Plan a Harry Potter Party

Throwing a Harry Potter theme party can be a lot of fun. People can get really into the Potter theme and have a great time. Since the Harry Potter world is so rich, there's so much you can do to make your party great for your guests. In order to throw a Harry Potter party, it’s important to choose the decorations and food, make the guest list and invitations, and prepare for your guests the day of the party. Planning a Harry Potter party may be a lot of work, but it will be lots of fun for you and your guests.

Steps

Sending Invitations and Planning Décor

  1. Settle on the best time and location for your Harry Potter party. You may want to throw your Harry Potter party at your place, but it may also be easier to have it at a venue or someone else's house. Additionally, you'll need to consider what the best time is to throw the party based on who is going to be attending.[1]
    • Before deciding who to invite, you'll want to know how much space you have to work with. You don't want to invite so many people that can't fit them inside a tiny apartment.
    • Timing is everything when it comes to parties. You'll want to choose the best time that will get many people to come, even if they have other plans during the day you are having the party.
  2. Personalize the party to your budget. Planning and throwing a party can be expensive, especially if you're using thematic decor. If you have a small budget, you'll want to make different choices than if you have a large or unlimited budget.[2]
    • If you have a small budget, try making more of the decorations or food yourself. Harry Potter themed decorations and food are plentiful, but this can be more expensive than making your own homemade decorations and food.
    • You'll also want to limit the guest list if you have a small budget. More people invited means more food, space, and decorations.
  3. Consider the age and maturity of your guests. This is especially important when planning food and beverage choices, music, and entertainment.If you're throwing a kid's party, you'll also want the time and location to be different than if it's for adults.
    • Kids parties will need to start earlier and probably be smaller in number and scope. Too many kids at once can be crazy, but also too much to handle as the party planner.
    • If you're having adults over for Harry Potter party, it should be later in the day and probably on a weekend. Additionally, you may want to include alcoholic beverages as part of your menu.
  4. Send out Potter-themed invitations. Be sure to include extra information on the invitations such as whether or not it is a costume party and if guests are welcome to bring along other people to the party. People should be excited about the prospect of a Potter party based on your invite.[3]
    • Make the invites even more like Harry Potter by making them like the acceptance letters. You can make the invitations say that guests have been accepted into Hogwarts and when they have to come to the party locations.
    • While you may be able to buy acceptance letter invitations, you can easily make them. Include a return envelope so you can get RSVPs from your guests.[4]
    • If you want your guests to dress up for the theme, make sure you mention that in the invites![5]
  5. Find the best decorations for your Harry Potter party. There are a wide variety of a decorations you can use for your Harry Potter party. For wall hangings and Potter-themed trinkets, you should be able to find them on the Internet, local department stores, and book stores.[6]
    • Harry Potter accessories are popular and available just about anywhere. Check at party stores and book stores. You can also find plenty of Harry Potter themed party accessories online.
    • If you are looking to get creative with the decorations while saving money, making your own could be a good option. Making your own decorations can be as simple as cutting out Golden Snitch and sorting hat shapes out of poster board. You can also place starry-looking fabric over the windows, and finding old brooms to create flying broomsticks. Collect some sticks and distribute them between the guests to pretend they are wands.
  6. Decorate different rooms to look like the dorms. Since the dorms are linked to the various “houses” in Harry Potter, it will be a fun way to introduce your guests to the party’s theme.As people come in, you can ask them a couple of questions to "sort" them.[7]
    • If you want to “sort” your guest, you can get a sorting hat that tells each guest which house they belong to and have a sorting party.[8] The sorting hat speaks in rhymes, so try to write out a script for different houses or guests.
    • For each house, you’ll want to use the house colors. In Gryffindor, you’ll use red and gold; for Hufflepuff, yellow and black; for Ravenclaw, blue and bronze; and for Slytherin, green and silver. You can do this with the curtains, interior decorations, or general color scheme.[9]
  7. Theme different rooms in your home. If you don't want to theme your home as dorm rooms, you can use a variety of different themes throughout. There are many different places in Harry Potter, so it can be fun to try to recreate them in your own home.
    • Olivander's Wand Shop can be a fun room. You can create the hanging sign, as well as various "wands" set up throughout the room.
    • While your home is likely not big enough to have a great hall to eat in, you can set up your dining room to look like the dining hall. You can rent long tables and set up the room so the tables go the length of the room like in the movies.[10]
  8. Put Harry Potter references on your door and on the walls. The Harry Potter world is very rich with all kinds of references. You can decorate your walls or door to draw your guests into the Harry Potter world.
    • On your door, you can try a variety of different signs. A 9 3/4 sign on the door can be fun, as could enchanted dragon eggs. You may even hang a portrait on the front door and a ask for a password you mentioned in the invitations.[11]
    • You can also put signs on your walls from the books or movies. Educational Decrees can be a fun way to put things on your wall throughout your place.

