Harry Potter Party- Class Schedule

Before I forget (like I did with her Nancy Drew party last year), I figured I should document my daughter's Harry Potter 8th birthday party. I have to say that this was one of the most fun themes: 1) because we are big Harry Potter geeks, 2) because the Internet is literally full of thousands of great inspiration parties. It's so easy! The only hard part was deciding what to do since my girls were full of TONS of ideas.

We started in the Owlery. The girls were supposed to make owls by gluing feathers on Styrofoam balls. They ended up just sticking feathers into the balls in weird alien ways. Oh well, at least they seemed to have fun. If I did it over again, I'd plan better and follow this tutorial for felt owls. I even have a ton of felt I could have used-grrr. Crafter/Party Planner's remorse. Sigh.

Wand Selection- I made the wands after googling and went for the easiest option. I ended up using dowels (I already had a bunch lying around), dripping hot glue over them, and spray painting with regular spray paint then with some glitter spray paint I had. My mom played the role of McGonagall and gave them wands after the sorting hat ceremony.

Potions Class- my dad played the role of Dumbledore and he was excellent. I wish I prepared more experiments for the girls/wizards. I really liked the experiments from this party and used two of them. My dad showed the young wizards Liquid Enemies (above) and then everyone made Exploding Elixir. It was a big hit.

While the girls were working on their potions, I took pictures of each girl in the Harry Potter Photo Booth I made inspired by this Sirius Black photo prop. I repurposed the Barbie photo booth- I knew that huge box would come in handy.

Defense Against the Dark Arts- I drew a bunch of evil monsters, trolls, etc, and had Hagrid (my husband) equip each wizard with a fighting potion (silly string) and they just went crazy. Silly String is part of each of our parties now; I have to find a way to work it in. The girls love the Silly String fights. It was funny to see my husband running around with a giant Hagrid mask, trying to see where he was going.

Divination- we gave the girls color changing drinks to tell their future. I think the colors we used were: Blue for Loyal Friend, Green for Fame, Yellow for Smart and Hard-Working, and Red for Love. I was most excited that I could use my horrible Craft Fail as part of the decoration in this room.

Of course, we ended with a trip to Honeyduke's sweet shop. The girls got to try Bertie Botts Every Flavor Jelly Beans (yes, that even included flavors like dirt and vomit) and Butter Beer. I found the jelly beans and butter beer at a local candy store-they just got them in that week. thank goodness for a late September birthday! Note- I bought a couple Bertie Botts and mixed them with Bamboozled jelly beans to save on costs and little tummies.

I didn't get pictures of the two classes I was in charge of, so here's the whole school schedule: Owlery-owl craft and goody bag decorating
Sorting Hat Ceremony
Wand Selection and Readiness
Potions
Pictures
Divination
Herbology-paint flower pots and plant seeds
Horcrux Hunt- scavenger hunt
Defense Against the Dark Arts-Silly String Craziness
Honeyduke's

We planned on playing Quidditch at the end of the party, but it was just too hot. I decided to just turn on the first Harry Potter movie and let them chill out for a few minutes at the end of the party-being a wizard takes a lot of energy.

In case you are wondering, our goody bags included the "owls" they created, flower pot and plant, wand, candy and a Harry Potter themed cookie.