Harry
Potter Party Ideas
Harry Potter parties are always popular and are likely to
become even more so this summer with the release of the new book and
film. Here are some ideas for a themed party.
Invitations
Invite friends to Hogwarts with an official looking
invitation in a large, handmade envelope with red wax seal.
Write your invitation on white paper, stain with a cooled
coffee or tea mixture, and roll up when dry. Tie with red ribbon or seal
with red wax.
Print and color our
Hogwarts house ties and use them as invitations - or cut them out
and send them as they are in an envelope, with instructions for children
to color them in in their favorite house's colors and wear them to the
party!
Party Games
Play "Who Am I" to break the ice. As children
arrive, pin a piece of paper onto their back on which you have written
the name of a character from the Harry Potter books (give the easier
characters to the younger children). Kids must then move around the room
asking questions about their character, which can only be answered with
"yes" or "no". Examples are "Am I a wizard?" "Am I a muggle?" "Am I a
child?" "Am I good at magic?" and so on..
Split into teams using a Sorting Hat. If you haven't
used the Hogwarts house ties
already, children could color in a tie each and wear it for the next
game...
Have a Treasure Hunt, using place-names from the
books. Tell the children that each area in which they will be hunting
has a particular name. For example, the garden might be the grounds of
Hogwarts, the sitting room might be Diagon Alley, and the kitchen might
be Hagrid's hut. Write your clues so that the children have to find a
letter in each location, which can be unscrambled at the end to produce
a suitable Harry Potter word - perhaps Hogwarts, or Gryffindor. Older
siblings will love to help you plan the treasure hunt!
Play Quidditch out in the garden. Set up two goals
at either end and give each player a broomstick with which to sweep the
ball-shaped golden snitch into the appropriate goal. Explain that you
are playing the muggles version of the game because nobody can fly! If
you need to play indoors, you can improvise a game with broomsticks made
out of rolled up newspapers (the children can make their own) and a
yellow balloon. Or make our origami
golden snitch!
Mix up a Magic Potion. First let your party guests
mix two cups of white glue with 1½ cups of water. Add a few drops of
food coloring. In a separate container, combine two teaspoons of borax
in 2/3 cup of warm water, and mix well. Next, ask the party guests to
mix the borax mixture with the glue solution and watch what happens when
the two are mixed together. Supervise young children carefully while
they make their magic potion, and cover up party clothes and costumes if
necessary. Alternatively, mix up some slime
or better yet some bubble mixture, which
you can then have fun playing with.
Play a Trivia Quiz. A search around the main
Harry Potter fan sites
will give you lots of ideas for questions.
Make Costumes. Use some black bin bags to make
cloaks (cut semi-circular shapes and use safety pins to attach at
shoulders) and black craft paper to make wands. Decorate with glitter
and silver stars.
Wear your costumes while playing The Magic Wand Game.
You will need some small food - mini marshmallows, M&Ms, or Smartees are
ideal (we used to play with peanuts, but check for allergies first). You
will also need a pair of chopsticks - preferable black ones - dressed up
with stickers to look like magic wands, and a pair of dice. Players sit
in a circle around the goodies and chopsticks, and take turns to roll
the dice. If a player gets a double, they rush to the center of the
circle and start eating the goodies, using only the chopsticks to pick
them up. They can continue eating until another player throws a double,
and takes their place. The game can be made more exciting and noisy by
adding a few extra dressing-up clothes in the center of the circle -
perhaps a wizard's hat and some Harry Potter glasses. These have to be
put on before you can start eating, and swapped over to the next player
when they take your place!
More coming soon..
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