A Frisco family has received much attention for a picture taken at their Halloween party. Annamarie Stephens, her husband, Corey, and her baby son paid tribute to the Harry Potter series at a Halloween party this past weekend.
In the picture, Stephens and her husband are dressed as Hogwarts students, wearing earmuffs to block off the cries of their son, dressed as a Mandrake.
“I’ve always been a huge Harry Potter fan,” Stephens says. “I think I was seven or eight when I read the first book. It was the first real book series I read, and ever since then, I’ve just loved reading. The series totally turned me into an avid reader.”
The costumes for the Stephens’ Halloween festivities have been over a year in the making.
“My husband and I got married just over a year ago,” Stephens says. “Our anniversary is October 14. When we honeymooned, we chose to go to Disneyworld and Universal Studios. we were at Universal Studios, we did the whole Harry Potter World thing. When we were at Harry Potter World, we bought the robes that we’re wearing in the picture.”
Read more: Step into the Star Wars universe with virtual reality at Cinemark Plano
Since their anniversary almost coincides with Halloween, Stephens wanted to make their first Halloween as a family special, and incorporate the two holidays into each other. She wanted to be sure to include her son in the festivities.
“I pulled the robes out of the closet, but then, I was trying to figure out how I could dress my baby,” Stephens says. “It took me so long to figure out what I could do, and then finally, I was like ‘oh, he could be a Mandrake!’”
In the Harry Potter universe, Mandrakes are sentient plants, the roots of which are used to create an antidote to revive students who have been attacked. Their screams, however, are fatal if heard.
“In the movies, they kind of look like babies and they scream like babies, so it just kind of fit,” Stephens says.
Before going to bed after the party, Stephens shared a group photo of her, Corey, and their son, all in costume. The next morning, she discovered that people had begun to share the picture.
“I thought ‘oh, this is cool, maybe this will go viral,’” Stephens says. “By the end of that day, we had only gotten about 100 shares, so I figured that was it”
Earlier the next morning, Stephens saw that the number of shares had rapidly grown.
“I woke up around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning to feed the baby,” Stephens says. I checked Facebook, and saw that we had gotten around 3,000 shares. It literally blew up overnight.”
The picture has since been shared over 225,000 times and Stephens and here family are overjoyed at the reaction. Stephens holds the Harry Potter franchise dear to her heart.
“To me, Harry Potter signifies the importance of friendship,” Stephens says. “Harry Potter has these two friends who stick by his side no matter what kind of trouble they manage to get into. The series also represents how good always triumphs over evil. It’s just always been a really big part of my life.”
