Idea number 1: Invite friends to Hogwarts with an official looking invitation in a large, handmade envelope with red wax seal. Write your invitation on white paper with green ink, stain with a cooled coffee or tea mixture (try staining your paper before you write on it, and dry it flat), and roll up when dry. Tie with red ribbon or seal with red wax. To make this look even fancier, get your parent to mark an H for Hogwarts. Idea number 2: Print some Hogwarts house ties and use them as invitations - or cut them out and send them as they are in a big envelope, with instructions for your party guests to color them in in their favorite house’s colors and wear them to the party! Idea number 3: Put the Hogwarts crest/badge at the top of the page on the right-hand corner where the address goes on muggle letters. You can find this in images online if you type in “Hogwarts badge”. Then type out your official invitation underneath. Idea number 4: Send your friends a letter, inviting them to Hogwarts, for an end of O. W. L. party. Instead of your friend’s name, write the name of their favorite Hogwarts character (such as “Dear Luna”). Make sure you have an equal number of students from each House. Then, print of some pictures of owls and stick them on top.
Dress up as your favorite Harry Potter character (Harry, Hermione, Ron etc). Ask your guests to bring their own wands. State that everyone gets 20 House points to start off with. Make sure all guests understand what House points actually are. Idea number 5: Use your email to send your friend a Hogwarts acceptance letter style invitation, this is really easy just compose a new message, add images and the party information and click send. They can reply to your email if they are coming or not. This idea is easy to make and if you are only inviting a couple of people and don’t want to hurt anyones feelings just send them a quick email (To make sure they get it, tell them in person to check there email for your invitation!)
For example, your backyard or garden is the Hogwarts grounds or the black lake. This grabs people’s interest, and you can play Find the Sorcerer’s Stone, or something similar.
Stick stars on the ceiling if it’s okay with your parents, so that your room looks like the Great Hall.
Stuff inside the party bag: At the end of the party, have a hunt to see if kids can find the following objects. Whatever object that is on the list that they find, they get to take home. It may be a good idea to do this in the backyard. Here is a list of things you may want to use: 2 chocolate gold coins 2 Harry Potter collector cards 2 Harry Potter badges 1 toy mini dragon
Treacle tart. This has a Harry Potter feeling to it, as Hagrid serves it to Harry multiple times. Roast potatoes. Baked, fried, and mashed are okay too - they have these at the start-of-term feast. Pumpkin juice. You can use orange juice, or learn how to make pumpkin juice. This is a nice addition to any party. Chocolate frogs. Use chocolate in the shape of frogs. You can buy frog molds at cooking stores and online, or buy ready-made chocolate frogs from candy or sweet shops. Pudding. Luna Lovegood says that you cannot have a party without pudding. Well, your party wouldn’t be a party without pudding, either! Butterbeer. There are loads of recipes, so look it up! Most people suggest microwaving a tiny bit of butter and some butterscotch syrup for a minute and then adding cream soda. Bertie Botts’ every flavor beans. Jelly Belly beans come in almost every flavor and make a good substitute.
Strawberry acid pop drinks: All you need is strawberries and fizzy strawberry drink. Cut the strawberries up into little bits and tip into a glass, pour a reasonable amount of a fizzy strawberry drink into the glass and dilute. To make this into a dessert, simply add some strawberry ice cream. Spark wands: This is easy; all they are is bread sticks. The bread sticks are the wands, and if you want your"‘wands" to shoot “sparks”, then get ones with seeds on them. Crumpet faces: If you like crumpets and pizzas, you and your guests will be excited to get to one of these delicious morsels. Get two crumpets and cover with cheese, olive oil, tomatoes, and olives if you like them. Make into faces or throw on. Heat in your oven for about 10 minutes. Eat and enjoy!
Find or buy a witch’s hat, and dirty it up a little, so that it looks old. Place the “Sorting Hat” on a stool in the “Great Hall. " Ask a family member to call out names. For example: “Weasley, Rose!” Have someone in the background shout out the house, depending on what the person’s characteristics are (decide this in advance). Are they bold and brave? Gryffindor would be their house. If they’re sharp with smarts, Ravenclaw is theirs. How about if they have a green thumb and a kind heart? Try Hufflepuff. If they’re clever and proud, choose Slytherin. Remember, Slytherin isn’t that bad of a house to be in!
An adult should be placed in charge of the House points. If you have a mom and a dad, try having your mom dress up as Minerva McGonagall and your dad as Snape! (Be prepared - they may have a few objections about this!)
