Sorry everyone! SPEWW has had an infestation of pesky Pixies who have rearranged all of our schedules and now we need to sort those out and reschedule our book event for this week. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we know when and where it will take place.
To ban a book is to fear its magic.
It’s Banned Books Week and while we aren’t doing anything specifically for the week, we have come up with a challenge for the month. Do you want to encourage more reading and also get entered to win 2 tickets to Yule Ball? Let’s stock those free little libraries around town with more reading material!
The challenge:
Donate a book (or more) to a local Free Little Library for House Points and entry/entries for Yule Ball tickets.
Rules for entry:
Donate a book and take a pic of you doing so for 1 House Point and 1 entry.
Donate a BANNED Book and post a pic of you doing so for 5 House Points and 5 entries.
Donate an LGBTQ+ or other inclusive book that isn’t on the banned books list and post a pic of you doing so for 3 House Points and 3 entries.
Dress as a witch or wizard while donating and we’ll give you a bonus 5 House Points and entries.
You can donate up to 3 books for points through October 31. (this means you can earn up to 30 House Points and 30 entries)
Post pics and tag us either on FB or IG and use #SPEWWBannedBooksChallenge and include your Hogwarts House. You’ll gain points for your House, which we’ll tally up at the end of the month, and entry/entries for Yule Ball tickets.
You can still join the challenge if you don’t live in the area and can’t come to the ball. Donate a book to your local Free Little Library to encourage more reading in your neighborhood. You will still get House Points and the magical feeling of putting more books in the world.
We will draw a winner on November 1 at noon PST and also announce the House Cup winner.
And don’t forget that we’ll be doing our Blind Date With A (Magic) Book event on Friday.
We love a good book and we love sharing our favorite books with people. The beginning of October is Banned Books Week, and we’ll be doing something special for that, but afterwards, we wanted to do something fun and book-related for you all in the Portland area.
Join us for Blind Date with a Magic Book! Everyone will bring one (or more) book that they wrap up and write teasers for, so others can find a new book that they vibe with to take home with them. Your books should center around magic in some way – since we all came together for our love of Harry Potter – but can be any genre.
Wrap your book in kraft paper or plain wrapping paper and decorate it if you like. On the front, write a few keywords or a teaser sentence (e.g., “Time travel, Found Family, 1920s”). You could even include the first line of the book—just no spoilers. Aim for 3 clues that will help others determine if they might like the book.
The Portland Hostel Cafe has offered to host our event, so you have the option to order off their delicious menu or one of their many alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.
We’ll also have cards for you to write down book titles that you don’t take home, but sound like something you might like to read in the future. We would also love if you bring a list of other magical books you think people would like if they enjoyed Harry Potter.
When: Friday, October 17, 2025 – 6-8pm
Where: Portland Hostel Cafe – 1810 NW Glisan St, Portland
Space is limited, so please RSVP on our Facebook event or on Discord
After a few years away, HEAP returned! The Hogwarts Early Admission Program is an enchanted afternoon of games and activities for all ages, this year held as part of our Accio Books campaign. Our focus this year was on celebrating the books that turn muggles into Wizards!
This year’s HEAP took place in the Gresham Library, where we rounded up a bunch of escaped pesky pixies, sprouted bowtruckles, took Hogwarts school photos, competed in a transfiguration exercise, practiced our cauldron tossing, and played a heated game of Wizards, Giants, and Elves. It was great fun, and an excellent chance to connect with our community and spread the magic of books.
What a magical weekend!
Once again, PDXpelliarmus teamed up with McMenamins Kennedy School to present Wizarding Weekend, three days of magical fun for a great cause!
Kennedy School showed all seven movies, Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley featured local vendors and artists, and we opened the Great Hall for activities like trivia, costume contests, and magical games!
In between all that fun, you donated 525 books to Children’s Book Bank! Those books went to CBB’s Building Home Libraries and Free Summer Book Fairs! We also raised $1,500 to donate direct to local teachers to help build their classroom libraries! McMenamin’s donated a portion of ticket sales from the movies to Basic Rights Oregon, in the amount of $5,752!
Thank you to everyone who came and helped us share the magic. We will see you again in 2023!
