Harry Potter Theme Birthday Party

Join Harry Potter and the rest of the gang to celebrate your own little witch or wizard's birthday. Bring the magic of the wizarding world and Hogwarts to your party area with these great Harry Potter party ideas and supplies.

Harry Potter Party Invitations
There are so many great ideas for invitations to your Harry Potter party. Make your invitations on 8 ½x11 paper, inviting your guests to Hogwarts - just like the one that Harry received. If you are able to hand deliver them, roll them and tie with red ribbon or raffia.

Another idea is to purchase miniature broomsticks at a craft store, and in your smallest handwriting write "Firebolt" on the side. Tie your invitation on to the miniature broomstick.

Or, use these great personalized magic invitations, they are easy and match the theme perfectly!

If you would like your guests to come dressed as characters from the book, be sure to tell them that.

Here is a short list of Harry Potter characters for more great costume ideas:

• Harry Potter
• Ron Weasley
• Hermione Granger
• Draco Malfoy, with his sidekicks Crabbe and Goyle
• Neville Longbottom
• Oliver Wood
• Fred & George Weasley
• Ginny Weasley
• Percy Weasley
• The Dursleys (Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley)
• Professor Lockhart
• Professor Dumbledore
• Professor McGonagall
• Professor Snape
• Sirius Black
• Dobby

Everyone will so excited to go to Hogwarts!

Harry Potter Theme Decorations and Party Supplies
Have an adult dressed as Hagrid lead the kids into "Hogwarts" (make sure he has a lantern to light the way!) Upon arrival at the party, each guest receives a wand.

Set up directional signs around the room pointing to different Harry Potter landmarks. Here are some suggestions:

• No. 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England (where the Dursley's live, of course)
• Diagon Alley
• The Forbidden Forest
• Gringotts Bank
• Hogwarts
• Hogsmeade
• King's Cross Train Station, London
• The Quidditch Pitch
• The Shreaking Shack
• Dumbledore's Office
• The Ministry of Magic

Harry Potter Table Decorations and Menu
Now it is time to sort everyone into their houses! Fill a sorting hat with scraps of paper with one the four house names written on them. Have each child reach into the hat to see which table they will be sitting at. Use a colored tablecloth to distinguish the four tables in the room -

• Gryffindor - Red
• Hufflepuff - Yellow
• Ravenclaw - Blue
• Slytherin - Green

Of course you’ll set the table with Harry Potter hosue color paper goods. Use stuffed animals as centerpieces. For example, use a stuffed owl (Hedwig), a stuffed rat (Scabbers), and a stuffed cat (Crookshanks). Sit the stuffed animals sitting on a stack of books (Harry Potter or magic books).

Pile the food on platters in the middle of the table so that your guests can eat just like the students at Hogwarts!

Tacos and Pita pizzas are fun foods that kids can make themselves (with help of course).

Try this for drinks:

Betty Crocker® Magic Potion Punch

½ cup chocolate flavored syrup
2 cups milk
2 cans cola or lemon-lime soda pop (room temperature)
Whipped topping, if desired

Stir together chocolate syrup and milk in 4 cup microwavable measure until well blended. Microwave uncovered on High 3-4 minutes or until hot.

Divide heated mixture among 8 paper "hot" cups or mugs. Slowly poor about 3 ounces (1/3 cup) soda pop into each cup. Top with whipped topping.

Here are a few more great Harry Potter menu ideas:

• Black Magic Cake (find a great flourless chocolate cake recipe)
• Pretzel wands that the kids have dipped in chocolate
• Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (use jelly-bellys)
• Chocolate Frogs

Harry Potter Party Activities
There are lots of fun activities for your Harry Potter party. Here are some suggestions for relay races that you can use. Kids can play on their "house" team:

Dress-up Relay - Make piles of magical wizard clothing depending on how many teams you have. Use metallic fabrics and fabrics with stars and glitter. Divide the group into teams and have the first players race to dress up in all the clothes from one pile. When finished, he/she must take all the clothes off and have the next player dress up. The team that dresses and undresses first wins the game.

Pass the Sand - Divide the group into teams and line them up. Have the first person in each line grab a handful of magic dust (sand) from a container. They must pass the sand to the next player, who passes it to the next, and so on down the line. When the sand reaches the last player, he/she pours what is left of it on a plate. The team with the most sand wins the game. (You may have to weigh the sand on a food scale if it's close).

Another fun idea is to have each guest make their own magic wands by dipping a pretzel rod into melted chocolate and decorating it with sprinkles and jimmies.

Piñatas are always fun. This wizard hat piñata fits the theme perfectly!

Harry Potter Party Favors
Have a Polaroid camera on hand and a Harry Potter Photo Op and take pictures of all the kids dressed as Harry.