Naperville shop celebrates wizard with 'Potter' birthday party

Anderson's Bookshop in downtown Naperville twice has hosted "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling and even has gathered as many as 70,000 people to celebrate the release of the seventh book in the popular series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Thursday's event was much smaller, but the shop hosted roughly 75 people for a Harry Potter party to celebrate the July 31 birthdays of both the fictional wizard and the author who brought him to life.

"And seven years ago, the seventh book came out on the 21st," Rachel Strolle, a book seller at Anderson's, said. "It's close enough that we included that, too."

Small children with their parents as well as older children and teenagers marked the occasion with a Harry Potter birthday cake adorned with a lightning bolt to match the scar on the character's forehead. Fans tested themselves with Potter-themed trivia, crossword puzzles and word searches and kids got creative with crafts.

"We had wand making," Strolle said, "so they could decorate their own wands with pipe cleaners and markers and stickers."