This year my son decided he wanted to have a Harry Potter party for his 5th birthday. So naturally I was super excited, because there are so many cool things that you can do! We had to create his party to fit not only 5 year olds, but also other age groups as well. The first thing I did was to recreate the acceptance letter from Hogwarts as the invite and I included a train ticket as well.
Hogwarts' Invites You
We made the invite look like the Howarts' acceptance letter that Harry Potter received in the first movie! Along with the invite came a train ticket to Platform 9 3/4 for each kid.
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| {Hogwarts' Invite} |
Wizards Wands
Each wand was handmade and no two where the same. To keep the kids from fighting over wands, I placed them in a bag and when every kid had arrived we had a wand ceremony. Each kid picked from the bag and we told them that, that wand had picked them!
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{Wizards Wands}
{Wand Selection}
Hogwarts' House Sorting
For the house sorting, I made badges out of iron-on transfer paper and felt. Those where placed into a bag and once again each kid picked from the bag. No one knew who would be put into what house. The sorting hat was handmade as well! We decided not to place a cell phone into the hat to have him talk, due to balancing and figuring out who goes into what house. The fun is all gamble of who would pull out what! |
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| {Sorting Hat} |
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{House Badge}
Potions Class |
Next the kids moved onto potions class with Prof. Ratsnest! I painted the mini cauldrons with gold paint to give them more depth. Then, I placed a little bit of baking soda and food coloring into each. The professor then came around with the potion, i.e. vinegar & dish soda, and placed a little bit into each of the mini cauldrons. The kids watched as their potion changed color and fizzed all over! Then they got to play in it see how it felt! Fun!
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| {Prof. RatsNest before class} |
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| {Playing with their potions} |
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| {Let the fizzing begin!} |
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{Fizzing Potion}
Golden Dragon Egg and Creature Care |
Another great activity for an all ages group is hiding plastic eggs filled with different creatures. We called it the golden dragon egg search. Once every child found an egg, they opened them to see what was waiting for them inside. Prof. Ratsnest told them they had to take care of their creature, just like Harry takes care of his owl, Hedwig. I was lucky enough to be able to find golden eggs at a local big box store, it was around Easter time, and they sold them separately! I could buy one for each child. The creature where from the local dollar store. Cheap and easy!
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{Casting a spell on the golden dragon egg}
Wand Defense
My husband was really excited about doing wand defense with the kids as Prof. Sparklebolt. Our son's Godfather dressed as a Dementor and the kids learned how to protect themselves from the evil soul sucking dementor.
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{Prof. Sparklebolt defeating the Dementor}
{The Dementor}
{Little wizards strike back} |
Defeating the Dragon |
Final activity was the slaying of the dreadful dragon. Of course, we used a baseball bat and not our wands to defeat the dragon. He burst worth with wonderful treats once he was defeated!
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{Birthday wizard planning his attack}
Cake Fit For a Slytherin
I am lucky enough to have a girl in our city that bakes wonderful cakes! She made the birthday wizard his own book of spells with his favorite house, Slytherin, and the golden snitch! |
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| {The cake} |
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| {One happy wizard} |
Hogwarts Style
One of the most fun parts of this party is the decorating! I made the banner and had tons of fun making up wacky concoctions in various bottles for the potions class!
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| {Boomslang skin & dragon egg} |
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| {Frog Parts} |
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| {Various potions} |
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| {Close-up of banner} |
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| {Banner} |
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| {Front entrance with goodies} |
Happy Birthday Little Wizard!
Our little wizard was one happy dude that day! I had just as much fun creating this party as he did having it.
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| {Happy Birthday Little Wizard!} |
