Some time has passed since then, and with the recent resurgence of new books and movies related to the series I thought it would be great to revisit it again. We had also received a very generous donation of a set of Harry Potter movies on Blu Ray, and I wanted to chance to give them away to a lucky child.
I knew it would have to be a little bigger and better this time, so I decided to make it all ages, station based program. These always seem to work the best when I need to accommodate large groups. I scheduled it for a weekday when I knew the kids would be off of school for winter break.
Here is what we did:
Tabletop Quidditch
No true celebration of Harry's world is complete without a game of Quidditch. I found this easy to replicate version here. The only necessary supplies are cups, hoops (formerly bought as bubble wands at the dollar store), aluminum foil (to make stands for the hoops) and ping pong paddles/balls (brought in by a coworker).
Charms class
We used grape juice and baking soda to practice a "color changing charm". As explained here, grape juice is an indicator of acidity. This means that a adding a base such as baking soda will turn the juice green. It also creates a nice bubbling effect which adds a fun element to the activity as well. The kids seemed to particularly like this station. It was the messiest activity we did but still relatively easy to clean up from.
Potter themed crafts
I provide a crafts table at every large program I do for several reasons. It is mainly because it it provides a fun activity that is adaptable for many different age groups. It is also pretty easy to prepare and doesn't require too much supervision during the program.
Dueling practice
This idea was based off the dueling club activity I found at Meaningful Mama. I liked the idea of paper shooters, but thought it would be much more fun to shoot paper at Voldemort (yes, I am brave enough to say his name).
I printed this picture as our target and we were good to go. The kids had fun shooting paper at him once they got the hang of making the shooters. If I were to do this station again I would provide a little more instruction on how to make the shooters in the beginning of the program.
Divination class
Cootie catchers are a classic idea that seemed perfect for doing a little Divination. The only things needed to be as accurate as Professor Trelawney are paper, scissors, markers and instructions. One of my favorite things about this activity was seeing the nostalgia it brought to some of the parents.
Fantastic Beasts Hunt
I also provided a scavenger hunt for magical creatures in our children's area. I used pictures found online and taped them up around the children's area. The kids had to find all the beasts and cross them out on a provided handout. Their "magical surprise" was a badge created and printed on shipping labels.
So that's our latest celebration of Harry! Feel free to use any and all of these ideas as you wish. I definitely plan on doing another party like this in the future and will keep you updated when I do.