Party On

Caution: No quilting or knitting content.

Hats?

Check

Wands?

Check

Snitches?

Check

House Banners?

Check

Cauldrons, Eyeballs, and Spiders?

Check, Check and Check

As the veteran hosts of 3 Harry Potter birthday parties, we've developed some strategies. Make very simple felt hats, provide foamies and stickers for decoration, and let the kids at them as soon as they get there.
The allure of glitter glue is strong, but must be resisted in this case. Experience shows that heavy applications can take up to 48 hours to dry, and then the hats are unwearable during the remainder of the party.

We made Bingo cards using Harry Potteresque words (house names, Harry, Ron, Hermione, potions, charms, etc.) using this website. We used small foamy dots as markers, but you could use jelly beans too. The game was successful enough that I had time to put Hedwig on the cake.

Not my best effort, but not bad under the circumstances.


Wand safety is always an important part of the spells class. Remember, wands are not swords, they're wands. They don't need to touch anything! Print out a list of spells from here, and you're ready to educate the young wizards in training. "Stupefy" and "Ennervate" should be taught in tandem. Have them practice their spells outside if at all possible.

Potions are another matter entirely.
This concoction uses troll blood, ground pixie bones, and lake water. Maybe there's a little screwt gall in there too. (OK, red cabbage juice, made by putting red cabbage in a blender with water, baking soda, and vinegar, plus pop rocks. Adding a base to red cabbage juice turns it blue, adding an acid makes it pink. The pop rocks add sizzle.) Note the tiny cauldron - it helps if your children have fall birthdays so you can buy Halloween stuff like this.

Another favorite potion is made using the Glitterati charm. Put ground up pixie bones and a generous helping of fairy dust (glitter) in clean cauldrons. Add Ogre slime (vinegar with a little green food coloring added) while each child waves their wand over the cauldron and says, with feeling, "Glitterati!!!" It's a real crowd pleaser.

"Find the Snitch" has also been popular. Make snitches by sewing (yes, sewing) glittery leaves to plastic Christmas balls. Get balls that have prefab rings on them.

Our in house studies have shown that glue alone cannot withstand the rigorous use of the snitches. Hide the snitches in the bushes and have the children look for them. Today they wanted to hide them over and over again (????). Maybe it was because it poured rain for half the party and they were just glad to be outside.

I was afraid that this time around wouldn't be sophisticated enough, since half the crowd was 9 years old, but the video replays show that fun was had by all. And even at this age they still get a kick out of playing with helium balloons.

Party on!