Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - Acceptance Letters

Once my son told me that he wanted a Harry Potter themed birthday party this year I was completely beside myself! There is just so many great parties already out there but I didn't want to do the same thing. So I got to thinking what little kid would not love to go to Hogwarts right!?! That's when it hit me, that is EXACTLY what we will do! I compiled so many fun ideas from various parties and sites to inspire and incorporate into the party that you can find on my Pinterest Board.

Now the proper invitation for a Hogwarts party would be an acceptance letter of course. I used this tutorial from Hello Paper Moon to create them.

I addressed the envelopes with the location of each child's bedroom in their home and their address. We sealed them with printable wax seals from PropPrintables.

I adjusted the text to fit in birthday party information.

Also included in the letter was their Hogwarts Express ticket, available from PropPrintables, and a list of equipment they will need (these items were supplied for each child at Diagon Alley).

The letters had to be delivered via Owl Post and I loved the balloon idea that is all over the net. 

I used a black marker and drew an owl on the balloons and tied one to each envelope. The birthday boy wanted to deliver them by leaving them on the porch, ringing the doorbell and running away. 

I loved making the invites but that is only the beginning. I figured I would divide the party up into sections because the post would just be ridiculously long! 

You can check out the rest of the party details here:

Diagon Alley/Platform 9 3/4

Sorting/Classes

Great Hall/Favors

Quiditch/Hogsmeade 

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - Diagon Ally/Platform 9 3/4

Before students go to school they need to get their supplies, and where do you go to get wizarding school supplies? Diagon Alley of course! Using the list that I created in their invitations I set up a little row of shops for the students to visit before the party started to pick up all the items they would need. The wonderful Sera of PropPrintables was so fantastic to work with again! She custom created the street sign and all the store signs for me! I was just overwhelmed with how they turned out. And now lets go shopping...

Diagon Alley

The first stop was Gringotts Bank.

The kids filled out little withdrawal tickets from Uniquely Grace and got a small bag of gold galleons to buy their supplies.

Next was a stop at Madame Malkin's Robes

With so many kids coming I didn't want to blow my budget on robes for all of them but wanted them to wear something.... so I found this super easy and cheap tutorial over at Tiny Scissor Times on how to make robes out of black plastic table clothes and tape! Here is the b-day boy modeling them for you :)

Then we came to Ollivander's Wand Shop, this was probably the most exciting one for the kids!

I ordered these super cute wands from JCustomWoodBurning on Etsy and made the boxes out of poster board, foam, fabric, and the box labels were printed from the RPF.

The kids had a blast picking out their wands. They took their time and chose very carefully! Each wand was different and came with a description card of what the wand was made of, length, magical core element, and rigidity.

Also at Ollivanders the kids picked up a little booklet from Party Scribbles to learn proper wand care.

On to pick up the things we would need for our lessons...

A book from Flourish & Blotts

Each kid picked up a copy of Standard Lessons (Grade 1) that I made. Inside was the student's schedule and class worksheets, but more on those in the next post!

And a re-inking quill from Scrivenshaft's

I absolutely loved the quills! They were also from PropPrintables and super easy to make!

 Next visit was at Pottage's to get a cauldron to carry everything in...

Students were also allowed to bring with them if the desire an owl, cat, or toad, so we made a quick stop at Eeylops Owl Emporium. 

Here are my two cuties with the owls they picked out :)

First year's were not allowed their own broomsticks but we did pass the Quiditch shop on our way.

Now that they have everything, it is time to head off!

Platform 9 3/4

I got the idea for the platform from so many others on pinterest. I re-created it by hanging brick patterned corrugated paper over the front door and cut a slit at the bottom so kids can walk through.

The platform was decorated with suitcases and other things that students might take to Hogwarts...

I filled one of the suitcases with various items from the movies that might come in handy during a year at Hogwarts.

Chocolate frogs, yum yum! (movie #1) and Weasly Wiz-Bangs (Movie #5)

The Daily Prophet to keep up on all the wizarding news (movie #3), and a copy of Advanced Potion Making with notes from the Half-Blood Prince to get you ahead of the class! (Movie #6)

Along with your book, you may want to come stocked with some potions on hand... just encase!

