Hosting a Harry Potter themed birthday party . . .

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

My daughter is set on having a Harry Potter themed party for her 10th birthday coming up at the end of this month. We are hosting it at our home and are looking for some fun ideas. We are excited about planning it, and I was going to order some things online, but Pumpkin Juice just costs too much per bottle for a group of girls who probably won't even like it, and the online candy is so expensive! We will probably order some cheap chocolate frogs and some every flavor beans (because how can you do Harry Potter without them), but we are looking for other ideas on homemade (or cheaply store bought) food and candy, and ideas for decorating and activities.

We have a cool Harry Potter trivia game.

I can already make a mean Butterbeer as I did that for Halloween.

Thinking about making my girl's bedrooms into Hufflepuff and Gryffindor houses, and we have a big front yard we can use for a quidditch field.

Other ideas? I'd love to hear them.

 

[crazymama]

You stirred up a fun memory for me. When my eldest was young (I think around 7) we threw him a Harry Potter party. I know that by today's technological standards this is probably pretty lame but we sorted the kids into Houses by placing a baby monitor under the Sorting Hat (found one that looked pretty close to the real thing). My husband hid up the stairs and spoke into it. The kids were young enough that they thought it was very cool. He just turned 22 so that was at the very beginning of Pottermania! I was dressed as McGonagall and DH as Dumbledore. Have fun!

 

[design_mom]

My daughter went as Hermoine for Halloween 2 years ago. We made her wand out of a chopstick. I found instructions online. You added designs to the 'handle' using hot glue. If you didn't want the girls handling hot glue, you could make up a bunch of options in advance and each girl could choose/paint/decorate their own wand.

 

[disney is my life]

Definitely check out Pinterest. They have all kinds of cool Harry Potter DIY things. A couple that I've seen that stood out to me (a quick google search should bring up images):
- DIY wands - made with pencils or round wood sticks, hot glue, and paint
- Sorting Cupcakes - bake cupcakes and when they're done make a hole in the top centre and put either blue, red, green, or yellow m&m's in the centre, then put icing on top. You won't be able to tell which house you've been sorted into until biting into the cupcake.
- Invitations - type up a Hogwarts letter addressed to each attendee, include a platform 9 3/4 train ticket
- Berttie Botts Every Flavour Beans -http://www.pilgrim1987.narod.ru/bertiebotts.htm - you can print and assemble these and buy the Bean Boozled jelly beans which come in gross and good flavours (like Berttie Botts)
- Cornish Pixie Centrepieces - https://www.etsy.com/listing/468003...X2FLk89_3NfXQePLLdWEjkFv9GxICsAxQIaAk9c8P8HAQ - these look pretty simple to make with a mason jar and a cut out.
- Platform 9 3/4 entrance - Get a large sheet of paper, use a large square sponge and put one side in rusty red paint, then use that to create a brick pattern on the sheet. Once it's dried cut hang it across your door and cut a slit in the centre - it'll look like a wall but you'll be able to walk through the slit (similar to the real platform 9 3/4 wall)

 

[wilkeliza]

Look at Epbot.com she has awesome ideas

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

You stirred up a fun memory for me. When my eldest was young (I think around 7) we threw him a Harry Potter party. I know that by today's technological standards this is probably pretty lame but we sorted the kids into Houses by placing a baby monitor under the Sorting Hat (found one that looked pretty close to the real thing). My husband hid up the stairs and spoke into it. The kids were young enough that they thought it was very cool. He just turned 22 so that was at the very beginning of Pottermania! I was dressed as McGonagall and DH as Dumbledore. Have fun!

What a great idea to put in the baby monitor! After spending hours online last night and today, I am fairly certain I am going to order the animated sorting hat from Universal merchandise. I think the kids will love it. I was surprised that DH agreed to dress as Dumbledore, but in looking online, there is a real dearth of Dumbledore costumes available for purchase. What did your husband use for a costume? I do a pretty good Bellatrix LeStrange, and I was considering getting an Einstein wig and a fancy jacket for DH and having him be Ollivander.

My daughter went as Hermoine for Halloween 2 years ago. We made her wand out of a chopstick. I found instructions online. You added designs to the 'handle' using hot glue. If you didn't want the girls handling hot glue, you could make up a bunch of options in advance and each girl could choose/paint/decorate their own wand.

I was looking today at some of the craft ideas- like wands- online, and after instruction number 4 and required ingredient/tool number 5, I start to cringe. I am really not a crafty person. My talent went into music and writing- I am afraid there was none left over for art. I did find some inexpensive wands on Etsy that I think I am going to order as party favors. We might even do a "Let the Wand Choose You" activity (the wands will all be different and labeled with their "core" ingredients"), but I am not sure how we could do that successfully. Have to keep thinking about it.