The 2019 Accio Books campaign has completed, with 505 books donated to The Children’s Book Bank, as well as a Barnes & Noble gift card worth $312.43!
Books were collected from books scattered around the Portland area, including at The Nerd Out, Books With Pictures, Oracle Coffee Company, and Queue Coffee. We couldn’t be more grateful to these businesses for hosting a drop point!
House points were tallied, and Hufflepuff won by a landslide! Syltherin came in second, with Ravenclaw right on their tails. Gryffindor placed a distant fourth.
Thank you to everyone who donated and made the 2019 Accio Books campaign another success!
For the 2019 Yule Ball, we’re teaming up with Barnes & Noble to help us turn muggles into wizards! From April 27th-30th, the following voucher can be used in ANY Barnes & Noble store and at BN.com, and a portion of the sale will be donated to the Children’s Book Bank!
On Saturday, April 27th, we will be at the Lloyd Center Barnes & Noble (1317 Lloyd Center) from 1pm to 4pm. Come join us for games and crafts! We will be collecting books and tallying House points! You can find more information here.
The 2019 Accio Books campaign is just days away! This year, PDXpelliarmus will be collecting books for The Children’s Book Bank!
The Children’s Book Bank mission is to fill children’s homes and lives with beautiful, engaging books. Through their Building Home Libraries program, they provide books to Head Start students throughout Portland. Every June, they host free book fairs in underserved K-8th grade schools to keep kids reading throughout the summer. Since becoming a 501c3 nonprofit in 2008, The Children’s Book Bank has organized over 10,000 community volunteers to channel over 650,000 books into the hands and homes of over 50,000 children in need in the Portland area.
To help them turn young muggles into wizards, we will be collecting new and gently used children’s books, start at the Accio Books Kickoff Party on Thursday, April 4th, at The Nerd Out (3308 NE Belmont St) , from 6-10pm. There will be trivia, food and drink specials, and House Points will be awarded. The magical folks of The Nerd Out will also be donating $1 for each butterbeer sold!
Following April 4th, books can be dropped off at the following locations:
The Nerd Out – 3308 SE Belmont St
Oracle Coffee Company – 3875 SW Bond Ave
Books with Pictures – 1100 SE Division St
The Children’s Book Bank – 1915 NE 7th Avenue (Mon-Thurs 9am to 3pm)
If you would like to donate more than a few books, please do not hesitate to contact us to arrange pick up and/or drop off!
More Accio Books events will be announced soon, including the 4th annual Hogwarts Early Admission Program!
PDX HPA Meeting Recap
May 21, 2017
Belmont Library Meeting Room
Attended by: Bart Sylfae
Brandie Sylfae
Robbin Coon
Bas Porter
Accio Books
With the official Accio Books campaign wrapped, we talked about the books we had donated for both Beaumont and Words Alive. Of the initial list from Beaumont, there were only 10 books we didn’t get, and we fell short on our goal of 36 copies of “This Side of Home” by 6 copies. We’ll be delivering those books to Beaumont later this month.
The books going to Words Alive will be shipped in the next couple of weeks. (Thanks to Robin for the boxes!) Per the group’s agreement, the House Points reported to the HPA for our donations were given to Hufflepuff, as they were the clear winner of our chapter competition. I will make an official announcement regarding the final standings on Tuesday.
Harry Potter comes to Kennedy School!
On Saturday, Brandie and I met with Beth from McMenamin’s Kennedy School. They will be showing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on Sunday, July 30, 2017. Our chapter will be “hosting” the showing, with a costume contest, trivia competition, school supply drive, and raffle. The movie will begin at 12pm, with the doors opening at 10:45, and the activities beginning around 11:15.
Proceeds from the raffle will be going to IRCO (Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization), and if they have use for the school supplies, they will go to IRCO as well. If not, we will need to find a secondary charity to donate supplies to. If you have a suggestion, please let us know!
We will also need to gather up raffle prizes! We are planning to have a specialized prize for each House, as well as a Grand Prize. We will be contacting local businesses for donations. If you have items of your own you’d like to donate, including HP crafts, we’d love to have it!
