How to Throw a Magical Harry Potter Halloween Party!

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You are never too young or too old for a Harry Potter Party.

I love parties, which is why the minutes we closed on our first home (a few years ago) I started planning an Epic Harry Potter Party.  Ok as epic a Halloween party as I could Do not having an event center or mansion at my disposal and a budget. After all, moving is expensive. Since this was before I got into graphic design work myself I went to Pinterest to look for some inspiration and maybe even some free printables while I was at it.

I managed to find a free printable Hogwarts ticket on Harry Potter Wiki that I copied into a document to print out multiple copies. and then designed an (as authentic as I could) acceptance letter and supply list for all the invitations. (I put an insert in each with the info for our party)

For the Acceptance letter I designed my own with info I found online.  Basically, it has the Hogwarts seal that I found online and the official wording for the acceptance letter and supply list found on Harry Potter Wiki. A few years later I designed an even better version that I for a time had available as a customized digital download on my Etsy site but now am offering as a FREE customizable download here on my blog. (Customizable Hogwarts Acceptance Letter & 1st Year Supply List)

Thankfully my sister upon hearing that I was planning this adult only Harry Potter party offered to help so once I got the acceptance letter, tickets & Party invites made she created the owls to deliver them. The owls consisted of a bunch of white balloons filled with helium with owl faces drawn with sharpie markers. I think they turned out brilliant.

Now for the party... Though the main party would be held in our open living room/Dining room/kitchen I decided that I wanted to have Harry Potter surprises throughout the house starting at the front porch. Like I said at the time my Graphic Design talents were limited so I just created simple signs that I put up throughout the house designating Specific Places.

Our party started on our front porch which we decorated to look like a cross between Platform 9 ¾ and the entrance to Diagon Alley. My friend Paige helped me paint bricks on a plastic tablecloth with acrylic crafters paint and sponges which we then taped to the front door, and then I used an old trunk of my husband's along with some brown paper wrapped boxes, and a stuffed owl (which my sister had bought at Michaels) to complete the look. We each had a lot of fun posing as couples on the front porch with our acceptance letters and tickets.

We decided to keep our party small this time with just 3 couples (me, my husband, my sister and her husband and two close friends who are now married) Everyone was required to dress in character.  My husband and I (did I mention we are total Harry Potter geeks) happened to have authentic Movie replica's of the Harry Potter Robes as well as some simple Griffyndor Crocheted Scarfs so we decided to go as James and Lilly Potter. My sister and her husband went as Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, and our friend Paige and Jesus went as Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin.

After everyone came inside they each stopped by Ollivander's Wand shop to pick out their wands. Each wand had official Harry Potter Wand descriptions.  For Directions on how to make your own (and they really are easy and inexpensive to make) check out my blog post: Ollivander's Wand Shoppe: How to Make Perfect Harry Potter Wands!

Next. each guest was given their own Marauders' Map. I found a really cool Free Printable  Marauders' Map with an easy to follow tutorial for how to put it together over at Britta Blvd I loved the old school hand drawn look and how it opened up to reveal various rooms at Hogwarts. Everyone LOVED them!

My sister and I transformed my living room into the Hogwarts Great Hall with Banners and Hanging candles. (the hanging candles were the simple electronic pillar candles with the brass bottom part taken off and then strung up with fishing string. A for the banners I printed out the Crest for each house and attached them to a colored Felt Pennant that I pinned to the wall.

Next to the couch on my end table, we set up Honeydukes Sweetshop where we served Chocolate Frogs (my friend got the Chocolate Frog Mold at Amazon and we Found a Free Printable Chocolate Box over at Deviant Art by Gaddia.) We also had a large jar of Berty Bots Every Flavor Bean, Chocolate bars in case of Dementors, Golden Snitches (Lindt truffles) and Licorice Wands.

We turned the dining room/ kitchen into the Three Broomsticks and had a nice sit-down dinner of baked chicken, rolls, and potatoes with Rootbeer, Butter Beer (get the Recipe Here), and Water for drinks.

Though the main party took place on the main floor of my home (due to the open floor plan) I also had hidden Harry Potter gems throughout the house. Upstairs we turned my son's room into the Owlery with more balloon owls. My daughter's room became the Divination room with a small table that had a makeshift crystal ball and a teacup with a grim in the tea dredges and candles for illumination.

On the Master bedroom door, we put the image of the Fat lady that I found online. And our basement became the dungeon with the potions room. (for the potions I found some old empty bottles and put potions labels on them. I found the labels for free at Over the Moon. My Friend Jesus even set up a fog machine downstairs to give it a creepier feel.

In addition to the special rooms throughout the house we also had a Free Dobby Plack with random socks, labeled one bathroom toilet as the entrance to the ministry of magic and wrote on one bathroom mirror the warning that the chamber of secrets had been opened (and stuck a cut out of Moaning Murtle on the mirror)

As the final touch to our Epic Harry Potter party, we took some "Have you seen this Wizard"  photos. with a DIY cardboard frame (I cut out the center of the Cardboard ith an Exacto blade and marked all the edges with a black sharpie and then made the Azkaban number with the scraps of cardboard and numbers written on white paper. I loved how it turned out. Some of us had a hard time keeping a straight face or looking unhappy in the photos because we were all having soo much fun.

When I do my next Harry Potter Party which I am sure I will do someday, I will probably do it a little different. Though I was very pleased with how this one turned out.

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