Children are always fascinated with magic, and when we talk of magic today, there’s one fictional character that always comes to mind: Harry Potter! Many kids today are familiar with him and his exciting adventures in the wizarding world.

If you’ve got a son or a daughter who is a Harry Potter fanatic and also celebrating his or her birthday very soon, one wonderful surprise is to throw a Harry Potter party. You don’t have to be a wizard to plan one. All you need is a few pointers to help you out. Try these happy Harry ideas.

Magical Invitations

As soon as you decide to have a Harry Potter party, one of the first things you should do is to let the guests know you’re going to have a magical celebration. If you don’t have much time on your hands, or if you want something simple but enticing, you can easily buy ready-made invitations from party supply stores. These come in different Harry Potter designs and wordings to suit your taste.

If you want to exert a little extra effort, you can make homemade invites. One idea is to use antique beige or white card stock paper. Use gold ink to write the party details, roll it up into a scroll, and tie with gold or purple ribbon. You can also melt some red wax and use an “H” stamp for a Hogwarts look!

Another idea is to use wizard maps, like the Marauder’s Map that Harry, Ron and Hermione used during their third year. Get parchment paper and round the edges with scissors. Then, write the party details using invisible ink felt pens. Roll it up, insert into a mailing tube with the decoder pen, then send it. If you don’t have an invisible ink felt pen, write the info on plain white paper, using a white crayon. When you mail it, include a colored pen. They’ll know what to do.

One last tip: Be creative when wording your invitations. You want to make it sound more magical so your guests will become more excited! One idea is to re-create the wording used in the Hogwarts acceptance letter. You can write “ Dear Mr./Ms. ___ , we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to celebrate ___’s birthday celebration”.

Setting A Magical Mood

Now that you’ve let the guests know about the event, you have to set the place up so it’ll look as magical and enticing as Harry’s world. Here are several décor ideas you can try.

• If your kid has Harry Potter related toys and accessories, take them out and use them to decorate the party area.
• Recycle your old Halloween decors, like plastic spiders, fake spiderwebs, and plastic frogs. Put them around the venue.
• Make a Hogwarts castle backdrop. Get a large cardboard piece, big enough to cover a wall. Then, draw the castle using paint. If you don’t know what it looks like, then imitate the one you see in the movie version.
• Decorate the place like the Great Hall at Hogwarts. You can use a roll of corrugated cardboard with a stone print for the walls. Secure it using thumbtacks or tape. Then, hang green, red, yellow, and blue cloths to represent the four Houses.
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  Glow in the dark stars
  Set up five rectangular chairs for the kids. Cover them in velvet, for a more magical look. Then get plastic goblets, gold-colored plates and dinnerware and let the kids use them. You can also put candlesticks on the tables.
• To imitate the Great Hall ceiling that looks like the sky outside, stick cutout or glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.
• Get old clear bottles and jars and fill them up with creepy-looking things, like Blind Dog Eyes (cocktail onions), Owl Liver (chopped canned mushrooms) and Beetle Eyes (poppy seeds). Make sure you label them.
• Use poster boards and make signs for popular Harry Potter spots like Hagrid’s Hut, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade or The Forbidden Forest.

The Harry Potter Getup

It’ll be more enjoyable and exciting for the kids if they can pretend that they’re really in a magical world, so let them come in wizard getups. Ask them to come in their best Potter-inspired costume. They can come as any character from the story, like Dumbledore, McGonagall, Ron, Hermione, Sirius and even Voldemort. To make it more exciting for everyone, let them know that the one who comes in with the best costume gets a special prize.

If you don’t want everyone to fuss about the costumes too much, just give each of them a homemade cape made from plain black cotton fabric. Then, have someone draw lightning-shaped scars on each guest’s forehead. You can also give out plastic wands, but make sure nobody gets poked in the eye.

