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Parties/celebrations

Whether you're planning a birthday or a hen do, you'll find plenty of ideas for your celebration on our Party forum.

Harry Potter party on a budget

22 replies

Bigredcombine · 19/10/2024 08:14

It's DD's 8th birthday in a few weeks. She's having some friends to the house. She's asked for Harry Potter presents and wants a Harry Potter party.
I've bought some cake toppers for a HP cake but other than that....I'm not sure what else to organise. Has anyone got any good ideas? Please note I've got a £50 budget for party games / entertainment hence why I'm doing it at home.

OP posts:
EmberAsh · 19/10/2024 08:22

Free stuff. Go to the woods and collect sticks that look like wands.
It's Halloween soon so trawl Facebook groups and marketplace for anything wizard related or potions. People might want to get rid straight afterwards.
There are lots of free Harry Potter printables online to make bunting and other nice decorations.

SirChenjins · 19/10/2024 08:27

Would they be up for a bit of craft stuff? If so, what about making their own outfits? Google the Hogwarts logo, print some and then get them to colour them in to make badges. Make cloaks out of bin bags and stick the badges on. Print off Harry’s glasses template and make them. Wands out of sticks. Treasure hunt in their costumes for HP sweets or small gifts eg pencils.

Marblesbackagain · 19/10/2024 08:29

Are you near a Primark? They tend to have very reasonable HP decorations.

Mumof2namechange · 19/10/2024 08:31

I went to a Harry Potter themed party once (a hen party!) Imo the activities are more important than the decorations. We had mini competitions like the triwizard tournament. (Just like, sack races in a pillowcase etc but with a token nod to a magic theme). You put the kids into houses and give the team points after each activity

NashvilleQueen · 19/10/2024 08:32

Hi I'm going to send you a PM if I may with some ideas that I once did.

CaptainCarrotsBigSword · 19/10/2024 08:35

Ok, cheapest thing would be to watch the film.

Can they make their own wands? Depends how you feel about letting them use a glue gun, but you could buy a hot glue gun, chopsticks, brown paints and maybe some gems or something pretty cheaply. Set up a wand making station. You'd need to help with the glue. Lots of tutorials for this online.

They could do owl post letters https://www.upstartmag.co.nz/activities/how-to-make-a-message-delivery-owl?format=amp something like this would work.

You could do a potions class with them for pretty cheap - classic bicarb and vinegar with different colour food dyes is always good. Also the one with a tray or milk (I think), drop different colour food dyes onto the surface with pipettes then dip a cotton bud into washing up liquid, touch the cotton bud to the food dye and it will shoot away, this is a really good effect. Give all the ingredients fun, magical names. The milk can be unicorn milk, red dye can be goblin blood, etc.

Decorating - floating candles would look amazing. If you have the glue gun for doing the wands, you can do great floating candles for cheap using toilet roll tubes, drippy glue 'wax' and black paint. Then you pop a led candle in the top and pin to ceiling using fishing wire, thread, that see through stuff you do friendship bracelets with? Lota of online tutorials for these too.

Also you can print out a picture of moaning Myrtle to stick up in the loo somewhere (on the mirror works well) and you can put a "ministry of magic this way" sign on the underside of the toilet lid - that will only make sense if they've read / seen up to the final book/film though!

Make Your Own Message Delivery Owl

https://www.upstartmag.co.nz/activities/how-to-make-a-message-delivery-owl?format=amp

McCauslandOnSpeeddial · 19/10/2024 08:39

Definitely exploit the Halloween time of year. Ask friends/on FB/Whattsapp for any unwanted Halloween "witchy" decorations that you can have or borrow for the party.

There's a bunch of ideas on Pinterest.

ShowOfHands · 19/10/2024 08:43

I had a Harry Potter party a few years ago and did lots of reasonably priced stuff:

Invitations were white balloons with owl features drawn on with sharpie and the invitation rolled like a scroll and attached to the owl's feet (pipe cleaners).

Printed SO many pictures including wanted posters for Harry, Hermione and Ron. Printed a Moaning Myrtle on flimsy paper and put it in the shower cubicle so she looked ghost like. Same with Nearly Headless Nick who was in the mirror in the dining room and a Ford Anglia in the front window to look like it was flying over our garden. Some funny pictures like just a frame with "only muggles can see this picture" written in it.

Treasure hunt with lots of HP clues and at one point had to climb through Aragog's web. This was made from black wool and was between two trees in the garden. Aragog was made from paper mache and pipe cleaners. The final task was to beat Voldemort who was just a papier mache head with features drawn on and a long cloak. It hung from a tree and was a pinata. They broke it up and it was full of golden snitches (ferrero roche with wings glued on).

Made candles from empty toilet roll inners painted white and put fake tea lights in the top. We suspended 50 from the ceiling on thread to look like the candles in the great hall.

Strung up rows of envelopes coming out of the fireplace addressed to Harry.

Old sheet, red paint and a sponge and we made a brick wall with a hidden cut in it for them to run through. Same to make a door into the great hall but I painted that quite intricately over a couple of days with sconces and wood effect.