Poly Juice Potion (movies #2/#4)

Veritaserum (movie #5), some Gilly Weed (movie #4)

  and one can always use a little Liquid Luck! (movie #6)

An autographed picture of Gilderoy Lockhart, hubba hubba! 

(movie #2)

You should also never leave home with out your wand from Ollivanders, a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, a golden snitch for Quiditch practice (both movie #1), the Marauder's Map to help you maneuver about at night (movie #3), and a pair of extendable ears to listen in on secret conversations! (movie #6)

One would be ready for the year with a trunk packed like this!

I got the potions from Wizarding World on Etsy. All the book covers and package labels were printed also from the RPF.

You can check out the rest of the party details here:

Hogwarts Acceptance Letter

Sorting/Classes

Great Hall/Favors

Quiditch/Hogsmeade 

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry - Sorting/Classes

Now that we have arrived at Hogwarts the first thing we needed to be sorted into our houses...  

To sort the kids we used cell phones. I called my hubby and put my phone on speaker and shoved it in the hat. When I placed the hat on each child's head he could hear and respond to what the kids were saying and then would shout out what house they are to belong to.

Once they were sorted they received a coordinating badge and tie.

The ties and badges were also downloaded from the fabulous PropPrintables!

Here is my little birthday boy being sorted :)

Now that the students are all sorted it was time for lessons...

History of Magic

A quick class where we briefly discussed a bit about wands.

Spells & Charms

The students matched the correct spell or charm with what they did.

Transfiguration

The kids were given some playdough and had a list of items to try and tansfigure it into different things...

Care of Magical Creatures

The kids headed outdoors to look for hidden dragon eggs

The kids put them in a fiery cauldron to hatch while we read about how to care for baby dragons.

When we finished discussing the eggs were ready to hatch. Inside was a baby dragon :)

They were those water expanding toys. The green dragon is the original size and the pink dragon is how much it grew after being in water one day...

Divintation

For divination I created a crystal ball by taking a Magic 8 Ball toy and painted it with silver glitter spray paint.

The kids were to write down a couple questions and then ask the crystal ball for the answer :) 

Mason's question was "Will I get another party?" and his answer was a definitive YES! Looks like I have some more planning to do!

Potions

The kids made a Beguiling Bubble Potion...

The Aconite Fluid was baby oil; for Basilisk Venom you can use water or club soda; the Mandrake Root were dog treats; Dragon Blood is food coloring; Unicorn Horn Powder is glitter; and Runespoor Eggs are Alka Seltzer tablets.

Mixing in the Dragon Blood with a Mandrake Root...

Once you finish mixing in all the ingredients add small pieces of Runespoor Egg at a time to get a Lava Lamp look...

It is pretty cool! The more Egg you add the more it bubbles and fizzes!

Herbology

For herbology I wanted to do something other than a Mandrake, so I figured Fanged Geraniums are mentioned in the Order of the Phoenix so we went with that. When I hear the name the first thing I think of is Venus Flytraps :)

Packets were printed from the RPF

The kids took turns feeding the Geranium little pieces of meat, it was fun watching their expressions when the trap would close shut.

Defense Against the Dark Arts

The kids learned about Dementors and the Patronus Charm to protect themselves. After we were done talking we headed outside for some practice, but look what was waiting for us! A Dementor!!!

It was actually a piniata that I draped with a black plastic table cloth and cut the ends to look ragedy. The kids had a large wand (stick) and would practice by hitting the Dementor and saying "Expecto Patronum!"

Astronomy

We ran out of time for the Astronomy class, but I was going to have the kids pick a constellation and make a star map using black paper and poking holes with a pin where the stars would be. They would be able to hold the paper up the light and see the constellation shine through.

The information for this book was inspired by Wilkinsonquints and most of the text information came from Harry Potter Wikia. Pictures were gathered from various online sources as well.

You can check out the rest of the party details here:

Hogwarts Acceptance Letter

Diagon Alley/Platform 9 3/4

Great Hall/Favors

Quiditch/Hogsmeade