Even more importantly, we need volunteers! The Kennedy School theater holds 200, and I’d be shocked if it wasn’t full. We will need 1-2 people at the raffle/donation drop off table, someone at the door to give out programs, and 1-2 people to assist during the costume contest and trivia. Volunteers would need to be available from about 10am until the movie begins. You are responsible for buying your own movie ticket ($4), but they may be other perks. (See below.)
Participation Recognition
We’ve talked at previous meetings about how to reward anyone who gets actively involved with our chapter. Already, we are recognizing people who have assisted on previous events by placing them in the appropriate Years. (For example, Morgan Johnson has been to both HEAP events, as well as Fantastic Beasts at the Bagdad, and she attended a meeting, so she is officially a Fourth Year. Someone who is a member of the FB group but has never participated is a First Year. Once all the Years are completed, you can pick your own title, such as Katie Anderson, Professor of Transfiguration.)
We are going to add collectable badge ribbons, one for each event. HEAP ribbons will be based on the year attended, rather than the total number we’ve done. So if you’ve been to both, you can get a HEAP Year One and a HEAP Year Two ribbon. If this year was your first year, you get a HEAP Year One. Does that make sense? We will also be getting “Wizard Activist” ribbons, which will be awarded for cumulative participation. (To be determined.)
FINALLY…
The Yule Ball. Yes, we want to make it happen. We will be researching possible locations and discussing what sort of event we want it to be in the near future. As we begin to plan, transparency is going to be a big part of what we do. We discussed and agreed that Kickstarter may be the way to sell advance tickets and gage the level of interest. We’d love to have an elaborate ball with a hotel partner, waltzing lessons, plated dinner, and live music, but we need to make sure that we could sell enough tickets to cover the costs.
You can help us out by giving us feedback as we plan and share the details of that plan. I know what sort of Yule Ball I want to attend, but it’s more important that it be a Yule Ball YOU want to attend.
We have not set a date for the next meeting, but I will share it as soon as we do.
On Saturday, March 25th, the HPA hosted the Hogwart’s Early Admission Program in the Small Hall at the Hollywood Public Library. This event was the kick-off of our Accio Book campaign, collecting books to donate to Beaumont Middle School and the HPA. Much like HEAP – Year One, we had a small but amazing crowd!
Attendees started the program by meeting with our resident wand maker, Mr. Rednavilo. (Olivander? Who? Never heard of him.) For our event, he hand-crafted special wands designed to test a prospective student’s magical ability. After being selected by their wands, each student had the opportunity to customize it to their tastes. Styles varied from the aggressively glittery to the geometric, and no two were alike!
After a rousing version of the Hogwarts school song, Katie led our Transfiguration Class. Teams were formed and assigned the task of transfiguring some clay into both every day and magical items. It was a beautiful cacophony. (Until the librarian came in and asked us to be quieter, as we were disturbing the muggles.) The first round was very close, and the second round was a tie, so we held a transfigure-off to determine first, second, and third place teams. Prizes included a number of magical items, including Portable Patronuses, vials of Felix Felicis, and Butterbeer Drops!
Last, we practiced our dueling. Students were asked to decipher a series of clues to determine the appropriate spell, and then outcast their opponent. Training wands were used, so no visits to Madame Pomfrey were required. When the duelers could not guess the clue, it went to the remaining students to attempt, to win House Points!
At the end of the program, the points were tallied as thus:
Slytherin – 4 Points (All given by the Deputy Headmistress…to the Deputy Headmistress.)
Hufflepuff – 21 Points
Gryffindor – 50 Points
Ravenclaw – 50 Points
We had our first ever tie! The students were overwhelmingly Gryffindor, so it was a strong showing by Ravenclaw to match them!
Most importantly, we collected a lot of books for donation, and connected with some new people who hadn’t heard of the HPA before. Accio Books will be continuing throughout April and May, but we could not have asked for a better start.
Fan Expo
January 16-18, 2026
Westside Comic Con
May 23-24, 2026
Wizarding Weekend
July 24-26, 2026
Rose City Comic Con
September 11-13, 2026
Geek The Halls
TBA
Yule Ball
December 12, 2026
Welcome to SPEWW PDX 