All food was themed. Wotsits were "Hufflepuffs" iirc and we had a Honeydukes station with Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Venomous Tentacular (green laces), Brains Like Hermione and so on. I made chocolate frogs in a plastic mould with different colour marshmallow fluff in the middle.

We played pin the nose on Voldemort!

HollyGolightly4 · 19/10/2024 08:46

You can buy some jelly beans that are Bertie Botts every flavour...that would be a nice game.

Love the idea of houses and challenges!

Primark is definitely an excellent idea

ShowOfHands · 19/10/2024 08:48

We did loads of other stuff and made nearly everything ourselves. Pinterest was really useful. Most was easy. I did some other more wanky stuff like used some willow to make bird cages and put toy owls in them. There was a sign over the coat rack that said "free invisibility cloaks". I printed fake book covers to look like the books from the books iyswim eg "Unfogging the Future" and put them on our books.

CaptainCarrotsBigSword · 19/10/2024 08:54

Will you have a helper? If so there is an excellent 'apparition lessons" thing you can do. But you need to have a second person and a space away from the other kids, where they take their apparition test in private, for it to work.

You do apparition lessons with all the kids together. If you can borrow enough hula hoops for them to have one each that's great, if not it doesn't matter. You are doing to teach them to apparate - to disappear from one spot and reappear in another.

The three principles of apparition are Destination, Deliberation and Determination (I think!! Look these up online).

They have to concentrate on their destination - where are they aiming for ? (Inside the hoop or something). They have to be determined that they will disappear and reappear. They must move deliberately through space to get there.

Tell them to focus as hard as they can on where they are going. Then eyes closed, turn on the spot and jump, and see if they have apparated. Make them do this a few times, it helps if they get dizzy and silly!

Then, tell them they can take their apparition test. But they have to do this one at a time.

Take one at a time into the test room. You need this set up as follows:

A hoop that they are aiming for (or other noticeable, obvious spot!).

A chair or step they can stand on and jump off - and another chair or step the same that can be moved and hidden away! The first chair needs to be at the opposite end of the space to the hoop.

A helper who can either hide out of the way, or be the official "Apparition Tester" - give them a role so there is a reason for them being there.

A blindfold.

Tell them that to help them apparate better, you are going to give them some extra help. You are going to blind fold them so they can focus all their magic on thinking about their destination and not getting distracted by their surroundings. You are also going to spin them a few times so that they are nice and warmed up for apparating. Then, lastly, they are doing to jump from a slight height (chair, step) to help give them a boost.

Pop the blindfold on. Spin them, chanting Destination, Deliberation, Determination nice and loudly with them. Tell them you are going to guide them to the chair - but actually take them to the second chair, which your helper will have popped into place right next to the hoop while you have been spinning. (The spinning and chanting cover the sounds made by moving the chair into place.)

Guide them up onto the step. Tell them to keep the blindfold on or they might disrupt the magic, focus on the hoop, and then jump. Tell them not to take off the blindfold until you tell them too - again, potentially powerful and dangerous magic!

They then jump into the hoop.

Your helper quickly removes the extra chair / step.

Tell them to take off the blindfold.

They will see themselves in the hoop, and they will see the chair at the other side of the room - the chair they think they jumped off.

They will have apparated from one side of the room to the other! Ta da!

Give them their Apparition certificate!

Bigredcombine · 19/10/2024 08:59

These are brilliant! Massive yes to craft. Her and her friends will do anything for a bit of cutting and glueing. Plus it's nice for them to take something home with them I guess (aside from a party bag).
Love the potion making idea and treasure hunt.
Thanks so much - keep them coming!

OP posts:
Bigredcombine · 19/10/2024 09:01

CaptainCarrotsBigSword · 19/10/2024 08:54

Will you have a helper? If so there is an excellent 'apparition lessons" thing you can do. But you need to have a second person and a space away from the other kids, where they take their apparition test in private, for it to work.

You do apparition lessons with all the kids together. If you can borrow enough hula hoops for them to have one each that's great, if not it doesn't matter. You are doing to teach them to apparate - to disappear from one spot and reappear in another.

The three principles of apparition are Destination, Deliberation and Determination (I think!! Look these up online).

They have to concentrate on their destination - where are they aiming for ? (Inside the hoop or something). They have to be determined that they will disappear and reappear. They must move deliberately through space to get there.

Tell them to focus as hard as they can on where they are going. Then eyes closed, turn on the spot and jump, and see if they have apparated. Make them do this a few times, it helps if they get dizzy and silly!

Then, tell them they can take their apparition test. But they have to do this one at a time.

Take one at a time into the test room. You need this set up as follows:

A hoop that they are aiming for (or other noticeable, obvious spot!).

A chair or step they can stand on and jump off - and another chair or step the same that can be moved and hidden away! The first chair needs to be at the opposite end of the space to the hoop.

A helper who can either hide out of the way, or be the official "Apparition Tester" - give them a role so there is a reason for them being there.

A blindfold.

Tell them that to help them apparate better, you are going to give them some extra help. You are going to blind fold them so they can focus all their magic on thinking about their destination and not getting distracted by their surroundings. You are also going to spin them a few times so that they are nice and warmed up for apparating. Then, lastly, they are doing to jump from a slight height (chair, step) to help give them a boost.

