Scroll down to the very bottom to see the video of our party!
Wand Making
First I used my Dremmel to sand down the edges into a finer tip.
Second I covered the handles of the wand in hot glue.
I discovered having a fan blowing on the glue helps immensely in making swirls around the wands and also in it drying quicker.
I covered the wand in acrylic paint
Some of the wands in progress. I found using this Dollar Tree pencil holder as a dryer helped immensely! I started with the handles then later painted the ends of the wands. I highly recommend layering colors as I did with acrylic paint.
As of this post I’m not in a Hogwarts house yet, but the moment I decided that I am keeping this wand for myself, I found myself wearing black and green….
My wands after spraying on Mod Podge setting spray.
Here is the link for the wooden dowel rods:
Here is the link for the glue sticks:
The Sorting Hat
I followed this tutorial but of course did my own thing with it. Here is the link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ncip47NueuQ
We first made the brim from cardboard then created the cone of the hat from paper bags. We used regular tape to adhere the cone to the inside of brim of the hat.
I bought this suede jacket from Goodwill to use for the hat
I cut up the jacket and placed it around the hat and even marked the face with tape
I used hot glue on the inside of the fabric to create a face. This part took some time. Once I had the face down I then started to hot glue the fabric around the brim of the hat.
For the party I had the Sorting Hat’s voice recorded on my phone from the movie. I placed my Bluetooth speaker behind the white curtain, just behind the stool. Once our guests had eaten and had drinks, I played “The Sorting Hat Song” from a YouTube video to summon them to The Great Hall so that the Sorting Hat Ceremony may begin.
Before the party I sent out a link via text, so the guests could determine which house they were in. I kept a list so that when each guest sat down to be sorted, I could play the correct House for them. I even had some recordings of the hat just talking so I could play that in between and mix it up. I wasn’t able to get everyone’s houses in advance and had to ask them before playing the correct sound. Next time I will be sure to get all of the info before the party bc it did break up the rhythm of it.
When it’s time I just hit play from my phone so he can tell them in which house they belong. Here is the link for the speaker that I used:
Floating Candles
I want floating candles to set the scene for our Hat Sorting Ceremony like this from the movie
You can buy candle-like electric tea lights like these from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L7SBC1T/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_glt_fabc_WMMNSRY3F1J30M8G3NSF?linkCode=ml2&tag=bonafidebonni-20
Hot glue dental floss to the bottom of the tea light.
Then cut regular white paper and tape it in a circle around the tea light. I’d measure it out and stack the papers to cut as many out at once to make this more efficient.
I bought white tablecloths, sewed them together, put up Command Hooks, then hung it over the back wall. I also purchased these lights from Amazon using Rebatekey that I hung over the sheet for a twinkling backdrop. It looked even more magical in person.
The Monster Book
I wanted another run iconic prop from the movie that I could make from materials I already had around the house. So I tried making this one and I love how it came out!
First I took three old larger books and cut them out and put them together. I just didn’t have a big enough book but if you do then this will save you time.
I used Crayola quick drying clay for the mouth and tongue. Do not use Dollar Tree modeling clay. I tried that at first and even after being out for a few months it still isn’t dry!
I then painted them with acrylic paint I already had.
After the paint dried I did spray it with Mod Podge to set the paint.
I will say when it came time to insert the tongue that I did cut out some pages so it would fit inside properly.
I also got glued the tongue inside the book and the teeth to the other sides.
I tried to find the fur fabric around the house and at Goodwill but ended up buying this fur at Joanns with a coupon. While I was there I bought these cat eyes for the eyes.
I wrapped the fabric around the book and cut the tentacles out on the sides. Once that was finished I uncovered the book to then add the fabric slowly to it and hot glued it as I went. I glued the tentacles by just pressing the two sides together with glue.
Once that was finished I just glued on the eyes. I know it’s supposed to have letters on top of it but honestly I forgot to add that part and can always add that later on. For now it looks great!
For an extra fun effect, I placed my diffuser behind one of the bottles to look like it was giving off steam.
Follow the Spiders
I repurposed some Halloween spiders and just used regular tape to stick them to our wall. My husband printed out the words for me and I stuck them on as well. I think our guests will love this fun detail.
Flying Keys
Ok these are going to be simple and cost about $12. Do yourself a favor and order them from Amazon. Here is the link:
Let me save you time and frustration. First I used floral wire to attach the wings. Second I tried black thread to attach them. Finally, I got out the hot glue gun.
The verdict? For the best look and most efficient process, use the glue gun. Trust me on this. The wire and thread took up too much time and didn’t look as good.
Another tip:use fishing wire. The wire that came with the keys tore before I could get it off the spool-twice. I always have fishing wire around. Use a single line and tie the keys down the line in knots. Then add a loop at the top when you’re done tying them on to hang them. That’s it.
Potions and Spell Books
To add to the ambience of the party I found these spell book covers I could freely print then wrapped them around books. I placed them over my piano which was covered in a black tablecloth. I then added a few potion bottles filled with water and food dye. I found these bottles on clearance at Target. Finally, I placed LED lights behind the bottles to give them more ilumination.
Platform 9 and 3/4
I purchased two of these 7×5 Brick walls. Here is the link:
I chose this wall bc it looked the most realistic and wasn’t thin like the other ones. I stacked them up horizontally bc I needed to fill the space inside of my 30×10 ft tent for the entrance.
