So, this is my first “proper” blog post… and I’m already a week behind schedule (whoops). From the title of this post, you may have correctly guessed that, yes, I was supposed to have published this to coincide with Halloween. Unfortunately fate had other ideas and in the words of Will Smith, my life got flipped–turned–upside down and it’s been fairly stressful. Seriously, I’ve been extra busy with moving jobs, applying for all kinds of graduate schemes/internships and spending approximately 29,783 hours on public transport so please, indulge me and my thoroughly first world problems. Apologies for the mini-rant but basically,  I’m just trying to be #relatable for all 3 of you who read this blog (you’re welcome).

Without further ado, my pity party is officially adjourned. Last weekend, my best friend and I attended an independent Harry Potter-themed convention in Manchester and I have some, *thoughts*. DraigCon is an events company which runs fan events for franchises such as Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. Having previously run in July at the Manchester PrintWorks, I’d checked out some of the event’s reviews and photos prior to attending on Saturday 27th, so thought I had a rough idea of what to expect: i.e. a Digbeth or Camden-esque market layout to mirror Diagon Alley, with plenty of food stalls, seating and visual attractions.

Wrong. In defence of DraigCon, I didn’t actually realise that they’d moved to a new venue, the Victoria Warehouse (most likely to combat possible weather conditions). The venue proved to be aptly named as the whole convention was just a few stalls scattered around huge adjoining rooms. For me, the main issue was the lack of structure and signposting around the venue, which led to a lot of aimless wandering. When we entered the event, we were issued with a mock Daily Prophet, which was a nice stylistic touch and this acted as the day’s itinerary guide. We also received a lanyard which entitled you to receive two free autographs from selected actors who were doing signings and talks throughout the day.

It was pretty cool milling about and hearing philharmonic orchestral renditions of the films’ scores (and pieces from E.T and Jurassic Park) whilst casually glancing over at Percy Weasley and Viktor Krum doing meet and greets. Certainly not an everyday occurrence! But, whilst selfies were free, you had to pay around £15 per autograph for these actors which I felt was slightly ridiculous considering everyone had already paid for entry. Despite this, the queues lasted all afternoon. The only actor we met properly was Chris Rankin, who played Percy Weasely, and in fairness he spent a generous five minutes interacting with Mol and she had several high quality photos to chose from to have personally signed.

My favourite part of the event was the craft stalls on the top floor, where you could buy everything from wands to broomsticks. It was smaller than I’d imagined but some of the products were exclusive to the convention, which semi- justified some of the more questionable prices (I’m sorry, but £50+ for a ‘wand’ aka a painted twig is ridiculous). Here, we discovered 7Lemons, a craft company who produce decorative ‘orbs’ (baubles). My über white-girl nature meant that I just had to buy a mini orb, which was full of  iridescent glitter and had the 9 3/4 logo emblazoned on it, for £4. You could also buy larger orbs filled with fairy lights for £15 but sadly,  I couldn’t justify one because a) that’s expensive and b) my room is essentially a Christmas grotto 24/7. Overall, it was fun if chaotic; I’ll end this review with a  brief summary of the event’s pros & cons to help you decide whether it’d be worth attending in July 2019.

Pros

1. Standard entry was really affordable, we paid about £15 (including booking fee) per person.
2. Everyone really made an effort to dress up (which was probably helped due to it being Halloween weekend) which added to the ambience.
3. The actors we met, whether briefly or within a meet & greet, were so lovely and seemed genuinely pleased to be meeting the fans.

Cons

1. If you want to get an autograph from 1+ of the more famous stars, prices are set at £15 per actor. Add in travel, food and possibly accommodation costs and the event becomes inevitably pricier.
2. Be prepared for a lot of standing and looking; there wasn’t very much seating  so much of your time was spent either queuing for meet & greets or food/craft stalls.
3. The Victoria Warehouse is really dark inside (and fairly cold) so it was much harder to take real candid photos, or even just good quality photos.

To sum up…

If you are a true Potter fan then I would recommend DraigCon because although I personally felt like many aspects needed rethinking or more organisation, you can tell that everything is intended to maximise the fan experience and truly celebrates J.K. Rowling’s creation and the Potter legacy.  Tickets are already available for DraigCon July 2019, so if I haven’t put you off, click here for ticket prices and further information. It’s actually being held at the PrintWorks next year, so I may have to check it out and compare the two venues!

If you’ve made it this far then honestly I salute you. Thank you so much for reading and for now I can say, mischief managed. 

(Don’t be surprised I made another terrible pun, be surprised that I left it til the very end of the post!)

Hol xo