A guy in Iowa just won the Husband of the Year Award by throwing his wife an incredibly detailed surprise Harry Potter birthday party, complete with a homemade Elder Wand present.
Amanda Kundert told BuzzFeed News that she met her husband, Corey, through a mutual friend when they were 18, and they have been together ever since.
Like many people, Amanda is a huge fan of Harry Potter. But she said she only became a fan within the past couple of years, when she and her husband went on a camping trip and she needed something to read.
"I decided on reading a Harry Potter book because they’re quite long and I was not immune to the large community of Harry Potter fans and their never-ending praise for J.K. Rowling and her literary prowess," she said. "After the first book I was hooked, and I read all seven over the next few weeks."
She is now a superfan, so her husband decided to surprise her with a Harry Potter birthday party when she turned 26. The surprise started when Corey picked his wife up from work and took her to a coffee shop. There, he gave her a handmade Elder Wand.
Amanda said she figured they would go home and watch the movies to end her birthday night. But she was shocked when she got home and her doorway had been turned into Platform 9¾.
When she opened the door, she found an entire Harry Potter world waiting for her. Corey made all of the decorations himself.
"I opened the door and my tiny apartment had been completely transformed," Amanda said. "I couldn’t believe the detail."
There were floating letters and Sirius Black–style signs...
Veritas potion and Dark Mark tattoos...
And even a "Mandrake" created from a Barbie doll cut in half. It doubled as a cake.
The most impressive part of the party? Corey has never even read the books. "He just knew that I loved them, so he spent time researching what a Mandrake was and how he could saw a Barbie doll in half to make it look like one," Amanda said.
Amanda said she was absolutely shocked by the party and the effort Corey had made to make her feel special.
So, is Amanda planning a similarly epic surprise for her husband?
She said she "really wanted to," but he preferred something a little more low-key.
"He actually hates birthday parties," she said. "For real. They stress him out. When he turned 26 in July, I made him a cheesecake, gave him a haircut, and we watched a movie. That's all he wanted, and he was perfectly content."