I want to say that I highly recommend this tent! I’ve owned it for 5 years now and it is an incredibly useful asset to have for parties. It takes me 2 hours to set it up and take it down by myself. At $120 it’s really a steal! Plus one could rent it out and make the money back in one day if one were so inclined. Here is the link:
I tried to save money and bought magnets to sew inside of the sides of the wall but it didn’t work. So I purchased this mesh magnetic door instead. Here is the link:
My sewing machine was broken so I hand stitched the mesh onto the backside of the wall.
I used a thick needle with long stitches on the backside, short on the front, with black heavy duty thread. I sewed it on and then cut the slit to keep it from becoming lopsided. If I had my machine working I may have wrapped the edges around the mesh creating a hem around it but I had no time for it. Also that could have caused issues with the top of the mesh being sewed together, but if you try that method and it works for you please let me know!
I think our wall turned out great and I will add that it had issues closing behind each guest so I took a small clip and clipped the very top of it together on the backside and it worked!
For the party I had two fog machines inside the tent. One in front of the wall and the other a few feet behind it. I then had a laser machine set perpendicular to the fog so that the lasers would be seen on the fog. So once the guest went through the wall, it looked like they were entering another world, or a Pink Floyd show. I have a remote to control my fog machine and highly recommend it. Here is the link:
Here is the link for the laser machine too:
I found a YouTube video of train sounds with ambient music that I played from my phone to my Bluetooth speaker. It really helped to create the atmosphere of being in a train station. This is the same speaker that I later used in our Sorting Hat Ceremony. Here is the link for the speaker:
Quidditch
I created a quaffle for our game using a styrofoam ball that I sanded down on the sides with my Dremmel. Next, I painted it to look like the real thing.
I then took glass beer bottles and filled them with sand. I used the wooden sticks left over from the wands and drilled holes into them to join these embroidery circles onto. Once those were assembled, I stuck the sticks inside of the bottles and covered the lids with hot glue. Finally I painted them with gold spray paint.
Here is the link for the embroidery circles:
And the link for the wooden dowel rods:
I cut some wings from Eva foam and hot glued them to a table tennis ball. I then spray painted it gold.
How to play
We split into two teams and each team chose their seeker. Each team member takes turns throwing the quaffle through one of the hoops and into a cup on the other side of the hoops. I placed 13 cups on each side like a pyramid. If the quaffle only goes through the hoop then the team gets 1 point. If it goes through the hoop and into a cup, that team gets 2 points. We played this until a team reached 10. The first team to get to 10 can have their seeker try to get the golden snitch through a hoop and into a cup. If they miss, then the seeker of the opposite team gets to have a chance to do the same thing. Since the golden snitch is worth more than anything, whoever lands it first wins the game for their team.
We love playing it so much that we added “flying” on brooms to it. So now we take running starts on our brooms and then throw it. Have fun with this game and make it all you want it to be!
The Bathroom…..
I just printed out this picture of Moaning Myrtle and taped it onto the door. It was a cheap and easy way to let guests know where the bathroom was and it adds fun!
This was such a hit at the party! We just kept it on bc it makes our friends laugh whenever they see it. Here is the link:
HP themed drinks
Butterbeer is something I never really tasted before. I found a recipe online that swore it was from Universal Studios. I’m going to tell you now that it was nasty. And I wish I had practiced making this before the party.
The recipe had me place small amounts of butter into a bowl with butterscotch and whip it together before adding it to the cream soda-here’s a screenshot from the blog I got the recipe from. It had over 200 5 star reviews. How was I to know it wouldn’t work?
The butter and syrup never mixed. I had let that butter sit out to soften for many hours so that was not the issue. My syrup had huge bits of butter in it and I had no other choice but to just dump it into the cream soda. I spent so much time trying to mix it that I could not create the fresh whipped cream to top it off with so I used Redi-whip.
After more research I found this blog and I’m going to make butter beer using this recipe instead: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/butterbeer/#llc_comments
I will update this blog once I try it.
This Polyjuice potion was a huge hit! The guests especially loved the potion bottles. These are the same bottles that I purchased from Target on clearance. I simply covered the old labels with ones that I could write on. Here is the link for the labels:
There are several ways one could create this drink. I’ve made it a few times now for friends and family so here are my recipes:
For the party, I followed a recipe that called for Sprite, Ginger Ale, and lime sherbet. My grocery stores did not carry lime sherbet, so I grabbed frozen lime juice concentrate instead. I mixed it all together then added green food coloring. This was a huge hit at the party for sure!
When my family was over during the holidays, I created a different version that had less sugar. I mixed SpinDrift raspberry flavored carbonated water with juice (fruit punch would be best), and then added the green food coloring. The children loved this one too and it was healthier than the first.
Levitating Desserts
I laughed so hard when Dobby levitated that pudding and crashed it in the second book/movie. So I recreated that with this cute doll I found on Amazon. Here is the link:
I used fishing wire and poked four holes around the corners of the tray I got from the Dollar Tree. I then was able to tie knots into the ends of the wire on the other side to hold it in place. I then took a toy cake we had and hung it up over Dobbys head so it looked like it was flying also.
We had these delicious custom made HP cookies we put on the levitating tray. You can see the chocolate frogs and golden snitches under them too.
Get Bonnie-fied! 