Fun Games With Harry

Harry and his friends always have a wonderful time during their stay in Hogwarts because of all the fun lesson and exciting activities they share. Your child and guests must experience this kind of thrill during the party too.

Try these game suggestions and let the magic begin.

• Tame Norbert The Dragon - Remember Hagrid’s dragon Norbert? You have to tame him so he’ll know how to behave! This is an easy pinata game, and you’ll need a dragon-shaped pinata for it. First, hang the pinata in the middle of the room, while the kids form a line at the one end. One by one, they must tame and “whack” Norbert using a stick, while blindfolded. Once the dragon pinata cracks, the kids can gather the candy and treats that fall from it.
• Hoo’s Hedwig? - This is a Marco Polo-like game everyone will enjoy. First, ask the kids to stand in a circle. Then, select a child who will play Harry and blindfold him. Select another who will be Hedwig. Now the fun starts. All the kids, except for Harry, should make animal noises, like mooing, squeaking, tweeting or squawking, but Hedwig the owl must start hooting. Harry should find that person, and tap him. That player shall become the next Harry. Continue the game until everyone has their turn being blindfolded.
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  A mummy wrapping game
  Sorcerer’s Stone Hunt – This is a treasure hunt with a magical twist: the kids will have to find the Sorcerer’s Stone. Get a plain rock and spray paint it with gold. Hide it, then give out treasure clues to the kids. The first one to find it wins a prize.
• Boggart Mummy Race – Harry loves Defense Against The Dark Arts and he’s really good at banishing boggarts. Let the kids test their boggart skills with this game. You’ll need two teams and two rolls of tissue paper. Each team must then select someone who will play the boggart. When you yell “Riddikulus!”, both teams must transform their boggart into a mummy, by wrapping the tissue paper around it. The team who finishes wrapping their boggart first wins the game.
• Harry Potter Movie Marathon – When everyone’s tired, organize a Harry Potter filmfest.

Hogwarts Treats

After all the magic and entertainment, everyone will be famished and they’ll expect a magical treat. You must serve them sumptuous food inspired by the movie, like:

• Chocolate Frogs – Melt some semisweet chocolate and lightly paint it over the tops of gummy frogs using a clean paintbrush.
• Wizard Hat’s Cupcakes – Top plain cupcakes with upside-down chocolate or syrup-covered ice cream cones.
• Hagrid’s Wizard Stew – Make your kid’s favorite stew or soup and serve it in a large pot or cauldron. When you give each kid a portion, sprinkle salt and pepper over it, then chant a short magic spell, just for fun!

Sweet chocolate frogs

Yummy wizard hat cupcakes

• Honeydukes Delight – Fill glass or plastic bowls with colorful jelly beans, blue gum, gummy worms, rats and spiders, and put them on the middle of the tables. They’ll not only serve as yummy eats, but also as lovely table centerpieces.
• A Spellbound Beverage – This drink will fizzle and sizzle your banquet. Get any type of beverage and pour it in everyone’s glass. Then, add a few Pop Rocks to each glass, and the mixture will pop, crackle and spit! Kids will have fun watching and drinking it.
• Magic Color-Changing Potion – First, mix a pack of unsweetened drink mix and pour it in ice cube trays. Let it freeze overnight. On the day of the party, serve chilled lemon-lime flavored carbonated soda in clear glasses. Drop one or two ice cubes in each glass. The drink will magically change color before their eyes.

Harry Memories

After casting spells, eating magical treats, and all the fun wizarding adventures, it’s time to board the Hogwarts train and say goodbye to the fun celebration. Don’t let your guests leave just yet. Give them Harry Potter goody bags, so they’ll have memories of the magical party they just attended. Include candy, toy wands, magic tricks, miniature dragon and Harry Potter figurines. School supplies like notebooks, pencils, or erasers with Harry Potter designs on them are also great.

Every good kid deserves a magical birthday party, and there’s no doubt a Harry Potter theme will give him that. Try these simple but fun ideas and let the magic begin!