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Magical Party Ideas for Your Harry Potter Party! With these party snacks and games, your Harry Potter birthday will be unforgettable!
Harry Potter has been a huge hit with my little ones since last year! Naturally, it was only a matter of time before the first Harry Potter birthday would take place in our home. For my little one’s 8th birthday, the time had come: it was going to be a Harry Potter party!
In this blog post, you’ll find everything about my preparations and how our Harry Potter birthday went – I’m sure you’ll be able to use some of it for your own Harry Potter celebration!
Birthday Invitation for the Harry Potter Party
It all starts with an invitation to the party! We invited the little guests to the “Triwizard Tournament” at the magical school “Hogwarts”.
Since my little one invites her friends and is also learning that a children’s birthday needs planning, we always craft the invitations together. As my kids enjoy crafting just like I do, they love taking responsibility for designing and making the invitations.
But there are also some amazing templates for magical or Harry Potter-themed birthday invitations available to buy (in this list, you’ll find some special invitations for a Harry Potter party*).
(*The links marked with an asterisk (*) are affiliate links. I can recommend suitable products that do not cost you more and I receive a small commission that helps me finance my blog. Thank you!)
Party Decorations for the Harry Potter Birthday
Party decorations are an absolute must for our birthdays! Since we've always celebrated themed birthdays so far, the decorations are what really get us in the right mood! 🙂
For the party decorations, I followed the same approach as with all our previous birthdays: the focus is on the table. With themed party plates and matching snacks, you can represent the theme beautifully here! But more on that later!
Additionally, the party area (in this case, our terrace) is decorated with balloons and garlands. When the kids were still very small, I used to make some of the garlands myself—either because there were none available for the desired theme or I didn’t like the ones I found. These days, I usually rely on a decoration set that fits the birthday theme. The set I used for the Harry Potter birthday included small and large party plates, cups, Harry Potter garlands, balloons, napkins, a tablecloth, and muffin toppers*.
(*The links marked with an asterisk (*) are affiliate links. I can recommend suitable products that do not cost you more and I receive a small commission that helps me finance my blog. Thank you!)
I used the muffin toppers to decorate paper straws and labeled them with names so that the kids could easily find their cups again later.
A Real “Decoration Highlight”: The Children Themselves! In the invitation, we mentioned that the children were more than welcome to come dressed up as little witches and wizards or Hogwarts students for the Harry Potter birthday party—and most of them took the opportunity to dress accordingly!
To make sure the kids knew exactly which house the Harry Potter party was happening at, we crafted a Platform 9 ¾ sign and hung it on the front door. That way, every guest knew where to ring the bell.
Party Food for Magical Hogwarts Students
For a themed birthday like this, the right party snacks are absolutely essential! Especially here in our “Baking with Kids” household 😉.
For the Harry Potter birthday, of course there was a special Harry Potter birthday cake and matching sweets from the “Honeydukes” candy shop. I may not have gone shopping in Diagon Alley, but we still had plenty of magical treats!
Birthday Cake & Muffins
The Birthday Cake in my opinion is the centerpiece of the birthday table! In our case, it was a rich chocolate Mandrake cake! The kids had so much fun pulling the little mandrakes out of their slices of cake and loved the funny little figures. If you decide to bake a Mandrake cake, make sure there’s at least one delicious mandrake for each child—otherwise, there might be some disappointed faces.
The Mandrake Cake Recipe Is on Our Blog Too!
Some birthday kids don’t wish for a birthday cake, but rather for Muffins. In that case, I also have a sweet idea for your Harry Potter theme:
For the carnival celebration at elementary school, my little Harry Potter fans wanted to bake Harry Potter muffins. We decorated the muffins with small golden snitches—and just like that, the Harry Potter muffins were ready! A great alternative to a birthday cake!
As inspiration for a larger Birthday Cake , I’ll show you the cake we made for the actual birthday (not the party). Of course, it was also Harry Potter-themed. My little one wanted a two-tiered Harry Potter cake. I covered the cake with red icing and decorated it with typical Harry Potter symbols, which I had crafted beforehand using chocolate and marzipan.
Magical Party Snacks
My focus when decorating is always on the birthday table: it’s where the kids sit together, eat, and have fun with their friends. Besides the Mandrake cake, our magical Harry Potter party snacks were a real highlight of the children’s party and went over very well with the little ones. They read the magical labels with interest to find out what exactly they were eating.
How to create a Harry Potter snack bar that will enchant your little witches and wizards is explained in detail in this blog post. (You’ll also find a printable template for the magical snack jar labels there.)
