Harry Potter Party Games and Printables

Now that I've shared the Harry Potter Party Invitations by Owl Post and the party ideas, it's time to reveal the mysteries from the party! I'll share all of my Harry Potter party games and printables, and I'll link you to any that I got from somewhere else.  Here we go!

*Hi, everyone. In 2019, I hosted my most recent Harry Potter birthday party with several new activities. Be sure to check those ideas out here: Genius Harry Potter Party Ideas You Have to See!

Harry Potter Party Timeline

Why reinvent the wheel when you can copy someone else's ideas? Here you go!

Children enter through Platform 9 ¾.

Try this brick wall idea from MyHarryPotterParty, or have the kids run toward the door while you quickly open it and let them in.  I would have loved to make the brick wall, but I simply ran out of time to do anything else!

Kids enter and receive their Supply List.

The kids are now in Diagon Alley.  Give them their supply list and send them shopping (3 stations) while they wait for everyone to arrive.

• Madam Malkin's (Photo Booth Station) The kids try on a Hogwarts robe and get their picture taken with a wand the robe.  (Include the photos in a thank you note from your child after the party.)
• Florish & Blotts (Book Shop) The kids pick up their books for Potions and Spells (Free Printables from Dirt&Sunshine here.)  I edited my books to use less paper, and I added a few Harry Potter puzzles from here at the end.  The kids did the puzzles while they were waiting for their turn at other stations.)
• Ollivander's Wand Shop (Pretzel Wands dipped in chocolate)  This station is really quick.  Let the kids chose a pretzel rod "wand," dip it in a pot of chocolate, and set it aside to cool for later.

The Sorting Hat:

You will some type of hat, a bag, and a house badge for each child.  (I used a witch hat from my Halloween stash, but I'm linking you to an excellent sorting hat tutorial from Jessi at Practically Functional.)   Print off badges representing each house at Hogwarts.  (Just google each coat of arms to find images to print.)  Place your hat on the child's head, draw a badge from the bag, announce their house, and pin on the badge.  Make sure everyone applauds!

Potions Class

Find a helper who is not afraid to ham it up to teach the class!

A potion to reduce hunger pains--Grab some jars of various sizes, fill them with treats, and label them with silly titles.  (This same idea works great for Spooky Shakes and Sundaes at a Halloween party.) Give the kids a dish and let them create their own potion/snack.  (Be sure to do this near the beginning of the party, or the kids will have no interest in dinner or cake!) Here's what I used:

• Blood worms (gummy worms)
• Dried beetles (raisins)
• Blind cat eyes (M&Ms)
• Hippogriff gizzards (marshmallows)
• Dried sardines (goldfish crackers)
• Bezoars (peanuts)
• Sneezewort cakes (Chex cereal)
• Toad livers (mini pretzel twists)

The site where I originally got my potion labels no longer exists. I have removed that link, and I'm linking you to a Pinterest board dedicated to potion labels. Hopefully, you'll find something that works there.

Dry Ice Experiments--While the kids eat their snacks, demonstrate some dry ice experiments.  My hubby used this one to make dry ice bubbles.  It was super cool!  (Too bad I never got a good picture of the bubble.  Be sure to check out the tutorial to see what it's supposed to look like.)  Don't worry.  The kids were never near the dry ice, so they weren't in danger of getting burned.

Practice Potion for the Beginner--I included this in my potions book.  (It's included as a separate file in your download.)

Follow the recipe above with the following substitutions:  Crushed bezoar = baking soda, and acromantula venom = vinegar.  Depending on the age of your kiddos, you may want to add the baking soda to the balloons ahead of time.  This experiment is more fun when all of the kids lift the balloons at the same time.  I found that mini water bottles were a really good size for this experiment.  (Let the kids drink the water with their snack potion, and then the bottle is all ready to use for the inflative potion.)

New Harry Potter Bingo Games!

I'm interrupting this party post with breaking news -- Harry Potter style! Revelio Bingo! Click on the image to see my brand new Harry Potter bingo games and maybe even download a free printable.

Transfiguration Class

Play charades using only things and animals.  (The kids should be able to act like the "thing.")  Tell the kids they are supposed to transform themselves into the "thing" you assign them.  Before they transform, they should wave their wand and say, "Fera Verto."  (Actually, that's a spell to turn an animal into a water goblet, but it's close enough!)  You can play this for as little or as long as you like.

Magical Creatures Hunt

Send someone in to interrupt class with an important scroll from Professor McGonagall.  (The text of the scroll and hunt instructions can be seen here, and both are included in the free downloads at the end of this post.)

To create the magical creatures, grab a pack of miscellaneous plastic bugs and creatures from the dollar store.  Add any plastic creatures you might have hanging around the house.  Adapt magical creature names from the book to fit the plastic creatures you have.  Hide them around your yard or house, and mark areas to match places in the book.  I used "Whomping Willow, Quidditch Field, Hagrid's Hut, Herbology Greenhouse, and the Forbidden Forest.  (Those signs are all included in the free download.)  Send the kids on a hunt to find the creatures.  (I didn't worry about who found the most.  I let them work as a team to find all of the creatures.)

Charms Class and the Feast

Let the birthday child open presents while the House Elves make final preparations for the feast.  Just before the feast, kids transform clear soda into colored soda with a simple trick.  See this post at ivillage.com for the easy instructions.  (Our feast was pizza, soda and cake.)

Hagrid's Cake

This is the easiest cake ever!  Prepare your cake and frost it as sloppily as possible.  Use a knife to drag some cracks through the frosting on top.  Write "Hapee Birthdae (your kid's name)" in sloppy green icing.  You're done!

Click below to download all the printables created by me that I mentioned in this post (with watermarks removed).  Printables created by others can be downloaded from the sites I referenced in the post.

My final post will be about the take-home treats:  Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.  Stay tuned!

 

 

 

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While you're here, why not stay and check out some of my favorite posts?  The images are linked to the posts, so click on them to pay a visit.

See you next time!

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