Harry Potter Inspired Magical Children's Birthday Party

Our son requested a magic themed party for his 5th birthday. Initially I had thought of hiring a magician or perhaps coercing my husband to do some tricks for the children, but nothing was coming together. Still, I was up for the challenge. I love Harry Potter and though my son is too young to have read the books and our children don't watch tv, I was still inspired to include my favorite (and age appropriate ) bits and pieces from the novels. In the end, the party was a great success. He (and I) couldn't have been happier :)

The Invitation

The invitation is based upon one of the party activities- and should look like a magic potion book. It was really fun to send out this invitation because people were really curious about what activities we would be doing at the party. To make the invitations,  I bought a box of blank,  colored  card stock and a bag of card stock scraps (yes, I paid for a bag of scraps - don't tell my husband ! ). I cut the scraps into triangular shapes to make the corners and ovals for the center medallion, glued them on and and decorated it with glitter glue. On the inside, we found an ink stamp at the craft store that had all the pertinent  info,  we just had to fill in the specifics.

 For the envelope, we used an owl paper punch and punched through the empty envelope so that there was an owl shape in both the front and flap of the envelope. Once we  inserted the colorful card into it, the owl really stood out.

* A quick note: I found these fantastic Harry Potter / Hogwarts Express  Train Ticket  Invitations on Etsy and also found templates for the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter / Invite online that were both super cool, but perhaps more appropriate for older children. Check them out if you get a chance.

The Party
We had the party at out home with stations set up for the four activities on the docket that day:


#1 - Cape Fitting:
Upon arriving, each child was asked to select the cape of their choice and was then assisted with putting it on. To make the capes, I kept it simple. I chose three different colors of velvet fabric (dark blue, dark purple and light purple) and cut them into small cape sized rectangles. I found glue backed velcro circles, attaching a set to each cape. Easy, quick and no sewing involved since I left the edges raw.

#2 - Magic Wand Selection and Decoration:
Prior to the party, my children and I wandered the back yard and found all the wands we would need for the party. We looked under various types of trees, finding sturdy, dry sticks and branches. Some already had the bark cracked off, others needed it removed. At the party, we made a station placing the "wands" in a mason jar, and put out tempura paints, glitter glue, ribbons, water, paintbrushes, and lots of paper towels. Remember to make an area where the wands can dry.


#3 - Magic Potion Book Creation
This is a project that I found at Oriental Trading Company. They sell the kits and supplies on their website, though you could perhaps source out your own supplies if you wished.  The 'books' are really cardboard boxes with magnetic flap closures / lids.

A finished potion book. We used fabric pens to not only decorate the front but to also add "pages" to the top, side and bottom.

*Before the party - I cut and glued  the colorful foam covers on the books (placing a rubber band around them to hold the foam on until dry). We made the books a variety of colors so there would be something for everyone. Also ahead of time, I cut various colored triangles for the corners and ovals for the medallions though I did not affix them to the books.

Stacks of potion book boxes with covers pre-glued, and stacks of colorful triangles and medallions. Cups of fabric pens were placed around the table at each station along with bottles of glue

At the party, let the children choose their book and glue on the corners and center medallion in the color of their choice, with Elmer's Glue. Use fabric puffy pens / glitter puffy paint pens to decorate the books. We had made an example and placed it out on the table so that the children (and parents) could see how the finished project should look. Again, remember to make a place for them to dry.

For the Boxes
We found (age appropriate) magic wand spells on a Harry Potter website  and made a small sheet of them rolled into a scroll and tied with a ribbon to place in their magic potion boxes.

We also found old skeleton keys on Ebay, cleaned them up with soap and water and let the children choose one for their potion book.

Scrolls of magic wand spells tied with orange ribbon and skeleton keys

 #4 - Magic Potions
Out last activity was to make magic potions. Before the party we made jars of "potions" using water, food coloring, glitter and essential oils to make Elf Magic, Star Dust and Fairy Dust.  We then made separate bowls of Unicorn fur (cut fibers from leopard fabric), lavender flowers, glitter and Dragon Scales (something we found in the spice aisle that resembled scales). We made a tray of all the potion supplies and gave each child two cobalt bottles. They were able to mix all the ingredients to their liking which was great fun. Just have paper towels on hand!

 Everyone was given an empty  goody bag to load up their creations at the end of the party (some of which were still wet - so brown paper grocery bags could work too) .

This was a super fun and pretty easy party to put together. We hope it inspires you to create a magical party of your own!