Tuesday 6 November 2012

One Magical Birthday Party

Platform 9 3/4
12 boys, 2 Houses, 4 Classes, 6 Quidditch Matches, I Trip to Honeydukes Sweet Shoppe and Zonko's Joke Shop, 1 very happy birthday boy, and 2 exhausted parents = 1 magical birthday party

As I mentioned the other day, this is not a quilting post, quilting friends, but rather a pay-it-forward post about doing a Harry Potter birthday party. I found so many great ideas for doing a Harry Potter-themed birthday party for my son on the internet that I thought I share what we did for others. In particular I thought I'd share the invitations (bilingual), the party schedule, class schedules, labels, etc. I put together so that others can use them as templates.

Birthday Cake
First, let me say that we do not normally do birthday parties on this scale. There are so many great Harry Potter birthday party ideas out there on the Web though that we couldn't resist trying a bunch of them. And if you haven't already guessed, we are big Harry Potter fans around here!

I was Professor McGonagall and the hubster was Nearly Headless Nick (low-key costume of some red facepaint drawn almost all the way around his neck).

To get a feel for what the party felt and looked like, check out this video the hubster put together. Gotta love iMovie!



So here's what we did...

Harry Potter fonts give the linked documents below a more authentic look so I'd recommend downloading them (they are free).

Invitations (English and French) (PDF) (Template - Use font: Hogwarts Wizard)

Party Schedule (we stuck largely to schedule -- the key is to be very organized and have each activity ready to go):

3:00 - 3:15 p.m.
Arrival via Hogwarts Express (Sign on the front door)

Bertie Botts Every Flavour Jelly Bean Tasting
  • Each child takes turns picking a jelly bean (I mixed two packs of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Jelly Beans to regular jelly bellies)
3:15 – 3:35 p.m.
Orientation & Sorting Hat Ceremony

Gryffindor
Ravenclaw
3:35 – 3:50 p.m.
Divination
  • Magic 8 Ball – Each child gets a turn to ask a yes/no question to the Magic 8 ball
  • Fortunes in Balloons – Put a fortune in a balloon. We did red balloons for Gryffindor and blue balloons for Ravenclaw
3:50 – 4:05 p.m.
Potions
Divination
4:05 – 4:10 p.m.
Break
4:10 – 4:25 p.m.
Charms
  • Each House make up a spell and corresponding action and share it with the other team
  • Simon Says kind of game where they need to do the actions of the spells I call out:
    • their house spells, 
    • Expelliarmus – lose their wand and fall backwards,
    • Immobilius – freeze,
    • etc.

  • Have them pair off to practice their spells and wandwork.
  • Wizards, Trolls and Goblins – like Giants, Wizards and Dwarves, but changing the names and actions to:
    • Trolls – batting the air in front
    • Goblins – wiggling ears
    • Wizards – same action
  • Who wins: Wizards beat Trolls, Trolls beat Goblins, Goblins beat Wizards
4:25 – 4:35 p.m.
Defence Against The Dark Arts
  • Dinosaur Pinàta that we pretended was a fierce dragon
4:35 – 5:00 p.m.
Quidditch
5:00 – 5:20 p.m.
Honeydukes Sweet Shoppe

Menu:
  • Butterbeer (I doubled the recipe and used 2 2L bottles of cream soda - plenty for 16 people)
  • Chocolate Frogs – Chocolate in frog molds (Melt, pour, chill, pop out - so easy!)
  • Pizza
  • Fruit and veggies
  • Harry Potter Cake
5:20 – 5:30 p.m.
Zonko’s Joke Shop
  • A variety of joke shop trinkets like whoopee cushions, eyeball bouncy balls, etc. arranged on a table for them to pick for their loot bags
  • Loot bags – plain brown paper bags, long breadsticks and raffia – tied to look like a broom

I got the Joke Shop stuff, quidditch balls and any decorations (that I didn't already have for Halloween) from the dollar store and post-Halloween sales.

My Harry Potter party idea sources - hugely helpful:

The happy birthday boy, who later told me that he knew what HP really meant -- "Happy Party." :)


So I hope some party planners out there find this useful. With 12 kids, the party was crazy loud, exhausting, but SO MUCH FUN!

14 comments:

  1. Looks like a great time was had by all!

    Must say that your wonderfully organized itinerary makes my teacher side all swoony. :-)

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  2. Well done - what a day to remember for that handsome young lad! You put so much thought into the party - amazing ideas!

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  3. How brilliant!! That video is amazing and what an incredible amount of great ideas and fun for the boys. The joy on their faces was so lovely. Happy Birthday Patrick :)

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  4. Thanks for Nice post

    Birthday Party Games
    http://www.birthdaybless.com

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  5. Lol...he looks so very thrilled...great job M-R. You made it a wonderful day..I have a Harry quilt here....but then he couldn't have fun with that ow could he!! Lots for fun while they're growing up.

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  6. Thanks for Nice post

    Birthday party themes girls
    http://www.birthdaywrap.com

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  7. I wish I had been there! I love Harry Potter, even though I'm no kid! Wonderful birthday to remember for Patrick, and the video was brilliant!Thanks for sharing it.

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  8. OMG that looks like so much fun!! You must have had a blast just preparing for the party! I love themed birthday parties, and so does my daughter. Last year we did pirates for her 6th and on Saturday we are doing Super Mario Bros. Gonna be a blast! Thanks so much for sharing! That is one lucky boy!

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  9. What a fun party! It looks like tons of imagination went into planning this. That smile on Patricks face in the last photo is priceless. :) Happy Birthday Patrick!

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  10. Fabulous idea and it looked like it was so much fun.

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  11. Wow! WOW! Parents of the year! Way to go!

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  12. Wow. Coolest parent award to you two M-R! (And the coolest kid in school for sure--they'll be talking about it for months!)

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  13. Awesome job! Sounds like a fabulous time was held by all!

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