My daughter read all seven Harry Potter's this last Spring/Summer, so she is a bit Harry Potter crazy, so of course we needed to have a Harry Potter themed birthday party!
Again, I found many wonderful ideas at www.birthdaypartyideas.com, and found even more wonderfully awesome ideas at Pinterest, and even a few in google land. I know I always say this, but this was such a fun theme. I had a lot of fun making things for this party, but they did take a lot of preparation. And being the procrastinator that I often am, I did get a little stressed. So do not as I do, and get it done early!
I think it was the perfect introduction to our party, and get everyone in Potter-mode!
I found the idea for floating candles here. She had a lot of cute ideas! My husband got the task of hanging them, and they turned out wonderfully! Everyone loved them. I found my LED lights at the dollar store, and they have lasted for days now!
For other decorations we found a pair of reading glasses at a dollar store that looked Harry Potter-ish and a broom to set out. My mom brought the cute frame that she found somewhere with the golden snitch and such.
I used some of the labels found online to decorate different bottles to be potions. I had hoped to fill them with fun things to match the potion, but I just did not have enough time.
Eeylop's Owl Emporium
I always like to have an activity for children to do as they arrive, since not everyone will show up at the same time. We had ceramic owls from Eeylops Owl Emporium (or Oriental Trading) for them to paint.
Some of the kids loved this so much that they kept at it all night, even missing some of the other games to paint. And it also gave them something fun to take home.
During the party my husband went downstairs with a list and sorted the kids into their houses (my daughter chose their house assignments, and chose a few characteristics of each child for the "sorting hat" to describe them.) I just called my husband and then placed the phone on speaker, and would call out each child's name loudly so that he could hear and find their name on the list. The kids LOVED this! The excitement and surprise on their faces was so worth all the burned fingers from the glue gun!
After each child received their house assignment each child received a house tie. I found the idea at The Brilliant Crafty Type. These were easy and cute. We just pinned them on with a safety pin. (Please ignore the wrong colored ties in the background... we had to redo a few and kept those for extras)
Ollivander's Wand Shop
Miss B. acted as Ollivander's assistant at the wand shop. As each child came up she would try a wand and decide whether that wand fit them or not.
We had a potion shop (the drinks).
We had the kids pick a partner to concoct their potions, and then I was the assistant, and poured whatever concoctions they desired into their cups, gave them a spoon and let them stir. They all received a grade as this was like an OWL exam. I believe everyone earned an O for Outstanding. I found Over the Big Moon, that had awesome labels available for downloading or printing (FOR FREE!!), I did use some of them, and used others for ideas in making my own. My daughter picked which potions to include and which soda bottle to pair them with. Because her birthday is close enough to Halloween, I was able to find a plastic cauldron in a store. My husband picked up dry ice on his way home from work (we had never bought any before, but most grocery stores carry it). It was another small detail that really added to the party!
This was one of the easiest cakes I have done. Miss B. really wanted a golden snitch birthday cake, "but not as fancy as Mrs. Weasley's" she said. Good thing, because this momma doesn't do fancy cakes!
On the invitations we made sure to tell the kids to bring a broom or mop. :) I did have a few on hand for those that forgot. I think the kids could have played our modified game of quidditch all night long!
Some of the kids spent most of their time just wandering looking for the snitch. We tried to have assignments of making someone be the bludger (they would throw the bludger) and other kids being the beaters or seekers. The kids did not always stay with their assigned roles, but they all had tons of fun!
I was silly and forgot to attach a string or hanger to hold him up. My husband was worried about getting hit, and he had the GENIUS idea of letting the kids do a magic spell with their new magic wands! So we had the kids line up and cast a spell (my daughter gave them lots of ideas) and my husband would then whack the pinata. Some spells were well cast, and others not. Initially I thought the children may be disappointed that they were not getting to actually hit it, but I did not hear one complaint! They all loved it!
Loot bags were pretty simple. We just used brown paper lunch sacks and filled them with a few things.
They had Mad Eye Moody's eye (rolling eye from Oriental Trading) a broom pen/pencil, a few marshmallow Mad Eye Moody's Eye. My mom gave Miss B. a pack of Harry Potter bumper stickers, and since she had more than she could use, we also stuffed one of those in each bag. So the guests went home with the bags, pinata candy, their magic wand and box, house tie, chocolate frog, and their Owl.
Be sure to check out the other Harry Potter Birthday posts, for more photos and instructions on all the things above!
The invitations were loved by everyone!
A time consuming, but well worth the effort project was our 9 3/4 platform.
I found the idea for floating candles here. She had a lot of cute ideas! My husband got the task of hanging them, and they turned out wonderfully! Everyone loved them. I found my LED lights at the dollar store, and they have lasted for days now!
For other decorations we found a pair of reading glasses at a dollar store that looked Harry Potter-ish and a broom to set out. My mom brought the cute frame that she found somewhere with the golden snitch and such.
I used some of the labels found online to decorate different bottles to be potions. I had hoped to fill them with fun things to match the potion, but I just did not have enough time.
Eeylop's Owl Emporium
I always like to have an activity for children to do as they arrive, since not everyone will show up at the same time. We had ceramic owls from Eeylops Owl Emporium (or Oriental Trading) for them to paint.
The sorting hat took some work, but so worth it!
After each child received their house assignment each child received a house tie. I found the idea at The Brilliant Crafty Type. These were easy and cute. We just pinned them on with a safety pin. (Please ignore the wrong colored ties in the background... we had to redo a few and kept those for extras)
Ollivander's Wand Shop
Miss B. acted as Ollivander's assistant at the wand shop. As each child came up she would try a wand and decide whether that wand fit them or not.
We had a potion shop (the drinks).
We had the kids pick a partner to concoct their potions, and then I was the assistant, and poured whatever concoctions they desired into their cups, gave them a spoon and let them stir. They all received a grade as this was like an OWL exam. I believe everyone earned an O for Outstanding. I found Over the Big Moon, that had awesome labels available for downloading or printing (FOR FREE!!), I did use some of them, and used others for ideas in making my own. My daughter picked which potions to include and which soda bottle to pair them with. Because her birthday is close enough to Halloween, I was able to find a plastic cauldron in a store. My husband picked up dry ice on his way home from work (we had never bought any before, but most grocery stores carry it). It was another small detail that really added to the party!
Golden Snitch Cake
Quidditch!
What Harry Potter party would be complete without some Quidditch???
But it was getting dark and a little cold.
My husband chose a different child each round to hide the snitch.
They were all so eager to get a turn to hide it.
We made a Voldemort Pinata.
I used my usual pinata method here, and let my daughter paint his face.
(which means she is a better artist than I, and I was so crunched for time that she was the best candidate!)
Loot bags were pretty simple. We just used brown paper lunch sacks and filled them with a few things.
Be sure to check out the other Harry Potter Birthday posts, for more photos and instructions on all the things above!
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