Harry Potter
Birthday Party Planning Guide
Exclusively at BirthdayExpress.com
Turning your house into Hogwarts for the day? You’re little witch or wizard will feel oh-so-magical on their birthday if you follow the rules of this simple guide!
Party Checklist
4-6 Weeks Before the Party
Select Date:
Time:
Place:
Plan a safe, inviting place for kids to have fun. Set time to 2-3 hours for young children, and 3-4 hours for older kids.
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Create Guest List
Just fill out the handy list in this guide!
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BirthdayExpress.com is the place! You’ll find over 150 party themes, with party pack options for all of them. Expecting more guests? Choose our Pack Add-On option
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Order Birthday Costume/Outfit & Gifts
BirthdayExpress.com has lots of fun choices. Look for our costumes, T-shirts, hats and special birthday gifts designed to match our party themes.
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Book Entertainment (optional)
2 Weeks Before the Party
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Order Cake
Schedule to pick it up one day before the party.
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Let the birthday child help by adhering the stamps and putting the invitations in the mailbox.
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Create List of Parent Phone Numbers
Keep on hand in case of emergency.
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Plan Party Menu
Check out the recipes in this guide. Ask parents if kids have any food allergies.
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Choose Party Games & Collect Party Supplies
This guide has ideas that match your party theme!
2-3 Days Before the Party
1 Day Before the Party
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Make Food & Drinks, Bake/Get Cake, Buy Ice
Set out chilled/heated foods just before kids eat.
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Childproof & Decorate Party Area
Remove breakable items and objects that could prevent guests from moving freely. Decorate with balloons, crepe paper, and other items included in your party pack.
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Set Up Party Games, Fill Favor Boxes & Piñatas
Invite your party child to help!
Party Day!
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Fill Birthday Balloons with Helium
After the Party
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Include party photos!
Activities
Who Am I?
Supplies:
As children arrive, tape a piece of paper onto their back on which you have written the name of a character from the Harry Potter books (give the easier characters to the younger children). Kids must then move around the room asking questions about their character, which can only be answered with "yes" or "no". Examples are "Am I a wizard?" "Am I a muggle?" "Am I a child?" "Am I good at magic?" and so on..
Quidditch
Supplies:
- Broomsticks (one for each player)
- Quaffle (ball)
- 2-goals
Set up two goals at either end and give each player a broomstick with which to sweep the ball-shaped quaffle into the appropriate goal. Explain that you are playing the muggles version of the game because nobody can fly! If you need to play indoors, you can improvise a game with broomsticks made out of rolled up newspapers (the children can make their own) and a red balloon. If you want to add Seekers/Snitches in the game, you can hide the snitch somewhere in the party area and have 2 seekers (one from each team) look for the snitch while the game is being played. The game ends when a team scores 10 goals or when the golden snitch is caught.
Magic Bubbles
Supplies:
- 6-Cups of water
- 1-Cup of dish soap
- Large cookie tray
- 12" Wire
Directions:
Mix one part liquid soap with six parts water (example: 6 cups of water with 1 cup of dish soap, or 3 cups of water with 1/2 cup of dish soap). Pour the liquid into a large cookie tray. Make a 12 inch loop out of a piece of wire. Coat hangers will work but only if they aren't covered with nylon. Lower your wire loop into the bubble solution and pull it out gently at an angle. The bubble will form as you pull up the wire. How big of a bubble can you make? Have a contest!!
Make me a wizard!
Supplies:
- Dowels (one for each party member)
- Glue
- Glitter
- Feathers
- Pipe Cleaners
- Sequins
- Markers
Directions:
Provide the kids with dowel rods for magic wands. Allow them to decorate them using glue, glitter, sequins feathers and whatever else they may want on their wands. If the kids want to look like harry, you can face paint lightning scars on their foreheads and hand out these cool HP style glasses!
Recipes
Cockroach clusters
Ingredients:
- Chow Mein noodles
- ½-Cup of semi-sweet Chocolate chips
- ½-Cup of butterscotch chips
- ½-Cup of chow mein noodles
Supplies:
Directions:
Melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips together in the microwave. stir until smooth. Stir in chow mein noodles until well coated. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.
Freshly picked Herbology Fruits and vegetables!
Ingredients:
- Star fruit
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Mango
- Kiwi
- Pineapple
- Blueberries
- Grapes
Supplies:
Directions:
Make an fruit tray including star fruit, strawberries, raspberries, mango, kiwi, pineapple, blueberries and grapes. Say the fruit was picked fresh from the Herbology green houses.
Hippogriff tenders (Chicken tenders)
Ingredients:
- 1-Pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite size pieces
- 4-Tablespoons butter, melted
- 1-1/4 Cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Supplies:
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Roll the pieces of chicken in the melted butter then roll in the breadcrumbs. Bake the chicken fingers in the oven for about 10 minutes. Turn them over and cook for another 10 minutes (or until brown). Take out of oven and enjoy!
Harry potter Cupcakes
Ingredients:
- Vanilla cupcakes
- White buttercream frosting
- Yellow sprinkles
- Brown sprinkles
- Red sprinkes
Directions:
First, frost all of your cupcakes. For HP’s hair, use the brown sprinkles on the top edges of the frosted cupcakes. For the scar, use 3 yellow sprinkles in the shape of a lightning bolt. Use three rounded brown sprinkles for the specs of the glasses and 3 straight brown sprinkles for the rest of the frames. Break a brown sprinkle into tiny pieces for the eyes and the nose and use a rounded red sprinkle for the mouth.