Have four tables, or only as many as you need for the Houses. Perhaps no Slytherin? No need to make a table then. Have someone be headmaster and say a few words before serving. Perfect. Add whatever you’d like to make the feast more fun. Make sure everyone is informed that good behavior earns points, and naughty behavior loses them. Give out schedules as well.
Astronomy: Print and cut out a picture of each of the planets. Each student at Hogwarts has ten minutes to find all the planets hidden around the house. Award ten House points to everyone who finds the planets, and take ten away from anyone who doesn’t find them. Create your own spell: This game is bound to be a big hit. Before the party, find a Latin dictionary (online or a book) and compile a list of Latin nouns and verbs to give the “students”, which they can combine into their own spells. Latin is the best language to use, because it is the one used in the Harry Potter books (e. g. , the Lumos spell, which means light in Latin). Let them practice by having Wizard Duels with each other. Use glow sticks as wands, as they give off light. Race to dinner: This little game is good fun. Create a course around your house to get to your dinner. Everyone can shoot a spell, although all spells are restricted except Stunning spells and Disarming spells. If you are hit by a Stunning Spell, then you have to stay still for 5 seconds. If you are hit by a Disarming spell, you’re not allowed to shoot a spell at anyone for 5 seconds. You’re not allowed to shoot a spell unless you have counted two seconds from the last spell you shot. This is a bit complicated, so practice before dinner, or this could end in chaos! You may also want to check with a parent, since they may think you’ve gone mad if you want to race around the house with your friends waving sticks at each other, and you could knock over some valuables. Harry Potter board games: There are a lot of great Harry Potter games out there, so if you or any of your friends have any, make sure you include them in your party! Harry Potter make-a-food: Give all the guests a selection of the basic foods. All they are doing is picking a Harry Potter food each, or making one together, getting the food they will need, cooking it and finally tasting. You can get suggestions of Harry Potter foods if you can buy/read the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. You get five House points if Snape thinks it is yummy. But will it come out as sour? Sweet? Tasty? Yucky? Potions class: Get lots of fizzy drinks, sweets and berries. Split into pairs and take a “cauldron” (a large bowl or toy cauldron) for each pair. Now have fun mixing it all together. Make your dad/brother/uncle dress up as Snape and taste each pair’s potion. His favorite potion is given ten House points, the second favorite gets five, and third is awarded three. (Specifics on potions are offered below. ) Crosswords: There are thousands of Harry Potter Crosswords on the net, but making your own is much more fun. If you find this too hard, just make a word search instead. Guests will then find a partner and they will swap crosswords and try to figure them out. The crosswords should be Harry Potter-related.
Care Of Magical Creatures: Using “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”, each draw up a bingo grid. Write down a magical creature in each slot. Now ask an adult to flick through and call out random names. First one to get every creature called wins. Instead of shouting bingo, shout “Hagrid!”.
Have a scavenger hunt. The Marauders’ Map can be your guide!
For spells, start with Wingardium Leviosa. Use wands and balloons. Last one’s balloon to drop wins 10 points for their House. First one loses 5 points. Next, transfigure buttons into bobby pins. Have the “students” close their eyes. Make up a spell for them to say and switch them. Hide the buttons. If they can transfigure them, 5 points. Potions. No foolish wand-waving. So, wands away please. Make five types of potion: Felix Felicis, Babbling potion, Truth potion, Silence potion and Polyjuice potion. For Felix: pour four drops of yellow food coloring in a cup with ice. Then, add Sprite. Tada! You’re lucky. For Babbling: pour four drops of blue food coloring in a cup with ice. Then, add Sprite. Now you can’t stop talking! For Truth, pour only Sprite. Have someone ask you a question, and you can’t lie. For Silence: pour four drops of red food coloring in a cup with ice. Add Sprite. Take a sip and zip! For Polyjuice, follow the steps for Silence, but with green food coloring.
Do a calmed down version of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Bedtime: Make a dormitory out of your bedroom. Deck in Gryffindor colors (red and gold), tidy up and put some beds/sleeping bags on the floor. You could divide up the sleeping room for the four houses. Also, have a picture that you need to have a password to. Breakfast: Usually at a sleepover you will all have breakfast together. Think up something Harry Potter-ish for breakfast. Dress your breakfast place like Dumbledore’s office and have some nice crumpets with butter while having an enjoyable talk with your dad (Dumbledore) about favorite Quidditch teams.
