Why I Went to the Midnight Show of Harry Potter

My husband started reading the Harry Potter series to my son when he was in second grade. He even added his own animated version with different voices for each of the characters. I started filling in for him at Book 3. Each of us quickly were captivated by the story, the characters, and the eloquent writing.

How We Came to be Fond of Harry Potter

My son was eight years old at the Book 7 release in July 2007. The local library put on a fabulous Harry Potter event complete with Harry Potter trivia games and the appearance of the Night Bus. That day people came out in droves, dressing up as Rita Skeeter, Hagrid, Dobby, and many other minor and some major characters. Two different tv stations interviewed my son and he was on that night's news. At midnight that night, my husband and my son also went our local book store for the book's release.

Read to Your Child

It took a year and half for my husband to read all seven books to my son and now that four years have passed my son has read the series seven times and last summer he read all seven books in one week's time. Our entire family have also watched all the movies and read all the books (except my youngest who is currently reading book 2).

Midnight Release

So when we found out that the final movie was to be released on Friday, July 15, 2011, a summer day with no school the next day, we knew we had to be part of history and see the movie at it's midnight release.

The Critics

Now I saw a lot of status updates on Facebook Thursday expressing how baffled they were that people would be sacrificing their precious sleep time to be standing in line for hours just to be there for the midnight release when they could have been home sleeping and wait to watch the movie at a decent time. They wondered, "what's the point?"

Why I Wouldn't Have Gone

Now if I didn't have (1) kids, (2) a kid that was completely infatuated with the Harry Potter series (3) read all the books myself or (3) the ability to survive a day without eight hours of sleep I too would not have shown up for the midnight showing either.

Making Memories

Why not be a part of making memories for our kids? Why not be a part of history in the making? Why not sacrifice sleep to do something that will be down on your kid's top ten things they have done before they were 20. Why not?

I'm all about making memories for our kids - that's why we take them to places like Yosemite or Disneyland. Here it is in our own backyard (so to speak) and a perfect time in our kids' lives, why not be a part of making memories? My husband was little when he was able to be in line for the opening of Star Wars Empire Strikes Back. He tells our kids that he was there and they just can't believe he was able to be a part of a day of history. Plus, while we stood there in line, granted we were not standing in 100 degree sun, my son noticed that everyone was happy and having such a great time waiting for the movie. The fans united.

Another Midnight Showing?

There will be more book and movie releases coming out in our future, but there may not be another moment, another book, and another movie quite like this one for our family. We may never go to a midnight release of a movie or book again. Why not seize the moment and be a part of something big; making memories with your children.

But yet again, my son and husband are in the process of reading "The Lord of The Rings" series so maybe we will be awake for "The Hobbit's" release next year! Maybe. Until then....