The Harry Potter books and movies have truly become some of the best and most well-loved children's classics of all times and not only have these entertained children of all ages, but adults of all ages too.  Each book and movie release were waited for with baited breath and every child would love the opportunity to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Well, with your help maybe they can.

Party invitations

You can throw a Harry Potter theme party for your child's birthday and you can make it into a terrific time at Hogwarts if you wish.  The first thing to do to get a party started off right is to send out the right invitations.  You can get Harry Potter birthday party invitations easily enough, but what will set your party apart will be sending out invitations that are presented as a request to attend Hogwarts.  Every child who receives one of these will be thrilled to have been invited and eager to find out what comes next.

Of course, everyone who is invited must come dressed as a Harry Potter character and this can be indicated in the invitations.  Just be sure they know they can dress as whomever they wish and it isn't just the kids who can dress up.  The adults in attendance can also dress up, but as the professors at the school.  This will certainly keep those kids in line and add an air of authenticity to the party.

 

Decorating ideas 

When it comes to decorating you can go absolutely wild.  You can have your regular Halloween decorations with lots of broomsticks and owls and you can paint golf balls or ping-pong balls gold and hang them around the house to look like golden snitches everywhere.  You can also make up house banners for Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.  If your guests will use different rooms in the house, then you can make each room a classroom in the school.  The dining room can be the Great Hall, the living room can be the Library, your child's bedroom can be the Gryffindor Common Room, and the kitchen can be Potions.  Or you can label them different places in the Harry Potter world, such as Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron.

Once the guests arrive you will use the Sorting Hat to sort them into their houses.  You can put papers in the hat that say a house name and have the kids pull them out or you can put their names on papers and when a name is pulled out you can assign them to a house.  The kids will go crazy for this.  Then you can follow this by presenting the feast in the Great Hall where you can serve cauldron cakes, magic wand pretzels, blood worms, butter beer, and more.

Party activities

Now after the feast you want to have some games and activities to keep the children having fun at Hogwarts.  You can have them go to Ollivander's and make their own wands.  Have some twigs and some various items that they can make believe are dragon heart strings, unicorn hair, and phoenix feathers.  These could be regular feathers, yarn, rubber bands, and more.  The kids can decorate their wands and have a blast with them.  You can play games, such as a scavenger hunt.  Really, any regular game can be given a Harry Potter twist.  Instead of Capture the Flag it can be Capture the Snitch.  You can also do up a trivia game for the kids, asking them questions about the books and movies.  If your budget allows, you can even hire a magician, a “real” wizard, to come and entertain them.

There are simply so many ideas that can be used to create the perfect Harry Potter birthday party that you can probably use your imagination and think of many more than those that have been listed here.  Most importantly, your child will have the most memorable birthday party ever and the guests will go home with amazing memories of the best party ever.  They may also go home with a treat bag full of “chocolate frogs” and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and maybe a golden snitch and their own broomstick too.