A Day in the Life – The Ultimate Harry Potter Party

WIZARD SERIES – A DAY IN THE LIFE OF HOGWARTS STUDENT

Welcome to Part 4 of our Wizarding Party Series (because yes, this theme was a constant for a very long time, birthday after birthday 🙂 ).  While we varied the menu a bit but kept some of the easy desserts the same.  BUT, we did change up the games (as usual).  We took them through a few “classes” and even successfully weaved in some STEM lessons there!  Win win 🙂 

Try out a few of these suggestions below and let us know how it goes and what you think!

DECOR

Just for fun, we went with a different colored house this time around.  We used hufflepuff colors this time around – black, grey, yellow. 

By this time, we had also built up quite a collection of Harry Potter items: sorting hat, broomsticks, triwizard cups, broom pens, time turner necklaces, pigmy puffs, snowy white stuffed animals, etc..   So we had all those surrounding the party area.  This was actually part of the pre-party game as well, so served a double purpose. 

ARRIVAL

Most guests will trickle in a few minutes before or after the actual start time of the party.  To keep everyone in theme, have a few activities in an area of the party. 

For this party, we opted for a trivia sheet with ‘clues’ hidden around the party. 

FOOD & DRINKS

There are quite a few Harry Potter cookbooks out there, so if you’d like to follow some recipes, go ahead and grab some!   Otherwise, you can always ‘re-name’ some typical foods to make them sound more in tune with the wizard world.  We printed the labels on antique style paper to add to the decor. 

Note: we did repeat most of these menu items from our last Harry Potter / Wizard Party.  You can find links here to different games and activities:  Harry Potter / Wizard Parties

• Appetizers
  • Herbology Bites – we used a super simple recipe from justsweetandsimple.blogspot.com: Herbology Bites (justsweetandsimple.blogspot.com)
  • Gillyweed – Sauteed Spinach
• Main
  • For this party, we actually ordered fish and chips and meat pies to change things up a bit.
• Desert
  • Cockroach clusters – store bought turtle chocolates
  • Moonstone cookies – dark brown chocolate cookies
  • Olivander’s Wands – big pretzel sticks 
  • Treacle Tarts – mini pecan or jam bites
  • Rock cakes – mini chocolate muffins
  • Cupcakes w/ toppers
  • Pensieve – silver bowl w/ blue jello
  • Golden Snitches – Ferrero Rocher truffles to fill the Triwizard Cup
• Drinks
  • We used a few labels on some of our liter drinks:
    • Liquid Luck 
    • Polyjuice Potion – 

GAMES

We had a mix of kids this time around and decided to make this more of a Wizard School type party.   We told them they’d be taking a tour of “Hogwarts” and would get to participate in an activity in each “classroom.”

• Magical Creatures.  The first class we took them too was ‘Magical Creatures’ where we played a variation of the red light / green light game.  We told them there were magical creatures that you DEFINITELY wanted to stay away from and those that were a bit more friendly.  We printed out pictures of each.  If we showed a good creature, they could run toward the end of the room until we put the creature picture away.  If we showed a not-so-good creature, they had to run back 🙂  The goal was to get to the other end of the room.
  1. “Good Creatures”
     1. Unicorns – mythical creatures
     2. Owls – send messages
     3. Hippogriff – will give rides if wizard is trustworthy
  2. “Bad Creatures”
     1. Goblins – oard treasure
     2. Dragons – breathe fire
     3. Basilisk – giant snake

• Defense Against the Dark Arts. The second class we took them to was Defense Against the Arts where we played a variation to “Tag”.  There was one Dementor who got to wear a black cape.  He/she had to tag other kids.  If a kid was tagged, they had to run back to the professor who would give them a small piece of chocolate candy.  Once they got their candy (depending on the parent preference either got to eat it or handed it to their parent to place in their bag), they could go back into the game.  We played for a few minutes before they could get tired of the game 🙂 

• Herbology.  The third class we took them to was Herbology, study of plants.  We actually let the kids plant a few plants in our planter as well as a take-home pot.  (I heard some actually had successful sprouts!).  We also let them decorate the pots with paint markers  if they were so inclined. 

• Charms & Spells.  The next class we took them to was Charms & Spells.  This was more a table activity, so we had them sit down and learn “spells”.
  1. Lumos – This first one was easy.  Lumos creates a light, so we handed them glow sticks and let them crack them to turn them on. 
  2. Revealo – This next one (as it’s so named) reveals something that is hidden.  We had some secret messages hidden with “spy ink” and let them use the flashlight while they said “Revealo” in order to see the message.  We let them play around with the peen and lights for a bit. 
  3. Aguamenti.  This spell allows wizards to control water.  We let them use their own wands and performed a “candle in water” experiment (thank you mombrite.com) Burning Candle in Water Experiment (mombrite.com).  The kids actually really really liked this experiment and we repeated it a few times. 

• Potions.  The last class we took them to was Potions (which is arguably the messiest).  We labelled ingredients with some random wizard ingredient names and had them test out their potions 🙂
  1. Invigoration Draught.  In this fun little experiment, the pop rocks will dissolve, making bubbles and noise.
     1. Mix ½ C Leith River Water (water) in a clear cauldron (clear cup). 
     2. Add 3 small spoonfuls of Crystalized Moonseed (pop rocks)
  2. Essence of Insanity.  This is the well-known baking soda/vinegar experiment, though the portions are small enough that they don’t make too big of a mess and stay on their plate.
     1. Add 3 spoonfuls of crushed Mandrake Root (baking soda) into a small cauldron (mini treat cauldrons)
     2. In separate container (clear cup), fill halfway with Doxy Venom (vinegar)
     3. Add two drops of Armadillo Bile, Horklump Juice, Rose Oil, or Salamander Saliva (different food coloring colors)
     4. Place cauldron on the fire (red plastic plate in case of spill or overflow)
     5. Add colored mixture to the cauldron slowly. It should fizz but not too much, though you may want to have a protective covering on your table or floor…
  3. Concealing Concoction #1.  This is a method to create invisible ink (Method 1 from wikihow.com)
     1. Add a small amount of Woodrice Extract into a bowl or cauldron (orange or lemon juice )
     2. Add a drop of Honeywater (water)
     3. Use enchanted quills (q-tips) to write a message
     4. Allow to dry.
     5. Once the message is try, warm the page by fire or light bulb. The message should reveal
  4. Concealing Concoction #2.  This is a method to create invisible ink (Method 2 from wikihow.com)
     1. Mix equal parts of Honeywater (water) and Crushed Snake Fang (baking soda).
     2. Use enchanted quills (q-tips) to write a message
     3. Once the message is dry, reveal with Syrup of Anica (grape juice).

GOODIE BAGS

If you want to keep in theme when you’re guests leave, sprinkle in some wizard items for their goodie bag along with any of the regular candy or hand outs you want to give out. 

In keeping with the ‘studious’ theme, we added in some Harry Potter Notebooks and Quill Pens for the goodie bags.