First - get organised!
As you prepare for the party, get your theme ideas down on paper and file everything away neatly as you go. As you gather loose things for the party put them in a tote bag to keep them safe.
Get organised from the start and all your problems will be little ones!
Hogwarts Crest Full Color
A binder to put all your party plans into
(designed for the US market - 8.5 x 11in paper)
Give as a gift when the party is over.
Hogwarts Crest Full Color
A tote bag to hold presents, grab
bags of goodies and the like. Give
as a gift when the party is over.
Posters and Prints
Spice up the party rooms with posters from the movies. Use a
selection of them
in each room to set the theme.
At the end of the party, to go with their grab-bag of goodies,
why not pop in a
poster for the ones who behaved the best?
Announce it at the start - a great bribe to keep them sweet!
Which ones will you choose for the main party room? If there
are very young
children present, don't include the very scary ones!
Games they can play
Miming the action
Each child takes their turn. They choose a scene from their favourite Harry Potter story -- maybe getting ideas from the pictures they see around them. Then they have one minute to mime the main happening in the scene to the others.
The first to guess right gets a small prize and a small reward is given to the one doing the miming. Of course, the adults will be helping the children with more clues when they're needed :)
Rescue the Mermaid from the Black Lake
Make sure that one of the chairs at the party table has a mermaid sticker stuck underneath, representing the mermaid to be "rescued" from the BLack Lake.
As the party meal comes to an end, tell them that a mermaid has been captured in the Black Lake and is under a sleeping spell. Each child in turn has to make up and cast a spell to try to rescue her. Tell them the best spells will win a treat.
When each child has cast their spell, get them to look under their chairs to see whether they "rescued" the mermaid. A prize from the goodie bag goes to the winner and treats to the best spells cast!
Quidditch
Two teams (or more) are made from the guests and they form up into lines. Balloons (one colour for each team) are used for the quaffles and they are to be passed from person to person along the line - but no hands! Elbows, knees and chins can all be used though!
If a balloon is dropped, it's been "bludgered" and must go back to the start of the line. The last person in the line has to run/waddle(!) to drop the balloon into a common goal area -- maybe a playpen or a marked off area.
Play lasts 5 minutes and the team with the most quaffles in the goal wins. Small prizes from the goodie bag are awarded to each member of both teams for taking part and for being such good sports. The winning team members can be awarded a special sticker or button/badge to wear. You choose which is the special one -- maybe Hogwarts Castle?
Cards / Invitations
These great cards can be used as invitations or as birthday
cards. Don't forget
your 'P's and 'Q's -- use them as as thankyou cards after the party.
Which will you use for the invitations?
T-shirts
Wear one of these to the party! Customise for boys, girls and
adults by changing
the colour, style and size as you like.
Make sure all the adults at the party get into the swing of it and wear one.
For a party grab-bag
Prepare a party grab bag for each of the children who come
along. Something as
a little thank-you for helping make the party such good fun :)
Choose enough stickers, magnets, keychains and badges to go
round. Mix and
match with the images you want!
Don't forget you'll need some stickers for the games, too
Mousepads
A really special treat for the child who loves Harry Potter, a
mousepad featuring
their favourite characters.
These make great prizes for the party games they play.
Postage Stamps
Only available in the US.
Really get into the theme and use these postage stamps to send the invites.
What's on Amazon.com?
Here's my top ten hand selected items - there's Harry Potter
books, DVDs,
Quidditch Goggles, an Illuminating Wand, a chess set,a Gryffindor Robe
and
more!
Party Favors and Decorations
What's on Amazon UK?
Here's my top ten hand selected items for UK visitors -
there's Harry Potter
glasses, wands, games
and other Harry Potter themed stuff. Check out the
special Harry Potter Cluedo - hours of fun!
Find more
If you havent found all you were looking for here, use our customised Google search, fine-tuned to children's themed parties. For best results, put "themed parties" on the end:
There will be no unsavoury results in this customised search engine, so it's safe for children who use it.
Find more
Use our customised Google search, fine tuned to children's themed parties: (for best results, put "themed parties" on the end)A list of designers of great party theme products at Zazzle is currently being researched.
So far we have:
Check back soon for more!