifts, or put them on my wall.
Become A Plant Parent: I am the person that will turn whomever I can into a plant parent. Not only do plants brighten up a room, but they also have a ton of health benefits. If you live in a big city I recommend you adopt some plants, they’re great air purifiers. Plants also just help you connect more with mother nature. Plus they’re very affordable, I have a ton of plants in my room and none of them have cost me more than $10. I would recommend going to your local nursery, during these hard times it’s good to support small-businesses. For beginner plant parents the snake plant and the pothos plant both require very little attention and thrive in most lighting situations. Don’t forget to name them! (a lot of my plants are named after harry potter characters)
Save A Sweet Creature: If you see a bug, snail, lizard, frog, mouse, bird or any other little creature in need of help, help them!!! Always make sure that they aren’t dangerous first. It can be as simple as picking up a snail or roli-poli and moving them out of a walkway, or helping a drowning bee, you’re still doing your part to be a good human and save the animals that mother nature has given the Earth. If a bird has crashed into your window, or you notice an injured lizard, always rescue them and make sure they’re ok. Humans and our developments have gotten into their way of life, it's the least we can do.
Slytherin
Accessorize With Rings: One piece of jewelry I can see all slytherins wearing are rings. Wearing a bunch of silver or black rings of different design with cool funky cuts is such a power move and such a slytherin thing. Rings instantly tie an outfit together and they just make you look effortlessly cool. Trust me on this, when you put on a bunch of rings and paint your nails you feel 1) like Harry Styles 2) like a badass. Try it out! If you don’t have rings, try asking family members or you can usually find some cheap ones at fast fashion stores, but I would be careful and advise that these usually tarnish quickly.
Adopt A Snake Plant: Snake plants are the slytherin plant. They’re the coolest darker green with stripes and obviously they’re called snake plants and slytherins are snakes, yeah you get it. They’re very low maintenance plants, don’t require a lot of water, and do well in all types of light situations. So even in the slytherin dungeons where there isn’t the most light, they will thrive. Plants are so good for you and the best part about the snake plant is that even if you forget about it for a little while, it’ll be fine!
Light A Candle: Because the slytherin dorms are in the dungeons and natural light isn’t great, you have to light candles to help stay warm and to study at night. Find a candle that gives off major slytherin energy, I would recommend one with deeper earthier notes and one with a really cool design on the outside so it can act as a statement decoration piece when it's not in use. Psst, there’s also this Draco Malfoy candle that you’ve probably heard of on tiktok, just a tip, it smells amazing. Anyways, light that candle, be careful, and enjoy the slytherin common room vibe that comes with it!
Write Important Things On Your Hands: Yes, school is definitely stressful and if you’re too uptight (like me) to invest in a (dumb) planner. This is probably the next best and definitely most aesthetically pleasing way to remember everything you need to. Just be careful because sometimes parents might reprimand you or the ink might get smudged. But you can bet if I actually went to Hogwarts, or a private posh boarding school, this is how I would keep track of everything.
Ravenclaw
Stargaze or seagaze: Stay up really really late, put on cozy clothes and make sure to grab blankets and snacks, then either drive to the middle of nowhere or climb up onto your roof and stare at the night sky. If you don’t know much about constellations or planets then definitely grab a book on astronomy and try to point out all of the different stars, constellations, or planets you see. If you can’t stay out late or if stargazing just isn’t your thing, go to a beach, lake, creek or any body of water you deem fit and relax there. Both the night sky and the ocean are such captivating bodies filled with the unknown world.
Paint: Let your creative side have fun! Don’t even think about what you’re painting. Just grab a bunch of colors of paint, a pallet, some brushes, a canvas, and your free artistic mind. I love playing music when I paint and sometimes music can help me find inspiration for my art. Oftentimes I don’t have a plan when I start, I just paint whatever I’m feeling. I know art can seem daunting but we need to let go of the idea that if you’re not good at realism you’re not good at art. That’s simply not true. Art is subjective. Everyone has a different art style. Everyone is good at different parts of art. Try painting or drawing from your soul and I promise, you will have fun and you will create a masterpiece.
Write Poetry: Words are so magical. They are so enchanting and captivating. Play with words and the meaning of them through poetry. There’s a common misconception that poetry has to rhyme to be good. Or that poetry has to use really elegant words to be good. These are both completely untrue. Poetry again has to come from the soul, it can be as simple or as thought out as you want it to be. Poetry is your expression, and it shouldn't be defined by any stereotypes of literature. So grab a notebook, a pencil, an emotional mindset, preferably a writing spot surrounded by nature and get started creating some poetry.
Decorate Your Walls: Take all the poetry you just wrote and art you just created and put it all up on walls. I know Ravenclaws get the very studious and rigid stereotype, but don’t even try to hide it, you guys are big creative walking encyclopedias. I have an art wall in my room. It took me a year to fill up my entire wall and now every once in a while I switch some of the pieces out with newer creative endeavors. I highly recommend doing this if you can. It serves as a form of inspiration and brings so much joy, life, and personality to your room.
I hope after reading this that you found some Hogwarts inspiration and maybe discovered some new things to try out. Remember, fall and winter are the perfect times to try something new and reinvent yourself. With every new year there’s new beginnings and infinite possibilities to grow and change! Just promise me your love for Harry Potter will never change!