For starters, this swap package had to be contained within a Christmas Stocking, so I set off on making one from stash. I had some red and green wools in fingering weight, which I doubled up to make into a stocking, and embellished with a snitch using duplicate stitch with gold and silver 4 ply...
Then the dilemma - what to fill it with? I spent lots of time reading through the accounts of Xmas in the Harry Potter books for inspiration, and ended up with the idea of filling it with a selection of presents that Harry received, along with other items that made Christmas at Hogwarts so special - Xmas pudding, Xmas crackers, and to stick with the Dobby theme, his "Very Harry Christmas" baubles as strung up in the Room of Requirement.
To make the baubles I bought some very cheap (75p for the box!) mini gold baubles, and printed several copies of Harry's face and the legend "Have a Very Harry Xmas" onto tatto paper, which I then cut out and applied to the baubles. The Xmas pudding was a challenge as my spoilee is a celiac and also allergic to dairy, so I ended up buying one over the internet as I couldn't find any in our local shops! The cracker was easy though - I just pinched one from the box we had bought for our Xmas dinner!
For Harry's presents I started with the one that indulged my latest fad, which is re-covering A6 size notebooks to replicate books which are referenced in the HP books. Harry received several books for the various Christmas's we know about - but being British, I decided on making "Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland" which he received from Hermione in his 4th year at Hogwarts. I couldn't find a clear image of the film prop online, so I made a replica from scratch in Powerpoint using a map image I googled for, and various clipart images...
My next favourite gift to make was the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes box which Harry received from Fred & George in his 6th year when he spent Xmas at The Burrow. As I had already planned to include various edibles in other gifts, I hunted for references to non-edible products of theirs that I could replicate, and plumped for a Muggle Magic set, Peruvian Darkness Powder, and a Patented Daydream Charm. For the magic set, I looked up some rope trick instructions, and printed a set of "number magic" cards onto card, and added instructions for use, and made a box which I labelled with a Muggle Magic logo I found using Google. For the Peruvian Darkness Powder, I crushed some lavender bath crystals I already had, and printed a Peruvian looking design to relabel an empty lip balm pot to contain them. For the Patented Daydream Charm, I made a box which I labelled with an appropriate image (described in the HP book as "a handsome youth and a swooning girl on a pirate ship"), labelled a tiny potion charm bottle with another image found via Google, and added a cotton wool ball and instructions (mutter "alucinatio mentis" whilst holding the cotton wool to your nose, end by taking a whiff from the bottle). Lastly I made a Weasley product box to hold it all in, again embellished with an image found via Google...
Then I made a broom pencil for the Firebolt from Sirius, using paintbrush bristles, wool, and craft glue. I did several mini knits (close-ups of these are are on my Ravelry project page) - an Invisibility Cloak from Dumbledore made with grey fingering and silver thread carried with it - an emerald green jumper from Mrs Weasley - and the socks from Dobby combined for a book mark (red left sock with broomsticks pattern and green right sock with snitches pattern). I made an Every Flavour Beans box with an online template and filled it with beans from Ron, and a brown paper box for some Nut Brittle from Mrs Weasley, plus another brown paper box for some gummy maggots from Kreacher. And for fun, I added the gifts from the Dursley's - a 50p coin, toothpick, and a single tissue. Then I wrapped everything up in red tissue paper, and included the relevant text from the Harry Potter books with each gift. Here it all is before wrapping:
I love swaps - they really push me to be creative, and it is so much fun to come up with an idea around a theme, and turn it into a reality. Even better is the glow that I get when my spoilee receives the package and says how much it is appreciated! And then of course there is the other side to swaps - getting something from your spoiler, and in this swap I was very lucky to be spoiled by the wonderful Xen. Read all about the fabulous package I received from her in the Reducio swap forum on Ravelry.