Setting a Menu

  1. Make Food for a Harry Potter Party. Whether you're going to have a sit-down meal or a buffet with little snacks and a snack table, you have tons of options as to what to make. The Harry Potter world is full of fun and interesting foods that you can both purchase or create. You can try buying Ferrero Rochers and tape some wings to the gold foil, while taking of the stickers, for snitches.
    • There are several Harry Potter brand snacks on the market today. Some include: Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Wizard Cards, Cockroach Clusters, Jelly Slugs, Blood Pops, and Acid Pops. You can place these candies into a wooden bowl for everyone to share or put them in individual take-home bags can make for a fun treat.
    • It may also be fun to make your own food from the Harry Potter world. For example, you could make Harry’s 11th birthday cake from Hagrid.[12]
    • For drinks, make the classic party punch with lime green sherbet and Sprite. You can also place an orange colored juice into goblet-style containers for a "goblet of pumpkin juice" effect.
  2. Make homemade butter beer. Butterbeer is served at The Three Broomsticks and The Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade. You can make it easily at home by following a simple recipe.[13]
    • If you want to make butterbeer that’s closest to the one served at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you can combine brown sugar, water butter, salt, cider vinegar, heavy cream, rum abstract, and cream soda. You’ll boil the ingredients together and top off with cream soda.
    • Butterbeer is served in steins, so you’ll want to have fun glasses to serve it in. You can buy official steins with “Butterbeer” on them, but you can also just use your own frosted steins.
    • For adult parties, you can spike the butterbeer. Including vanilla vodka or butterscotch schnapps can maintain the butterbeer flavor while making it alcoholic.
  3. Try some Harry Potter themed desserts. For dessert, you could create or buy pastries and place them on a cart or side table to re-create the feel of snacks on the Hogwarts Express train. Any British inspired entrée or decadent dessert would create the feel of a Hogwarts feast.[14]
    • Harry Potter desserts come in all shapes and sizes. You can make a Gryffindor Fruit Trifle, as well as a Hermione’s chocolate toads.
    • Using a cart to bring out the desserts can be a fun way to replicate the Hogwarts Express train. If you want to make more traditional pastries and desserts, this can be a way to theme them to fit your party.

