Our family is full of Harry Potter fanatics! This party was so much fun to plan because I love all things Harry Potter. I am so in love with the magical world that J.K. Rowling has created. When my son asked for his 8th birthday to be Harry Potter themed, I was in party planning heaven!
First off, I typed official letters for invitations on old time paper and enclosed a Hogwarts Express train ticket in each one. We even used a wax to seal all the old time envelopes.
When all the kids arrived at our home, they of course had to walk through the wall at 9 3/4. It was just a brick backdrop that we cut a slit in and hung in the doorway. My husband also made a decoration to put on the porch with the castle and a fog machine inside to give it that cool look.
My son welcomed them into the backyard where we had Ollivanders set up. Each guest was able to pick a wand. We made the wands previously using giant chopsticks, hot glue, paint, and shimmery wax. Once they had their wand, they were sorted into their house using the sorting hat. This is a toy that he received for Christmas that tells you what house you belong to. 
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These wands and houses gave them the inspiration to a lot of role play fun. Inside the house was their "feast". We are normally a very healthy eating family, but when it comes to birthday parties, we let our hair down. Here's our feast. Keep in mind, this was just as the pandemic was starting to settle down, so we went with individually wrapped items to make everyone more comfortable.
Harry Potter Party Foods
- Gryffindor Graham (mini graham crackers)
- Slytherin Snakes (candy sour worms)
- HufflePuffs (Pirate's Booty)
- RavenClaws (bugles)
- Professor Sprouts Garden (fruit/vegetable tray)
- Corn Dog Wands (corn dogs)
- Polyjuice Potion Punch
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After feasting on all these goodies, the kids played outside until the Potions Professor arrived. We hired a company from a kids science program to come do a wizard theme science demonstration. It was very cool. She had the kids make troll bogeys (slime) and did several neat experiments.
After Potions class, we played a game. The kids got into groups based on their houses they were sorted into (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin). We made sure the teams were even. Then we set up a starting line and finish line. They had to use their wands and tap a balloon into the air (using Wingardium Leviosa of course) and get down to the finish line and back. Then the next person on their team went. The team that finished first won. This game led to them just playing with their wands and balloons for awhile.
Towards the end of the party, Ollivanders turned into Gringotts Bank. My husband even wore goblin ears and pretended to be the bank teller. Each guess received a bag of galleons, sickles, and knuts (gold coins). Then they were able to go to Honeydukes to purchase their sweets. This bag of candy and the wands were their "to go gifts."
Honeydukes was a hit. It involved a lot of prep work, but it was worth it. I bought the candy from Farm and Fleet, printed out the labels at home, and bought cheap plastic bags. Here's a list of candy we had at our Honeydukes.
Harry Potter Candy for Honeydukes
- Acid pops (lollipops)
- Dragon Balls (atomic fire balls)
- Ton Tongue Toffee (hard toffee candy)
- Pepper Imps (peppermints)
- Dumbledore's Lemon Drops (lemon drops)
- Jelly Slugs (gummy worms)
- Cockroach Clusters (chocolate peanut clusters)
- Fizzing Whizbees (home made chocolate bees with pop rocks)
- Cauldron Cakes (snack cakes)
- Golden Snitches (gold Lindors truffles)
- Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans (jelly beans)
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Here are some awesome Harry Potter shirts for the birthday boy, girl, and the whole family.
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This Harry Potter themed birthday party was such a hit. All the kids had so much fun, and I had a blast planning and prepping everything.
What are your ideas for an epic Harry Potter party?
