We had an amazing Harry Potter party for my daughter. These classes were the main activities of that party. Each class had a different teacher, thanks to some great friends, which meant that I wasn’t entertaining everyone the whole time. Each “professor” did an amazing job!
The instructions and spells for all of the classes are in the spellbooks. You can download free printables for the cover of the spellbook and the assignment pages. (Just click on those links to download the PDFs.) The cover of the spellbook file also includes the accessories for the Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment.
Defense Against the Dark Arts
The week before the party, we asked all of the guests’ parents something their child was afraid of. We then printed out stock pictures of those scary things: a spider, a zombie, a mean dog, a snake, etc. We also printed out silly accessories, like glasses, hats, mustaches, and talk bubbles. They are included with the free printable of the spell book cover.
In class, the kids had to decorate a scary picture with silly accessories, just like making a boggart silly with the Riddikulus spell. I think adding words to the talk bubbles was the kids’ favorite part.
Divinations
My cousin, Shawn, aka Professor Trelawney, has a deck of fairy cards, each card with a different picture of a fairy. Each student picked a couple of cards from the deck that predicted their fairy personality and their future.
They also had an assignment in their spell book to match the Patronus with its meaning and pick which patrons best matched their own personality.
Transfigurations
We bought a pack of mini Play-Doh, enough for one container for each kid. The students used a charm (and their hands) to transfigure a ball of Play-Doh into a goblet, a snake, and a hat.
Potions
I got a recipe from the Coolest Harry Potter Birthday Party on CoolestPartyIdeas.com to make a couple of spectacular-looking potions. I put the ingredients in some glass bottles I’d saved from condiments and such, then labeled the bottle with some free printable labels I found on Over The Big Moon.
The first potion used cabbage juice as a ph indicator, so it turned different colors when each ingredient (a household item) was added. To make cabbage juice, you boil red cabbage in water, then use the water. Be careful, it stains.
The second potion made something like a lava lamp with alka seltzer. The Alka Selzter was the only ingredient I actually had to buy. Everything else was stuff I already had around my house. You can download my copy of the ingredients for the recipe in my Potion Master’s Manual (another free printable).
Herbology
A week or two before the party, we planted some pumpkin seeds in little paper pots. For herbology class, the kids transplanted them into bigger pots (from the dollar store) to take home.
Of course, in class they were not pumpkin plants, they were screaming squash plants, and the students had to cast a silencio charm so their ears wouldn’t burst from the noise.
Quidditch
The Quidditch game was the least successful part of the party. It was just too chaotic.
We taped hula hoops to PVC stands to make the rings. Luckily, we found the hula hoops at the dollar store because a game needs six hoops. The Bludgers were two balls from the dollar store and the Quaffle was a soccer ball the kids kicked instead of throwing. The Golden Snitch was made from a small plastic ball with pheasant wing feathers glued in. We hung it on fishing wire from a long pole, so we could put it into the game and take it out again from the sidelines. I also found a great tutorial on how to make The Golden Snitch at dadcando.com.
The game didn’t work that well, and we were running out of time by this point in the party. I think the kids had fun trying to play, but they were disappointed that neither team ended up winning.
Don’t forget to look at Part 1 of our Harry Potter Party Experience!
Check out all of the other Harry Potter ideas on the posts: How to Make Harry Potter Wands and How to Make a Sorting Hat and a Deathly Hallows Tshirt.