Magic Potions for Little Wizards
Alongside the magical treats, there were also classic wizard and witch drinks at the party! In our case: Clear Flobberworm Slime, Abyssinian Shrivelfig Juice, and Fire Salamander Blood. Our guests thought it was hilarious—and I had to whisper secretly to a few that the “Flobberworm Slime” actually just tasted like water. 😉
You’ll also find instructions in the blog post on how to prepare these classic drinks for young wizards and witches, (along with printable labels for the magical potions.)
Party Games & Creative Activities for a Magical Harry Potter Party
Of course, a kids’ birthday party isn’t just about food—there’s plenty of playing involved too. There are thousands of party games, and I’m sure you remember your own childhood favorites. So here, I’ll share the games we played at our Harry Potter party.
A Thought on Planning Kids’ Parties
Some birthday parties are scheduled down to the last minute with activities and games. We also have structured games and activities. But I always make sure to include at least an hour of free playtime. We provide chalk, balls… or simply access to the kids’ rooms. In my experience, kids enjoy playing tag or hide and seek just as much. They love the freedom to play with their friends! During this time, I step back and keep to the background (depending on the children’s ages, of course). Occasionally, a child will come up to me full of expectations and ask the classic question: “What are we doing now? What’s next?” I then respond that they are now in charge and can play whatever they like—usually that answer is perfectly acceptable. What I want to convey is: Don’t stress too much. The kids are with their friends, and they’ll have a great time!
Creative Activity: Wand Decorating
After the kids enjoyed cake and snacks and unwrapped the presents, we decorated magic wands. Because what’s a wizard or witch without a wand? Unthinkable!
For the Wand Crafting, I Got Thick Wooden Knitting Needles at the Discount Store I prepped them with a hot glue gun before the party. I could’ve done this together with the kids, but I decided against it for two reasons:
- Safety – I couldn’t be sure if the kids had used hot glue guns before, and burns from the glue or the gun can be really painful. The risk was just too high for me.
- Time – If every child were to decorate their wand with hot glue themselves, it would’ve taken a lot of time—time we preferred to use for free play! 😉
At the party, I provided acrylic paint, glitter, and brushes, and everyone got to decorate their own personal wand. To dry them, we hung them up with string on a clothesline.
Each wand turned out to be a small work of art! And of course, the kids got to take them home afterward.
Party Games – The Triwizard Tournament
The games we played were presented as competitions, part of the “Triwizard Tournament,” though the challenges had to be solved together.
Magical Photo Scavenger Hunt
I found the idea for a photo rally online while searching for alternatives to a treasure hunt—and what can I say… it was a big hit! Now we have lots of adorable and funny pictures from the birthday party. Best of all: the kids had a blast!
For the rally, the kids received a list of things or scenarios to photograph and had about 45–60 minutes to complete the challenge. With a tablet in hand, the little ones went searching for the photo tasks and thoroughly enjoyed it.
For the task ideas, I took inspiration from Patricia from “Moms Blog .”
Witch’s Broom Relay Race
For the broom race, I marked a small track with chalk and set up little obstacles that the children had to hop over or run around. Each child had to complete the course while “riding a broom” (our mop temporarily became a broomstick) and hand the broom off—without using their hands—to the next in line. I timed how long it took for everyone to finish.
Wobbly Monster Hunt
For this game, I threaded candies onto a string (apple rings, pacifier gummies, cherries—anything with a hole works well, but other candy can be used too). Two people hold either end of the string while each child tries to grab a candy with their mouth. It’s especially fun when the line wiggles and the child has to jump a bit!
Goodie Bags for Witches and Wizards
The topic of goodie bags always sparks debate.
At the children’s birthday parties I’ve been to, it’s become customary for guests to receive a goodie bag at the end of the party—often filled with so many little items and sweets that it feels a bit excessive, both in quantity and sugar content. At most parties we’ve hosted, the kids crafted something to take home. We still give out goodie bags, though—my kids know them from other parties and want to provide them for their guests too.
That said, I usually include one “toy” and one or two sweets in the bags. For the Harry Potter goodie bags, I bought kraft paper bags from DM and decorated them with a black marker. For the contents, I found small notebooks (at Action for under a euro each) and labeled each with “[Name]’s Spell Book.” I also found tiny bottles and filled them with “magic beans.” And just like that, the goodie bags for the Harry Potter birthday were ready!
A Magical Conclusion - My little one and her guests had so much fun at the Harry Potter birthday—and I have a feeling it won’t be the last magical celebration at the “Baking with Little Ones” house. 🙂
I hope I could give you some inspiration for your own Harry Potter birthday party and wish you a truly magical celebration!
Yours, Lia
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