Definitely check out Pinterest. They have all kinds of cool Harry Potter DIY things. A couple that I've seen that stood out to me (a quick google search should bring up images):
- DIY wands - made with pencils or round wood sticks, hot glue, and paint
- Sorting Cupcakes - bake cupcakes and when they're done make a hole in the top centre and put either blue, red, green, or yellow m&m's in the centre, then put icing on top. You won't be able to tell which house you've been sorted into until biting into the cupcake.
- Invitations - type up a Hogwarts letter addressed to each attendee, include a platform 9 3/4 train ticket
- Berttie Botts Every Flavour Beans -http://www.pilgrim1987.narod.ru/bertiebotts.htm - you can print and assemble these and buy the Bean Boozled jelly beans which come in gross and good flavours (like Berttie Botts)
- Cornish Pixie Centrepieces - https://www.etsy.com/listing/468003...X2FLk89_3NfXQePLLdWEjkFv9GxICsAxQIaAk9c8P8HAQ - these look pretty simple to make with a mason jar and a cut out.
- Platform 9 3/4 entrance - Get a large sheet of paper, use a large square sponge and put one side in rusty red paint, then use that to create a brick pattern on the sheet. Once it's dried cut hang it across your door and cut a slit in the centre - it'll look like a wall but you'll be able to walk through the slit (similar to the real platform 9 3/4 wall)

Etsy and Pinterest do have some great ideas. But being non-crafty and a full time teacher and mom, I don't think I have time or energy to create some of those awesome things. I am more likely to buy from Etsy than to complete most of those DIY projects. I loved the floating candles and the creating a Platform 9 3/4 by hanging a sheet painted with bricks, but after reading through the instructions, I decided those things were not going to happen. I did get some simple ideas for things I can do from Etsy, like making my own potion bottles and doing some book covers. I have the minimal skill it takes to do those things. I also like some of the scenic setups I have found, like pictures of a stuffed owl in a cage next to a suitcase, and a pot full of "floo powder" to put next to the fireplace. I may do that. And my daughter was reading your post over my shoulder and she loves the sorting cupcakes. She said she might rather do those than a cake. That would make things simple for me! Give me an egg and a boxed mix and I can bake a few cupcakes.

Look at Epbot.com she has awesome ideas

Thanks! I will check it out.

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

I have food ideas, but I don't know how much sweets you are going to want at the birthday party.

 

[Dinohood]

i can't say what else you would need i had a harry potter themed party when i was 10 or so and at that time i just had plates and cake that had harry potter on it, so what you having going on so fun, my sister made wands for her middle kid b-day with painted wands from the craft store along with hot glue and colored glitter.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I hosted a cooking camp for kids a couple of years ago and did a Harry Potter themed menu - you won't need all the ideas (it was a full meal) but the recipe for the golden snitch cheese balls, chocolate frogs, and butterbeer would be super easy! Here's the link: http://seeaimeecook.blogspot.com/2015/10/harry-potter-themed-menu-recipes-kids.html

 

[luvflorida]

Reading this thread and I want to throw a Harry Potter party just for the heck of it! No special celebration, just to have fun!

OP, if you google Harry Potter party ideas, you'll find lots to choose from. So many, in fact, that it's overwhelming! One of the ideas that I thought was really cute, and creative, was the baby Mandrake cupcakes. Bake chocolate cupcakes and put them in mini flower pots. Hot glue green plastic plant material to the top of the heads of tiny plastic babies and place the babies in the cupcakes so that they're peeking out. I don't know how to show a pic through a link, but if you google baby Mandrake cupcakes, you'll see what they look like.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I have food ideas, but I don't know how much sweets you are going to want at the birthday party.

I am planning on being a regular Honeydukes. We will have jars and jars of candy. This may be our big candy blowout before we ban candy from our house entirely. The kids will be

I'd love to hear any food ideas you have. Right now I am planning on having the following:


Sweet:

Sorting cupcakes
Dumbledore's Lemon Drops
Acid Pops (lollipops)
Jelly Slugs (gummy worms)
Every Flavor Beans (a jar of good jelly beans with a few questionable flavors mixed in)
Dragon Eggs (chocolate eggs)
Golden Chocolate Snitches (Ferrero Rocher with little paper wings)
Cauldron Cakes (not sure what I am doing for these yet- any ideas? I thought about little Debbie chocolate cakes, but I think cauldron cakes are more like little mini pancakes or funnel cakes aren't they?)


