Mason's Harry Potter Birthday Party


Mason has been excited to have a Harry Potter party his 11th birthday (Harry got his invitation to Hogwarts on his 11th birthday). I'm really not much of a Harry Potter fan, but I am a Mason fan and I love throwing kids' birthday parties so I did some research (thank goodness for Pinterest) and put together a really fun party. 

I found this template for the Hogwarts invitation letter online and printed it on parchment paper.

All over Pinterest people recommend sealing the letter with wax but I really didn't want to take the time to do that, so I just found this image online and printed it onto sticker paper, cut them out, and that was the seal. 

We folded the letter up like an envelope and addressed it to the child in the cupboard under the stairs (like the book). Mason invited all the boys in his class plus his brothers and Ari. We ended up having 12 kids. 
I totally lucked out and a friend of a friend is a huge Harry Potter friend and let me borrow LOTS of decorations. We don't have a fireplace (in the book/movie the letters flow out of the fireplace) so I just hung them in the front entry way.
I decided I wanted to make scarves for each kid and it ended up being a little harder than I thought. Turns out it is really hard to find solid color fleece. I went to three fabric stores and then finally it was my mother-in-law Deb to the rescue and she sent some up from the HUGE fabric store in Delta. I made 4 scarves for each of the 4 houses at Hogwarts (16 total). 


We made a little Honeydukes counter (the candy store from the book). After the games the kids got to trade their coins for candy to take home. 

We also had lots of potions.

One of the things we borrowed was this cute Hedwig puppet. Mason loved having it as his magic animal companion. 

There was a sign on the front door that matched Harry Potter's house, and when kids came in Mason enthusiastically greeted them. They then entered Diagon Alley and went to Olivander's Wand Shop to receive their magic wands (I made them out of sticks, hot glue, and spray paint). 

They then ran through platform 9 3/4 (also borrowed) and entered the Great Hall at Hogwarts (with floating candles and everything!). 
Needless to say, the kids were pretty excited. They sat at the table and took turns while the Sorting Hat (borrowed)  assigned them to a house. Marshall put a bluetooth speaker in the hat and found an app that assigned them. Pretty cool!

The "students" went to a number of classes: Divination (Fortune Telling), Potions, the Care of Magical Animals, and finally a Quiddich tournament. Hannah did the Fortunes Class with Tarot cards and a special Harry Potter 8 Ball. 

Just a little picture of my cute little Gryffindor. Poor McKay was a little sick and went back and forth between joining the party and lying on the floor watching. 

Max and Ari finding the answers to their questions. 


I made them take a little break for a picture. 

The potions class was fun. I just recycled the science experiments from Myles' last party, but changed the name of the ingredients (Wolfsbane instead of vinegar, dragon blood, etc). 

The highlight of the party was definitely Quiddich. I just found some gold hoops of different sizes at the craft store and hung them from the light fixture. I spray painted ping-pong balls brown, gold, and black. The houses had a tournament throwing the balls through the hoops. The kids were so excited, and everyone was cheering and jumping around.
I made up these rules and was happy that it worked out okay. 

Hannah made these amazing, unique, creative cupcake toppers that were so perfect!
It was really fun to have the party on a Saturday so that Marshall could be there to help/participate/take pictures. I decided I like 11 year old parties so much better than 6 year old parties. The kids were all so fun and polite and nice and excited.

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