Planning Activities

  1. Find the right background music. If you wish for a simple way to add more of a Harry Potter feel to your party, filling the air with the proper sounds can be effective. Try purchasing the movie soundtracks on the internet or in your local music store. In a pinch, play the movies on a low volume on the television.
    • There are plenty of craft ideas on Youtube.
    • The music soundtracks can be a good way to set the mood. The Harry Potter soundtracks are great and really put you the right mood for wizarding fun.
    • Wizard Rock can also be great background music. Wizard Rock bands include: Draco and the Malfoys, Harry and the Potters, The Parselmouths, Ministry of Magic, The Mudbloods, The Butterbeer Experience, and The Remus Lupins.
  2. Play Quidditch. If the weather allows, plan a muggle quidditch tournament. You can also have a prize for the winning house.
    • You'll want to have rules readily available for the players. Even if they don't know all the rules to Quidditch at first, you should be able to teach them pretty quickly. [15]
    • Since your guests obviously can't fly, you'll want to adjust the game for muggles and have the appropriate equipment. People can run with a broom between their legs while chasing someone designated as a "snitch" with a tennis ball.[16]
  3. Choose the right entertainment. If you scan the internet looking for news on the Harry Potter, you will likely find that the internet is filled with Harry Potter trivia games. You can use these questions or make your own to create a Harry Potter trivia tournament.
    • Be sure to offer prizes such as Harry Potter bookmarks or pencils to the winners. You can even tailor well-known party games such as hangman, Pictionary, or charades to fit your Potter theme.
    • Another idea would be to hold a contest to see shows up in the best costume. They can also win a prize that is Harry Potter themed.
    • Be sure to start planning plenty of time in advance in order to create special events such as a trivia tournament.
  4. Bring a copy of all of the Harry Potter books. This way people can search through them and talk about their favorite parts. You can also use them as references to check for correct answers during trivia games.
    • You can consider offering a reading from the Potter books at different points throughout the night. Comb through the books for passages that would be great to introduce the various foods, decorations, and games that you bring out.
    • Since it's a party, only leave out Harry Potter books that you don't mind getting dirty. The books are quite popular, so it may be a good idea to find used copies at a second-hand store.
  5. Create fun science experiments for kids. Harry Potter is fun of magic, but you can try to recreate some of its magic through science experiments. Kids will be amazed and interested at how the magic of Harry Potter can be recreated.
    • You can make a crystal ball using dry ice to "tell the future" for kids. The crystal ball will look cool and kids will be fascinated at your powers.[17]
    • A magic class can also be fun for kids. You can use water gel and three cup monte as a way to show kids how the properties of water can be magical.
  6. Plan an activity where you care for magical creatures. Magical creatures are a big party of the Harry Potter world. Including them in your Harry Potter party for kids can be great fun.
    • You can have a scavenger hunt for kids where they track down rubber snakes and spiders and put them back in their cages. If you make it a race, kids will have a great time trying to be first to finish the scavenger hunt.
    • Kids can also be put into teams to complete the scavenger hunt. This may be a better idea if you have fewer magical creatures or not a lot of space at your party.


Related Articles

References

  1. ↑ https://www.dailyemerald.com/news/housing/how-to-throw-a-house-party-that-doesnt-suck/article_ba8c70ce-ef2a-5b05-b251-22cff08a7c72.html
  2. ↑ http://www.moneycrashers.com/throw-party-budget-host/
  3. ↑ http://www.piecesbypolly.com/2013/01/printable-hogwarts-acceptance-letters.html
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUHQA3EUTS8
  5. ↑ [v161246_b01]. 29 January 2020.
  6. ↑ https://geekdad.com/2015/01/harry-potter-party/
  7. ↑ http://www.hp-lexicon.org/atlas/hogwarts/atlas-h-dorm.html
  8. ↑ [v161246_b01]. 29 January 2020.
  9. ↑ http://www.mugglenet.com/2004/07/the-significance-of-house-colors/
  10. ↑ http://time.com/4053951/harry-potter-jk-rowling-hogwarts-great-hall/
  11. ↑ http://www.today.com/parents/12-easy-ideas-wizard-worthy-harry-potter-birthday-party-1D80226524
  12. ↑ http://communitytable.parade.com/412773/kavitharamaswamy/39-magical-harry-potter-inspired-recipes/
  13. ↑ http://wizardingworldpark.com/butterbeer-recipes/
  14. ↑ http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/15214
  15. ↑ https://www.usquidditch.org/about/rules
  16. ↑ http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/21/sport/quidditch-mudbloods/
  17. ↑ http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/dry-ice-crystal-ball-bubble/
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