New Twists for a Harry Potter Party
Thrifty, Innovative Hogwarts Party Plan Pleases Big Crowds
Because this Harry Potter™ party plan doesn’t call for lots of frills, the budget can be stretched to feed a large group. Choose a large yard, park, or group campsite with covered shelters, picnic tables, and restrooms.
Put most of the budget toward simple but tasty food and drinks, move guests quickly through a series of quintessential Hogwarts™ activities, and send ‘em home happy with a few well-chosen party favors.
After reading the plan, scour the house, attic, basement, garage, and backyard for party supplies and decor items (scarves, shawls, eyeglasses, lanterns, stacks of old books, old pens, tea cups and saucers, tables, chairs, small stuffed owls, etc.) before heading out to friends' homes, dollar stores, and thrift shops to fill in the gaps.
Harry Potter Party Invitations
Send a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts Academy to each guest. Choose parchment paper, a font like Blackadder, and sign the letter from Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.™
Advise each witch and wizard if they are to wear Hogwarts robes or bring their own wands. Give the option to come as a favorite character or Muggle™ so that everyone feels welcome.
Include a boarding pass, made from index cards, scrapbook stock, or construction paper. For a special touch, use glue dots to affix a Harry Potter Trading Card to the pass. They’re available through online auctions in large batches for low prices. The trading card games are easy to find online, too, and they're great party fun for older kids and teens.
Hogwarts Party Favors
As guests arrive, have them visit a draped and decorated Hogsmeade™ table for some of the supplies they’ll need at Hogwarts:
- Black plastic cauldrons (Available seasonally as trick-or-treat buckets.)
- Honeydukes™ shopping bags (Made from brown paper lunch bags, decorated to suit.)
- Wands (Cut thin branches from trees in the yard, such as holly, oak, alder, and myrtle. Trim to about 10 inches, wash, and sun dry.)
- Large feathers (With instructions on trimming quills.)
- Potions bottles (Small glass bottles, washed and relabeled as various Hogwarts potions.)
- Potion ingredients (Fill glass jars with inexpensive dried herbs and other flora or dried food. Scoop and wrap selections in small, labeled paper packets.)
- Journals (Use dollar store version or homemade, with customized covers of paper.)
The Sorting Hat
Sort guests into the four Hogwarts Houses with a Sorting Hat™ made from old clothes, in all shades of brown, cut and ripped into strips. Burlap feed sacks work well, too.
Loosely shape and pin, starch, or glue the fabrics around a newspaper cone and a wide brim of cardboard or several layers of newsprint. Fashion the brow ridges and mouth. Staple or glue the two pieces together and add some more fabric strips to hide the seam. Papier mache is another option.
How to Play Wizards Chess
Turn guests into life-size Wizards Chess™ pieces! Read up on the rules of chess, then adapt the game board to suit the number of guests. Pace off a large area of grass or pavement, allowing a two-foot by two-foot space for each square.
On grass, use U-shaped nails to pin long pieces of string into a chess board grid. Pin small fabric or plastic swatches, in two colors, inside the alternating squares. On pavement, use sidewalk chalk to draw lines and fill in alternate squares.
Pick two guests who know how to play chess, or pair neophytes with experienced players. Let them call out the moves from atop a box or short stepstool or ladder until checkmate. Keep drinks and snacks handy for guests as they leave the board.
How to Play Quidditch
Dig out those old Hula Hoops®, two large, soft balls of two different colors, and one yellow tennis ball Snitch™ for outdoor Quidditch™ play. Set up at least one, but not more than three, hoops at opposite ends of a grassy area. The hoops can hang from a tree or post, or be held by guests who don’t want to play. Dangling, spinning hoops provide even more fun!
The referee tosses both large balls in the air to start the game. Each team has its own color ball. Players can throw, block, and pass, but not kick, as they try to score points by passing the ball through a hoop. No Beaters™ or Bludgers™ in this game! The ref will toss the Snitch into the game at any time.
Pit one House against another in two elimination games, then hold a championship game between the winning teams. Set a point limit or time limit to keep the party moving. Plan to serve lots of water!
Potions Class
If imagination fails, stick with the classic baking soda and vinegar experiment. The best version is the “Foaming Cauldron” in the Harry Potter Spells and Potions™ series (Chemistry I kit), out of production but still available through eBay. Otherwise, use an online search engine to choose a safe variation of this cool, nontoxic chemical reaction or another spell and potion kit.
Harry Potter Trivia Contest
If a Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit™ game isn’t available, it’s easy to find free Harry Potter trivia fodder online at Mugglenet.com. Set a time limit; serious fans of the series can answer for hours!
Food from the Hogwarts Kitchen
Set up a self-serve buffet and designate a couple of kitchen elves to keep things replenished. Rename every food and beverage served as Hogwarts treats or potions. Orange drinks can become Pumpkin Juice™ and cream sodas are Butter Beer.™ Letter or print out the selections to make small table tents and prop them by each buffet item. It’s simple, but effective.
A Hogwarts Halloween
Guests will always remember an imaginative Hogwarts Halloween party if the host focuses on good food and beverages, well-chosen favors, and strong role-playing activities.
Related resource:
Fresh, Fun Halloween Parties for Kids and Teens
Hedwig™ is a Hogwarts™ Halloween Party must!
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