Pop the blindfold on. Spin them, chanting Destination, Deliberation, Determination nice and loudly with them. Tell them you are going to guide them to the chair - but actually take them to the second chair, which your helper will have popped into place right next to the hoop while you have been spinning. (The spinning and chanting cover the sounds made by moving the chair into place.)

Guide them up onto the step. Tell them to keep the blindfold on or they might disrupt the magic, focus on the hoop, and then jump. Tell them not to take off the blindfold until you tell them too - again, potentially powerful and dangerous magic!

They then jump into the hoop.

Your helper quickly removes the extra chair / step.

Tell them to take off the blindfold.

They will see themselves in the hoop, and they will see the chair at the other side of the room - the chair they think they jumped off.

They will have apparated from one side of the room to the other! Ta da!

Give them their Apparition certificate!

It's just me (and a five year old - but he's unlikely to help!).

OP posts:
Floribundaflummery · 19/10/2024 09:48

We did a homemade harry potter party. Had a washing line in the garden from upstairs to downwith sliding owl which brought messages announcing the next game. Gnome throwing competition (borrow or buy cheap plastic gnomes), potions as pp said - we made mocktails from colourful ingredients with magical names, don’t forget garnishes. We divided them into teams at the start using a sorting hat, microphone and somethingDH rigged up inside hat to tell child their house.

Everyone came dressed as a HP character. I greeted parents as Moaning Myrtle waving a toilet brush. You could do broom making using gathered sticks and wire, treasure hunt with suitably themed clues, challenges and artefacts.

Themed food castle cake or Whomping Willow cake, butterbeer (gingerbeer), Bertie Bott’s every flavour sandwiches - cut up small sandwiches with lots of different fillings - children have to make up revolting/wonderful names, polyjuice potion - mixed fruit juices, wands - long thin cheese straws or sweet with edible glitter.

Homemade parties are the best in my experience and the ones that everyone remembers, Have a great time OP.

Bigredcombine · 19/10/2024 09:54

@Floribundaflummery the washing line idea is inspired! Love this so much. Thank you!

OP posts:
ShowOfHands · 19/10/2024 10:04

Homemade butter beer is easy. Cream soda, vanilla ice cream and sprinkles.

It's disgusting IMHO, but the children loved it.

Morwenscapacioussleeves · 19/10/2024 10:30

White balloons & sharpie & paper wings make surprisingly great Hedwig owls.

Use Butterfly Pea Flower tea bags to make blue ice cubes - let them pour over lemonade to see the colour change (even better if you crush the ice cubes)

Assign them to a house with a dot of food colour at the bottom of a cup, ice hiding it & add lemonade for the reveal.

There are loads of free printables for Bertie Bots that you can fill with cheap jelly beans as favours, or same for chocolate frogs - we found buying a mould was cheaper than buying chocolate frogs (unless they'll accept freddos!)

Glue gun, paint & pencils to make wands - you can get glue guns that aren't high heat.
Or they can make dragon eggs with glue gun paint & those plastic Easter eggs you fill. A wee stretchy lizard type toy inside

make some brooms & get them to run about the garden 😂 bonus points if you can rig up hula hoops as goals.

old sheet stamped to look like a brick wall & placed over the door - cut a couple of slits & teach them which bricks to touch/spell to say to get through it.

tv/monitor with moving image, make a picture frame

ahh it's ages since we did Harry Potter stuff - my older kids were all obsessed but my youngest isn't just interested!

TheFluffiestCat · 19/10/2024 12:06

We did a Harry Potter escape room when DD was 8 or 9. It was about £12 from Etsy. Printed the puzzles at home, chucked the girls in the dining room with a dish of chocolate frogs (Freddos, not official HP ones) and gave them a hand with the puzzles when needed.

AnellaA · 19/10/2024 12:14

Amazing ideas on this thread!

just to add the I did a similar party at this age and the kids favourite thing was the wands - we got different kinds of stick from the garden/woods and I stripped or sanded the bark off - it did take time! I got loads so there was a choice but in the end everyone had a unique wand which they stuck glitter on

the second favourite thing was the fact I stuck a picture of Moaning Myrtle on the inside of the toilet lid. That was very popular.

its such a great theme and so easy to come up with ideas!

StressedQueen · 21/10/2024 23:45

We did a Quidditch game 😀

KnickerlessParsons · 21/10/2024 23:52

They could make butter beer. You can find a recipe online.

ThatAgileGoldMoose · 22/10/2024 00:01

I scrolled past everybody else's answers in excitement so excuse any repeats.

In between now and then, collect wand shape/sized sticks. Gather the craft stuff you already have, and have a wand-making session as one of the activities.

Divide into houses. Which group can make the tallest Newspaper hats/wizards tower?

Download HP quiz questions to have a pub taven quiz

Butterbeer from cream soda, a caramel coffee syrup or ice cream syrup (butterscotch flavour even better) and whipped cream. Have a Google for easy UK butterbeer recipes.

Probably some kind of party game inviting a ping pong ball painted gold and straws to blow it over a table, quidditch style

Can I come??

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