Planning a Magical Harry Potter Party

We don't have huge birthdays every year.  Sometimes it's just been us, our own children, the birthday kid's favorite meal, a cake, and a couple of presents.  That's it.  Every once in awhile though, we have a big blowout bash of a birthday...the kind of birthday that (we hope) our kids will remember forever.  Since our oldest and our middle child have birthdays 10 days apart, we often feel like we're throwing back-to-back parties.  Hoping to eliminate some work, we decided to use the same theme for both.  That way we could decorate the house once and throw the same party twice.  All we needed was a party theme that would work equally well for both genders and for kids ages 7 to 9.  Harry Potter fit the bill.  Here's how to plan a magical Harry Potter party.

The internet is awesome.  I found so many great ideas online.  With lots of time and an unlimited budget, you could throw a party so realistic, it'd feel like they were actually attending Hogwarts.  I wanted to create that kind of magic, and I had the time, but I didn't have an unlimited budget.  Still, there are many, many things you can do yourself, to keep it affordable, and still make it look fantastic.  It takes some upfront planning.  If you want it to be truly magical, you can't just throw it together in a week, (unless you already have most of the decorations).  I found it helpful to start planning months in advance.  For example, try to take advantage of the after-Halloween sales.  Owls, rats, potion bottles, creepy cloth, etc. are harder to find, and more expensive to buy, during other times of the year, but they all go on sale after Halloween.

Since there's so much to cover, I'm breaking it down into several different posts.  For each area, I'll try to present both simple and complex ideas.  Simpler ideas for those who either don't have a lot of time, or who are perhaps not as confident about their crafting skills.  Complex ideas for those who like to go completely over-the-top.  I will include links to the following sections as I create them:

• Invitations
• Decorations
• Party Food  (coming soon)
• Costumes  (coming soon)
• Activities  (coming soon)
• Goodie Bags  (coming soon)