Harry Potter Studios Haul.

If you didn't know that Nick got me tickets to the Harry Potter Studio Tour for my birthday, then where have you been?! But he did and it was frikkin' awesome and of course we spent a bunch of money in the gift shop. So if you are a HP fan scroll down and commence being jealous.. :)

Lets start with what everyone really wants to see, the confectionery. Of course I bought a Chocolate Frog and of course I bought the Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans. As I'm writing this I've actually just eaten the chocolate frog and looked at my Wizard Card (Dumbledore, get in!) but I haven't opened the beans, so I'm looking forward to trying those out. They are both quite expensive items for what they are but I feel like this was a special occasion so why not? I would have regretted not buying them, so price wasn't really important to me. The packaging is really lovely on both of these, it reminds me of the circus and I love the shapes.

Then, I couldn't resist buying a train ticket in the station shop on Platform 9 3/4, I thought this would be sweet to have framed and put somewhere around the house. It just looks really pretty, it's nicely embossed with gold and we all secretly wish we got a real one of these in the post right? I know I do.

I can't really explain why I bought this next piece other than I liked the design. This is a little pin badge with a Gringots Bank Key design in a brassy/gold colour. It looks pretty and will probably just sit on my desk in my dressing room but it's a nice little design and reminder of an awesome day!

The main thing I bought for myself was an individual cell from the film which is displayed quite nicely in a frame. I was really shocked that not one single person in the 30? maybe more minutes I was in the gift shop went over and looked at these. For a huge fan of the films surely taking an actual piece of the film roll home with you is pretty badass? I think so anyway but I guess more people are attracted to the stereotypical things. I looked through a few of these as they all obviously have a different cell in them and just picked a generic one with Harry as the focus from the film Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm going to put this on the windowsill in my dressing room because the light comes through nicely so it makes the cell really bright and easy to see.

Then because I'd already spent an arm and a leg, Nick bought us a wand. Now I know a lot of people will go for the more famous wands and we did look at them all for quite awhile trying to decide (as some of the famous ones are quite plain and boring) but we eventually went for a Death Eater wand. We both love macabre looking things, I in particular LOVE skulls, so we picked up this Death Eater Swirl Wand. Yes these wands are a little pricey, but the detail is great, its weighty and just something quite special to bring home. I'm tempted to have this up on the wall in a way that it sits in it's open box, but we'll have to see how that goes!  This wand was the only one that came in a blue box instead of the generic black/brown box, so I quite liked that detail.

So, are you jealous yet? I know I would be if I was reading this! If you are a Harry Potter fan I 1000% recommend heading to the studio tour, you will not be disappointed! And if you want to see my post about the tour with a ridiculous amount of photos click here but if you prefer to keep the magic secret for your own visit, I won't be offended!

Tarnya
xx