Harry Potter Party Ideas

If you are like me and fell in love with the Harry Potter books the minute you read Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. The sense of excitement was overpowering when I finished the first book and I had to save up my pocket money to buy the next book. I'm now an adult but I haven't lost my need for adventure and all things spooky and magical. My mum used to organise the best themed kids parties for myself and my siblings. I was lucky enough to have a Harry Potter birthday party for my 8th birthday with handmade Harry Potter party decorations and Harry Potter party food. My brother had a Harry Potter themed party for his 12th birthday where everyone came in identical Harry Potter costumes so it was difficult to tell who was who. It was hilarious.

Since being an adult I have run I have successfully run three Harry Potter parties and learning from my Mum's excellent party throwing skills it's all about the decorations, mandatory Harry Potter costume and themed food ideas. Here is a list of all the Harry Potter party ideas I have had to help you when you run your next Harry Potter party. Drinking some Liquid Luck helps too.

Harry Potter themed party

Harry potter parties are easy to organise these days as every second shop I go into has a rack of Harry Potter themed products. There are even whole Harry Potter shops in the UK. I spend about 45 minutes in one at London airport. Very expensive though but never fear, you can just create your own party decorations and games. Here are a couple of party ideas to get your started.

• • Make coloured house scarves from paper and as your Harry Potter party guests arrive put them into Slytherin House. When it's time to play games to have play with all the other Slytherin guests. This is a way of making your guests mingle with people other than their close friends.
  • Harry Potter wand making station. Set up a bunch of cardboard wands, gold and silver pens, glitter, glue sticks, feathers, dazzling sticky beads etc. and ask your guest to make their own wand. Then create a game where everyone has to pick up there wand and use it to join in the game.

Harry Potter Party Decorations

• • Hang large quidditch golden snitches hanging from the ceiling,
  • Place headstones at the front door,
  • Put location signs pointing in different directions e.g. Hogwarts 5km, Goddric's Hollow this way,
  • Buy a big bag of fake cobwebs and got nuts around your house
  • Cut out silhouettes of Hogwarts, bats and Hogsmeade and place them in the windows,
  • Portkeys, flying keys
  • Buy fake stone wall backdrops online,
  • Spooky candelabras and hanging candles
  • Draw owls on balloons,
  • Buy big sheets of black cardboard and cut out bats, witches hat and rats and stick them to the walls.
  • Hand draw or print out all the house banners and stick them up on the walls, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin.
  • Source a bunch of sticks from the garden about 1-2 metres long. Chop up brown paper and cardboard into long 30cm strips and attach them with strong to the bottom of the stick. You have yourself a broomstick. Boo.

Harry Potter Dinner Party Food

• • Harry Potter cupcakes Quidditch themed, use an upside down chocolate dipped ice cream cone to make witches hat cupcakes
  • Table decorations Buy large rainbow lollie pythons and little lollie snakes to decorate your main food table. Grab some Ferrero Rocher chocolates (the round gold ones that Nanna always has at her house) and pop a couple of feathers in each side = A golden snitch.
  • Drinks - Serve butterbeer, pumpkin juice, fire whisky and elf wine by placing fake labels for all your drinks. Make up a Potions stand with different coloured food dye and spooky lollies so people can dye their drinks different colours and fill the bottom of their glasses with spooky jellies.