10 Easy Ideas for Throwing a Magical Harry Potter Birthday Party

Planning a magical Harry Potter birthday party? I hope you find inspiration from these decorations and menu options from my daughter's birthday party.

Hogwarts House Cauldron Centerpieces

Fortunately, my daughter's party was right after Halloween so I was able to find these black plastic cauldrons at a dollar store to create these affordable table centerpieces. I printed off a Hogwarts logo on regular printer paper and glued the cut-out logo onto the front and back of each cauldron, which I then filled with tissue paper in the four house colors (black and gold, red and gold, blue and gold and green and gold.)

Ollivanders Wand Sign and Handmade Wand Favors

I was able to snag some clearance-priced Halloween signs at Michaels to repurpose for the party. After painting them black, I used my Cricut to cut out new wording to create an Ollivanders sign and an Eeylops Owl Emporium sign. I made the wands from chopsticks that I ordered on Amazon. With a little hot glue and some brown and black paint, I had wand favors for the kids that were a huge hit!

Honeydukes Candy Buffet

What's a Harry Potter party without sweets from Honeydukes? My daughter's Honeydukes candy buffet featured chocolate-covered witches hats, chocolate frogs, Ferrero Rocher Golden Snitches, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and a gorgeous cake from Cake-aholics. I found the Bertie Botts printable box by searching Pinterest and the Golden Snitch wings, which I printed on vellum and hot glued to Ferrero Rocher candies, on the Party Delights website. The chocolate frogs were made from dark chocolate candy melts and a frog mold I purchased on Amazon. The chocolate witches hats are made from chocolate-covered Ritz Crackers and chocolate-covered Bugle chips that are attached with melted chocolate. These sweet and salty treats disappeared quickly!Almost all of the rest of the candy and the cute pink and green candy containers came from Dollar Tree. The pink sparkly foil fring backdrop was also purchased from Amazon, as was the pink table cloth. My mother-in-law created the table runner and I made the Honeydukes banner using my Cricut and glittery pink and mint card stock from Hobby Lobby.

Owl Fruit and Veggie Trays

Our Harry Potter party featured lots of owls, including the fruite and veggie trays. The veggie owls eyes were made from ranch dip and cherry tomatoes and the fruit owl's eyes were made from cream cheese fruit dip and blueberries.

Platform 9 3/4 Decor

Guests arrived at the party at Platform 9 3/4. I created this affordable set up using vintage suitcases borrowed from a family member, a plush owl and Harry Potter books we already owned, and a few other small Harry Potter decorations. The sign was created using my Cricut, some red paint and a blank sign that I purchased at Michaels for under $6.

Butter Beer, Pumpkin Juice, Polyjuice Potion and More!

Guests were kept hydrated with a variety of Harry Potter drinks, including yummy Butter Beer. I used this tasty and easy recipe that I found here on the Favorite Family Recipes site. I was able to find all of the ingredients in my local grocery stores, except for Watkins Caramel Flavoring, which I had to order on Amazon. I also ordered adorable printable drink bottle labels from CatsMeowDDesigns on Etsy to create Pumpkin Juice, Polyjuice Potion, Gilly Water and Ogden's Olde Firewisky. 

Sorting Hat Cheese Ball

I made this easy Sorting Hat cheese ball from a recipe I found on the Sustaining the Powers website, https://www.sustainingthepowers.com/harry-potter-sorting-hat-cheese-ball/.

I did use waaaaay more poppy seeds than called for (like, the whole container). But, the cheese ball was a big hit at the party and I didn't have much left over. I found this awesome slate cheese board at World Market and wrote a Sorting Hat quote in chalk.  I hope these ideas are helpful when it comes to putting together your magical Harry Potter party!