Loot Crate’s Holiday themed Harry Potter loot crate, Hogwarts for the Holidays, included some impressive magical goodies that look bought for a pretty Knut, if not all the Sickles and Galleons you stowed in Gringott’s. It features not only one of the handsomest pins of late, but a new sign to intimidate your muggle postman, a miniature Hogwarts Express that runs back and forth (at least until your hand gets tired), and a house-themed platter either to hold some cookies or display those wonderful Honeydukes erasers Wizarding World sent out a few years back (just don’t let them get chomped), and a cushion on which to rest your Pottermaniacal head after you’ve finished hunting down horcruxes. As usual, the Wizarding World crate is one of the consistently best Loot Crates, with cool stuff at theme park quality, or at least within wizard duel distance of it.
My favorite item this month was the sign, which depicts the “owl post” delivering a letter above the wintry forest running up to Hogwarts. This painted wood sign is a cool household decoration that will boost your wizard cred, while adding a nice arts-and-crafts ambience as well.
While I don’t wear a ton of pins, I’m always super impressed by the Wizarding World enamel pins, as they’ve been some of the highest quality items Loot Crate has included in any of their subscription boxes. This month’s Buckbeak enamel pin is an outstanding pin, whether you keep it as a collectible or wear it on your pocket. Buckbeak is sculpted from a gold-trimmed pearlescent enamel that, rather like an oil spill or a seashell, has a surprising amount of color in it, with subtle shades of green, blue, and silver disguised in the off-white body of the hippogriff.
The Hogwarts Express Motion Pen, just like the wands occasionally delivered by this Loot Crate, is packaged in a black box. While it’s a functional pen, that muggle point of practicality is just the window dressing, while the actual attraction is the transparent, fluid-filled cylinder topping the pen which shuttles a miniature Hogwarts Express back and forth before a tiny backdrop of Platform 9 3/4.
While we’re on record for Gryffindor here, we received the Slytherin Hogwarts House Holiday Platter, a nice change of pace, because we are fans of all the Houses, even if we have a lot of fair complexioned people better flattered by Gryffindor colors than Slytherin. This Slytherin-themed plate is a nice piece, great for serving small smacks or a dessert.
While we can’t get enough nerdy pillows here, the biggest fan of this Harry Potter / Ron Weasley holiday pillow is my three year old, who loves Harry Potter and squealed when he saw it. Each side recalls one of Mrs. Weasley’s famous ugly sweaters, one in Ron’s red, and the other in Harry’s blue.
Overall, I was super impressed with Hogwarts for the Holidays, and every one of these items will see some use, or at least be admired as a Harry Potter keepsake. The pillow has already been squeezed, hugged, and slept on, the sign rests on a nail above our coats, and the rest of the items will be loved.
Loot Crate sent the review copy.
