"Swish and Flick!"

"A wand? You'll want Ollivandars, then, t'ain't no better place."

-'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone', a AOL-Time Warner movie

No witch or wizard is complete without their wand. You simply couldn't be a part of the Wizarding world if you don't have a wand! The wand is what is used to perform the spells. And hey, it's always useful to be able to do the charm to unlock the passage to Honeydukes! 'The wand chooses the wizard', Mr. Ollivandar says, and he's right! But here, we've got to make our own wands. It's alright, Mr. Ollivandar trained me himself, you're in *cough* good *cough* hands.

First of all, have a friend, parent, or if you can manage it, yourself, measure from the tips of the fingers to the elbow of your 'wand' hand. This would be whatever hand you write with. Now, I found that this measurement works for how long to make your wand. If you want it a little longer or a little shorter, by all means, yes, remember what I say- It's YOUR COSTUME. :0P

Alrighty. Next, get a piece of dowel. You know, those long sticks of wood you can find at just about any craft store? Have an ADULT or if you are an adult, cut it down to the size you want. Now kids, here's the fun part for you- since your parents have been soooooo nice is cutting the wood (not to mention the fact that they got you your robes and the rest of your costume), you get to sit for a while and sand that wood (Wood! *giggles* Sorry-) into a nice tip. Make sure it's not sharp, though, otherwise that's bad. As Hermione says, "You're going to poke someone's eye out!" A nice dull, rounded end will be perfect.

After that, get out your paints. Now, wands (as they're wooden) tend to be brown or black, with maybe a gold or silver handle. Pick the colors you want, and paint away! I've put pictures of mine up in the Picture Gallery.

When you're painting, make sure you lay down newspaper to protect your surface. To dry, try propping the tip of the wand up on an old videotape case. That keeps it elevated so that the paint won't dry against the newspaper and stick to the surface.

For a really cool finish, try painting it once over with clear glitter nail polish. I'd like to see how it looks if someone does it, send pictures here.

C'est Fin!

Now, for Uniforms- I'm using the movie uniforms as a reference, and since that's what most people will recognize, you'll be fine.

There are several basic parts for a uniform:

Shirt or blouse - I suggest finding a white button up shirt (like your dad's white dress shirt- I got one from my dad (who's a dentist) and it works fine, just a little big :0P)

Sweater - The students in the movie wear grey long-sleeved v-neck sweaters with their house colors trimming the neck. I personally suggest a sweater vest, cause it's going to get HOT in your costume. (that is, unless you actually do live in Scotland, and then you might want the sweater (if you do, you're a lucky duck)) To make trim, take 1/8 inch ribbon in your house colors and sew it on the neck. (Adults are really good at this part :0P)

Skirt or trousers (pants for us Americans) - I've seen the students in the movie wear both black or grey bottoms (we're still arguing over which one is correct- Let me check right now... HAH! The guys wear black pants, while the girls wear grey skirts!!! *sticks tongue out at Keden and Chris* so there. The students wear both black AND grey bottoms. Guys in pants (trousers, slacks, whatever), girls in pleated skirts. I suggest going to a goodwill store, like Salvation Army, here we have Valu-Village (I SWEAR by Valu-Village, I find a good hunk of my costume stuff there!) and you can find your sweater and shirt there, too!

Tie and Shoes - For the ties, first years have a black tie with the Hogwarts crest on it. All the other students wear ties striped with their house colors. Here's a picture of the kids from the Vanity Fair photo shoot, check out their ties (and scarves, if you want one... I'm knitting one) As for shoes- guys wear black 'church' shoes, as we call them (they're just black Oxford shoes) and the girls wear Mary Janes (The ones I have and SWEAR by are $12 American from Natasha's Cafe. They're just flat black cotton Mary Janes, and they're sooooo comfortable.)

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