Seek hosting tips and afterward rehash your monster bash.
User avatar
By Lala
#66056
Okay, this was NOT on Halloween, it was my Godson's 9th Birthday in April! But, to ME, HP has tons of "Halloween-y" elements so that's probably why I had such a good time planning this party. I saved everything so we could have a HP Halloween Party someday.

We "made" all of the potions ourselves out of whatever I had in the cupboard - water, oils, food coloring, spices, an old can of easy cheese hahhahaaaa it was so fun. I found all of the labels online and printed them out, and mod podged them on the bottles/jars. We also glued the lids ON.

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548113_10150645937077507_1601193270_n by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr

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564662_10150646523367507_1136077744_n by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr


Sorting Hat: After refusing to pay $50 + for a "official" sorting hat, I made one! I already had the brown fabric. I used an old witch hat and cut and sewed a big cone for the top (because I was going to need to put a face on the hat) I cut a large circle for the brim and hand sewed it to the cone and then to the hat around the bottom.

For the face I pinched the fabric until it looked like the eyes and mouth of the sorting hat, and sewed it in place (I know, these instructions kind of suck, but I'm not good at describing it, as I just did everything without thinking and no pattern)

I sewed on the long dangling things on each side, and some patches (just the opposite side of the fabric I used)

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460675_10150629957632507_269198519_o by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr

(Gratuitous Cat Picture)
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475082_10150631188012507_2072925329_o by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr

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462809_10150630175952507_11115798_o by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr

(I am trying to find more pix of my designing/progress - I will edit when I find them)



Candy Store: The best part was the candy store! I made all of the labels etc in photoshop and we created our own "Honeydukes"

Sugar Quills: "rock candy" Suckers
Jelly Slugs: Gummy Worms
Fizzing Whizbees: Pop Rocks
Chocolate Frogs: We bought a frog mold and made them!
Droobles Best Blowing Gum: Blue gumballs
Licorice Wands: Red Vines and Grape Vines
Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans: We bought 4 small boxes of them at the candy store (EXPENSIVE!) and mixed them into Jelly Bellys

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475793_10150637463032507_1343586053_o by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr

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524656_10150648202292507_1566510938_n by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr

Random Party Photo (with otherCat, of course)

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539139_10150646523282507_1107576505_n by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr

Platform 9 3/4 (our front door)

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562081_10150648515532507_77761346_n by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr


The kiddos (My 2 Godson's and Stepson - Bday Boy is wearing the hat)

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522149_10150648515172507_1029231925_n by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr


All party guests were sorted into their houses by wearing the sorting hat and picking their house (sticker) out of a box

Games: We had a treasure hunt where we looked for all sorts of things : Sirius Black, the Whomping willow, Platform 9 3/4, the snitch,
Dragons (Norbert!), etc. I had Moaning Myrtle in the Bathroom which the kids thought was funny, and to find Dobby's clue you had to find a sock.


For Some reason, this was was amusing to the kids as well (A REAL WANTED POSTER! Wait..why isn't it moving?? haha)

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530704_10150648216292507_1598656891_n by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr



The last clue led them inside where the kids had a battle with "Professor Quirrel" Who was played by my Husband. (All the kids got wands that were just branches from when we trimmed a tree in our backyard)

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529776_10150648226252507_516639799_n by Lala (Shady Lane Studios), on Flickr

So much fun and a little bit of Halloween in April. I started making the stuff in...January. haha!
#66060
You should buy the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. I got one last Christmas and it is full of great foods from the world of Harry Potter. Pumpkin Juice, Pumpkin Pasties, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
#66061
My daughter threw a Harry Potter birthday part for 37 kids in her neighborhood. She had a baby monitor receiver in the sorting hat and I was upstairs with the mic and a cell phone connected to her cell phone. When she put the hat on their heads and said their name, I heard it on my phone, looked on the list she had repaired and spoke into the mic saying which house they were in so it sounded like it was coming out of the hat. It was a big hit.
#66063
Yeah, we didn't do any Harry Potter "food" except for ButterBeer. The birthday boy wanted Pizza :-)

If anyone is interested, I have all of the templates, invite, treasure hunt clues etc that can be uploaded.
#66068
That looks great. I liked the little touches like the 9 and 3/4 on the door and the Sirius Black wanted poster. I wish I was 9 again and could have a party like this.

Ken- that's a great idea with the sorting hat.
User avatar
By Lala
#66074
About the sorting hat - We wanted to do that - but we didn't feel like buying a baby monitor, and no one had one we could borrow :(
We did it the way we did because we didn't have a lot of time for the Sorting Hat and we had kids between 1 year old and 14 years old, plus adults - it just would have been chaos. This way worked for us! :-)
#66156
I am very impressed with your creativity. So much attention to detail. The graphic designer in me appreciates the train platform sign, the Sirius wanted poster, the potion bottle labels, and all those candy packages. I'm sure the Potter fans in attendance got a kick out of all these references.
#71930
Hi.  I stumbled on this post while searching for ideas for daughter's upcoming Harry Potter party.  Looks like you guys had an awesome time at your party!!!  I would love to use your candy labels if you are willing to share.  You mentioned you could upload the templates, and maybe you did, but I am very unfamiliar with this website.  My email address is jon_deanna@hotmail.com  Thanks for the inspiration!!!  Deanna

Lala wrote:Yeah, we didn't do any Harry Potter "food" except for ButterBeer. The birthday boy wanted Pizza :-)

If anyone is interested, I have all of the templates, invite, treasure hunt clues etc that can be uploaded.