Savory:

Herbology Bites (carrots and celery with ranch dip and strawberries and grapes)
Cornish Pasties
Hot dogs and crisps (for the less adventurous)

Drinks:

Butterbeer
Poly-juice Potion
Gillywater (just bottled water)

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

i can't say what else you would need i had a harry potter themed party when i was 10 or so and at that time i just had plates and cake that had harry potter on it, so what you having going on so fun, my sister made wands for her middle kid b-day with painted wands from the craft store along with hot glue and colored glitter.

You make a great point. I'm sure the kids would have a great time even if we just had a few HP themed items. I am putting some time and effort into this because I also love HP so much- and because I am excited about how much my daughter loves reading the books. I want to encourage her to keep reading and to delve into the fabulous fantasy worlds that lie in books.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I hosted a cooking camp for kids a couple of years ago and did a Harry Potter themed menu - you won't need all the ideas (it was a full meal) but the recipe for the golden snitch cheese balls, chocolate frogs, and butterbeer would be super easy! Here's the link: http://seeaimeecook.blogspot.com/2015/10/harry-potter-themed-menu-recipes-kids.html

I love your menu!

That French Onion Soup looks really good. Some of the kids might like that. I know I would.

Your chocolate frogs look easy, too. I might have to go buy a frog mold.

Your Butterbeer recipe is a bit different from the one I used at Halloween. I used butterscotch syrup, but the maple syrup looks good. And here is a cooking question: Why do you add salt to the cream? I don't know much about the science behind cooking, but I think it is interesting.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Reading this thread and I want to throw a Harry Potter party just for the heck of it! No special celebration, just to have fun!

OP, if you google Harry Potter party ideas, you'll find lots to choose from. So many, in fact, that it's overwhelming! One of the ideas that I thought was really cute, and creative, was the baby Mandrake cupcakes. Bake chocolate cupcakes and put them in mini flower pots. Hot glue green plastic plant material to the top of the heads of tiny plastic babies and place the babies in the cupcakes so that they're peeking out. I don't know how to show a pic through a link, but if you google baby Mandrake cupcakes, you'll see what they look like.

Glad you are inspired! You really should throw your party. I found a blog about someone's party and I really think this person must have spent at least $1000 on decorations alone- not to mention the elaborate food. Wouldn't it be nice to have that kind of money to spend on a themed party? But I am sure you could throw one that is just as fun for much less.

I found some pics of those cupcakes. They are really cute (though I am not sure that the kids who are not die-hard fans would understand- those cupcakes could seem a bit creepy to the un-Pottered observer).

And once a craft direction says the term "glue gun," I usually back slowly away.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Look at Epbot.com she has awesome ideas

Wow!! Just looked at it. How amazing that is. Wish I could afford to pay someone to decorate my home that way (there is no way I would have time or patience for it, but I would love to experience it).

 

[Dinohood]

using a glue gun is easy they have glue sticks you put in it and press it might take some arm power but it can be done, and what i meant was when i was 10 that is all they had for harry potter stuff cause the books were only out for a little bit and it did not take over the world by then like it is now.

 

[wilkeliza]

Wow!! Just looked at it. How amazing that is. Wish I could afford to pay someone to decorate my home that way (there is no way I would have time or patience for it, but I would love to experience it).

They have been slowly doing their house. She has a few short tutorials like wand making, gift box making, and I believe the most recent was a chocolate frog ornament how to. She has stuff ranging from easy to professional level.

 

[NHdisneylover]

We did a Harry Potter themed camporee for our Girl Scouts in June. One of the activites they had the most fun was also the simplest to set up---the Save Dobby Sock Hunt. We just hid a bunch of mismatched socks all over the place and let them hunt for them. We had planned it as a "filler" activity and not though much about it, but the girls loved it.

 

[Parker Clan]

That sounds like fun! It also makes a great bridal shower theme, HP knows no age limits LOL
I did a "Favorite Things" themed bridal shower for my sister in July & she loved it. One of her favorite things is HP so it was pretty heavily themed with HP things. We had HP cocktails, ie a spicy bloody Mary "the goblet of fire", I got her a glass that said "from muggle to Mrs" and I had a wooden ring box engraved that said "after all this time? always" with their names and wedding date. The best part was, the bartender heard this was our theme and came with her HP robe and wand! Amazing

 

[zoemurr]

I love the Dobby sock idea. You could do the hunt and then give them each the match for a favor, or you could wrap up a pair for everyone and they can play Dirty Santa to get their pair.

Aimee, thank you for sharing your cooking camp idea. You had over 20 kids??! My teen daughter and I teach a cooking camp for two weeks a year and have 8 kids ages 6-8 for only 2 hours a day for 3 days and it's exhausting. At the end we serve lunch for 20 people and I am a wreck. We also make a lot of table decorations which is fun and more in my comfort zone. I'm impressed!