Harry Potter Party
The Best Ever Harry Potter Party
Lady Rose’s party details for her daughter’s (Angelgirl) 11th birthday (May 2007). LINKS will be added as the pages are put together for all the details so you can plan your very own awesome Harry Potter Party.
MORE photos uploaded HERE (about 100) - second batch. (Flickr)
PHOTOS as a Slideshow HERE, or click “view all images below.
First Glimpse of Photos (about 40 out of over 300) on Photobucket - just a few to get a feel for the party. Special thank you to my sister for taking all the digital photos. I also have some disposable cameras that various people used for photos, will have to get those developed.
Invitation & Letter to Parents - these were copied on parchment paper with matching parchment envelopes. Return labels were ordered with the Gryffindor seal on them. To close the envelopes round seals with a caligraphy H in the center and the full name of the Hogwarts school around top and the school motto in Latin around bottom - ordered from a printer who makes similar seals for wedding invitations.
Entrance - I had all the guests wait outside until it was time for the party to start so everyone could experience the entrance at the same time.
Decorations, Hogwarts Museum, Various Signs, etc. - LOTS of stuff
Three Broomsticks Inn Beverages & Snacks (Menu with Recipes) - three volunteers staffed the bar to serve our students and visiting muggle parents when they first arrived. Muggle parents were allowed a quick tour and refreshments before leaving.
Welcome Speech - welcome the students, review of rules, explain how to earn house points, thank the staff (done in the beginning so didn’t forget later).
Sorting Hat & House Points - sorting was by using magic of course!
Diagon Alley Shops - long tables were set up in a big U shape to form an “alley”, most tables were covered with a dark blue material with stars and the rest with a black cloth. Misc. decorations for the shops were gathered over the previous year from yard sales, closets, etc.
The Daily Prophet - a special birthday edition with entries for four door prizes. (Note: the fonts and table used to create the paper in word do not translate well to the blog, but it is readable and will give you a good idea of what the paper was like.)
Hogwarts Classes - 9 classes with a variety of activities and handouts. Since there would be 23 students I focused on activities that could would be manageable and affordable. Oriental Trading Co. had a lot of items that worked really well. I had two involved projects, but the 3 Harry Potter kits I told the students to take them home and not open them, other activities were based on handouts or just demonstrated.
Wizard Tournament - four events indoors and one outside for house points.
Hogwarts Feast Menu with Recipes - lots food heated and served by volunteer house elves. Organized and mostly prepared by Teacherman (Angelgirl’s awesome dad)
Honeydukes - this shop was closed until 6 p.m. (after the feast) to keep students from getting too much sugar at the start of the party. It was also a nice way to end the party. Each student received a big bag of Harry Potter candy, plus a large unicorn lollipop and there were a variety of samples to try also, as well as 5 lbs. of treacle fudge to sample.
The Goodie Bags - Bag #1 with picture of a wizard on it saying “I shopped at Diagon Alley” to hold all the items from the shops. Bag #2 with the round Hogwarts seal on it to use as a school bag for all the crafts and handouts during the classes. Bag #3 from Honeydukes with a list of the all goodies enclosed.
Prizes & House Cup - Lots of fun things to win - Magical Basket Prizes, Daily Prophet Prizes, Find the Snitch, House Cup Trophies, Chocolate Golden Dragon Egg
Party Highlights - special moments and some of the wondeful memories.
Blog Posts After the Party.
Mama Kelly’s Review HERE.
Lady Rose’s Review HERE.
Sampling of Blog Posts Regarding Party Preparation. - Not all the details and plans made it into the final party, these are a few of the pre-party blog posts about the setting up, last minute problems the cropped up, months of planning and various details that may have been missed in the reviews and party summaries.
5/27/07 - Under 11 hours to go before the guests arrive for the BIG Harry Potter Party.
5/25/07 Only TWO Days to go before the HUGE Harry Potter Party (menu review).
5/24/07 Harry Potter HUGE Party Prep Update.
5/19/07 Harry Potter FEVER (overload, insanity and party update).
4/29/07 Harry Potter Party and other updates.
4/13/07 50 things not to do at Hogwarts (not a party post - but fun.)
4/4/07 Harry Potter Party Planning - stuff, accessories, costumes, food.
4/2/07 Harry Potter Planning Ideas (even more ideas!).
3/26/07 Obsessing about Harry Potter Party Planning.
1/25/07 Harry Potter Party Update.
1/24/07 Harry Potter Party Plans Update.
1/23/07 Harry Potter Plans cont. - decorations (Diagon Alley).
1/19/07 OK I’m done, no really I am, honest! (no more shopping for the Harry Potter Party).
1/18/07 Temptations Galore - Harry Potter Party Update.
1/16/07 More Harry Potter Party Plans.
1/14/07 132 Days to the Harry Potter Party (so much to do!)
1/11/07 - Harry Potter Party Menu.
1/9/07 New Year Update and Harry Potter Party Plans.
Harry Potter Party Resources Online.
Lady Rose’s Party Witch Hat - here.
Purple Dragon Puppet (moves, sits on shoulder) - from Folkmanis here.
More misc. online party resources & ideas on our Harry Potter Favorite Links, etc. page.
May 31, 2007 at 10:11 pm
One word
AWESOME!
July 10, 2007 at 9:34 am
I LOVE the party you put together!!!
Everything looked so awesome! I wish I had seen your site a week earlier. I helped throw a Potter party for a 7 year old, and you had so many great ideas. I loved the table signs with the old fashioned clip art, the games, and the Honeydukes table looked scrumptious.
Great job!
July 10, 2007 at 9:44 am
Thanks for the compliments!
August 18, 2007 at 9:40 am
cool stufff i love harry potter could throw a party for me tooooo
August 18, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Sure Maliha we have tons of left over stuff and the decorations!
That would be fun.
February 9, 2008 at 10:26 pm
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February 9, 2008 at 10:26 pm
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February 9, 2008 at 10:27 pm
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February 11, 2008 at 1:37 pm
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February 28, 2008 at 10:20 pm
[...] order - the credit card got way way way too high last year (mostly because of the cost of the HUGE Harry Potter party we had last May for Angelgirl’s 11th birthday). I decided it was best to pay it off as soon [...]
July 17, 2008 at 3:13 pm
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