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Accio Harry Potter party! The best way to throw a party is to go all out, right? This Halloween, we threw a Harry Potter themed party because it’s one of my sister and I’s favorite movie series. We’ve seen it more times than I’d like to admit.
We started planning it months ago and there were so many other decorations we wanted to do and snacks we wanted to make but when it came down to it, we ran out of time.
There are a few different things you can do to make your Harry Potter party magical and feel like you are a part of the Wizarding world.
How To Throw The Ultimate Harry Potter Party:
- Watch the movies: The best way to get ideas for decor for your party is to watch the movies! Even if you have seen the movies a hundred times, re-watch them but with intention. Take notes on certain things you like or that would fit into your home. I have a fireplace so I took note of how I could incorporate it into the party. For fireplaces there are a number of things you could do.
- Hang Hogwarts acceptance letters on clear fishing line and place them as if they are shooting out of the fireplace.
- Hang a 9 3/4 sign on the side of the fireplace.
- If it’s a walk around stone or brick fireplace, on one wall put a suitcase trolley as if it was going into the fireplace. *This is a great photo opp!
- Harry Potter food and drinks: When it comes to figuring out what to have for food and drinks for your guests, you can get very creative. There is a lot of candy in Harry Potter so it would be fun to have a variety of jellybeans, chocolate frogs, and sweet treats. For food, you can really have anything but put it out like a spread. Whenever they eat, it’s always an abundance of food spread out on the table. Go for that kind of look. Charcuterie boards are key! For drinks, there are a few standouts like pumpkin juice, polyjuice potion, and butter beer. You could make these or just put different juices, sodas, and alcohols in vintage looking glasses so they look like potions.
- Games to play: Would it be a party without fun and games? A few ideas for Harry Potter games to play are pin the nose on Voldemort, a scavenger hunt for horcruxes, free Dobby corn hole but with socks filled with sand, Harry Potter trivia, and quidditch beer pong.
Harry Potter Party Decorations
Now I’m going to share all of the decorations we had for our Harry Potter halloween party. These would easily work for a Harry Potter birthday party. We kept it a little more on the spooky side though.
Everything we did is easy and I spent under $100 making this come to life.
When you first walked into our house, there were floating candles, broomstick parking, and a hook for invisibility cloaks. I put three candles on each side of the entry and hung them with clear fishing line and push pins. I originally hung 12 of them at the entryway with tape but they all fell down. So I hung a few by the drinks instead.
I also hung this Hogwarts banner on the front door.
You can decorate with vintage suitcases and luggage. The above is actually an old typewriter!
I decorated the mantle with graveyard signs and skeletons heads. I also painted a mirror I had gold to be the Mirror of Erised and wrote the quote across the top. I used tape to cover the mirror and spray painted gold to create the “arches”.
If we had more time, we would have made a ton of Hogwarts acceptance letters to hang out of the fireplace. Next time!
Light Up Deer | Hedwig Cage | Hedwig
My mom had these three dementor looking things already so I hung them up with clear pushpins from the ceiling. The middle one kind of looks like Voldemort! I found some on Amazon that look much more like dementors here.
Light Up Deer | Hedwig Cage | Hedwig
I put up a Harry Potter gallery wall in my hallway since there are tons of paintings in the movies. I printed out a few professors, Dumbledore, Dumbledore’s brother and sister, a picture of Hogwarts, and a few others. My mom gave me the skeleton pictures which are 3D and actually talk.
I used Velcro fasteners and Command Strips to hang them all.
The spider wall was the first idea I had for this party. My mom gave me a bunch of fake spiderwebs and big spiders. I used these smaller spiders. Remember all the spiders from the Chamber of Secrets? Why spiders? Why couldn’t it be “follow the butterflies?”
I got this idea off of Pinterest and loved it so much I just had to do it.
I taped a bunch of the wanted posters and newspaper articles on my French doors. I just googled Harry Potter wanted posters and Harry Potter newspapers to find them all.
It was easy, cheap, and looks great.
We put all of our wands in this jar on the dining table so we didn’t lose them throughout the night. I also had a little stuffed rat to play Scabbers/Peter Pettigrew.
Would scabbers be complete without a missing toe? I think not!
Harry Potter Bathroom
Bathrooms often get overlooked when it comes to decorating for parties or Halloween but I don’t think they should! Think about it this way, everyone will have to go potty at some point during the party so everyone will see the bathroom.
I made this Ministry of Magic decal with my Silhouette Cameo using a photo I googled. There are a bunch of shops on Etsy who sell the same thing, just click here.
I scattered a few spiders across the bathroom counter, with some going up candles.
How good does that white tub and tile look? Would you believe me if I told you it was pink before and that I painted it?!
I had plans to go all out and make a life-size Moaning Myrtle and add balloons to the tub to act as bubbles but time was of the essence and I opted for a printer paper sized Myrtle in the window, which was still creepy at night.
Food and Drink Ideas
My sister did an AMAZING job on this mandrake cake. Can you believe how awesome it looks?!
She baked two round chocolate cakes and broke one up into pieces to crumble on top of the other to look like dirt. For the mandrakes, she used almond paste which is delicious and so much tastier than fondant. For coloring, she used food coloring and a small paintbrush. To make the eyes and mouths she used a toothpick.
Is any Harry Potter party complete without some potions to drink? We made this polyjuice potion with lime sorbet and sprite. It was delicious!
The pumpkin juice was from this recipe. It was fantastic and would be a great Thanksgiving drink.
We also made Butter Beer but it just wasn’t as good as Universal’s version.
Read related: 3 Days in Universal Orlando
For all of the labels, I just typed up the words using the free Parry Hotter font and printed them on sticker paper.
Costume Ideas
For our party, I dressed up as Bellatrix Lestrange and Will was Sirius Black. I didn’t plan on having blue hair for the party but it’s just so stubborn to get rid of so I made it work. Draco was my OG costume idea but the costume didn’t arrive in time so Bellatrix was my last minute costume. You’ll notice I actually have Draco’s wand. Let’s just say Bellatrix stole it from him!
One of my brothers dressed as Professor Lupin, complete with the scratches on his face.
Our friends dressed as Harry, Hermione, and Ron and my other brother was a young Dumbledore on vacation. Clever, I know.
My sister was Professor Snape, I think she did a great job! We also had this photo opp hanging from the ceiling. I got it from Amazon and you can shop it here.
We can’t forget Dobby! When you have a dog that looks just like Dobby, he has to be him for Halloween, right?
I didn’t take many other photos at the actual party though I wish I did! I made chocolate frogs and we had snacks as well. Everyone thought the decorations were awesome.
A few ideas I wanted to do but didn’t because we were short on time were hang flying keys from the ceiling, hang owls, and hang pumpkins. There are so many different Harry Potter decorations you can do to make your party feel like you are in Hogwarts or Diagon Alley.
If you throw a Harry Potter party and include any of these ideas, I’d love to see them! I think it’s fun to make your favorite movies or shows into parties. We are planning The Office themed party next!
