Anya's Harry Potter Birthday Party

Last weekend we celebrated Anya's 7th birthday by having a Harry Potter Themed party!  Anya LOVES Harry Potter!!!  She was Hermione Granger this year for Halloween and is so excited about our trip to Florida in the Spring of 2017.  She wanted to have a Harry Potter movie theater birthday, that's what we did last year, but we explained to her that most of her peers had probably not been introduced to all of the movies and might find it too scary.  We settled on having a Harry Potter theme instead and she had a blast planning this party and getting all the materials together for it.  

 

 

Here is what we did (check out the video of all the fun at the end)!

 

Food:  We created the  Honeydukes candy store using all of our Halloween candy.  We also had butter beer and a Harry Potter ice cream cake from DQ.

 

Activities:  We had a report card, made by Halie and Anya, full of classes that one might find at Hogwarts. 

1.  Potions Class:  I used flasks, borrowed from a science lab at my school, and filled them with vinegar, food coloring and then each child mixed them with baking soda.  I also let them explore with mixing water color containers in their own beakers.  I think this was their favorite class!

2.  Transfiguration: Each team of children worked together to create structures using a variety of blocks.

 

3.   Charms:  They each picked a homemade wand from Ollivanders, and then used their wands to keep a balloon up while saying "Wingardium Leviosa"!

4.  Care of Magical Creatures: Each child picked a special stuffed animal as their magical creature.  We put them all on a large parachute (borrowed form school) and their job was to make sure their animal didn't get thrown off the parachute. 

5.  Quidditch:  This was interesting to say the least.  

Materials: 2 brooms, 2 laundry baskets, 2 balloons, 1 golden snitch (Ferro Rocher) & 2 stuffed animals.  

Two teams of three kids. Two kids were the seekers and they went off to find the golden snitch, which my husband hid in the house.  Two kids rode the brooms and tried to get the balloons into the opposite laundry basket for 10 points (we didn't keep score, they didn't care); the snitch was worth 150 points.  While the kids rode/ran on the brooms, two kids  had to throw a small stuffed animal at the opposing team member on the broom.  If the child on the broom was  hit, they had to restart running from their laundry basket towards the opponents basket.  Honestly this was a gong show but the kids loved running around, screaming/cheering each other on, and taking on the different roles int he game.  

6.  Owl Mail:  Each child could write Anya a letter, draw a picture, and mail it through OWL mail.  She loved reading all the messages the day after.

7.  Photo Booth:  We just printed a bunch of "wanted" posters from the various characters for the background and had a couple of robes for the children to wear.  We used these write thank you notes after the birthday party.  

 

Harry Potter Class Labels, Honeydukes Banner & Report Cards (PDF)

Harry Potter Pinterest Board (I love Pinterest and other peoples ideas so check it out!!!)

All in all a wonderful way to celebrate with her friends from school.  It's a birthday party she will remember for a LONG time!