Harry Potter Party!

Welcome to the Hogwart's House Cup Relays at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy (my son's birthday party!). This party was designed for outside when the weather is warm because wizards are going to get WET!

INVITATION:

Congratulations!

The Hogwarts' Sorting Hat has chosen YOU

to attend the Gryffondor House Celebration

in honor or (child's name) Birthday!

Date

Time

Place

Wear your Wizard Robes (swimming trunks)

Perform a glimmer spell (put on sun screen)

Bring your invisibility cloak (towel)

Lunch will be served in the Great Hall (the backyard)

For the graphic on the invitation I googled coloring pages and found one with Harry Potter coloring pages someone had drawn up.

ARRIVAL: We had the CD player outside blasting Hedwigs theme as the kids arrived. Each boy received a gold sash or a green sash. GOLD = Gryffindor team and GREEN = Slytheron team. Boys jumped on the trampoline and played on the swing set while we waited for everyone to arrive.

GAMES:

Quidditch Training Relay:

On "go" the first boy on each team ran to the wading pool to put on their 'uniform' (an adult sized t-shirt floating in the water) - I felt this was perfect since it's ALWAYS raining during the quidditch matches in the movies. Then the kids jumped on a broom, ran to the end of the yard then back to the pool where they took off the shirt, then ran and tagged off the next player. House points were awarded to 1st and 2nd place.

Potions Relay:

Each team started out with a milk jug 3/4 of the way full of water (I cut the tops off the milk jugs leaving the handles in tact). On 'go' the first person from each team had to run/walk down to a cone, circle the cone, and come back with the jug on top of his head. He then had to dump/pour the water in his jug into the jug of the next boy on his team. The jugs could NOT leave the tops of their heads. The highest house points went to the team with the most water left in their jug at the end. The next highest set of points went to the team that finished the race first.

Capture the Dragon Egg (like Capture the Flag):

I mowed an extra thick line down the middle of the yard for a neutral area but you could use sports cones or a hose to mark the area (you can't tag anyone or get tagged in this area - neutral zone). Each team had 6 paper plates spread on their side of the line with an egg painted on it. The object of the game is to steal the eggs (paper plates) from the other teams side and get it back to your side without being caught. Once the other team has one of your eggs you cannot get it back. Each child had three rubber bands on his wrist so if he got tagged in enemy territory he had to give up one of his rubber bands to the player who tagged him. He then had to go back to His side (free walk back - no stealing plates though on the way). Once all your rubber bands were gone you were dead - so the rubber bands basically give you 3 lives (or more if you collected rubber bands from players you tagged) before you're out of the game. House points went to the team to capture all the other teams eggs first.

Troll Target Practice:

My son drew a very large, ugly troll head on our fence. We had a cooler full of water balloons. Boys took turns throwing water balloons at the trolls head. House points were given to throws that hit the troll.

For lunch the boys roasted hot dogs over the cauldron (fire pit) and ate cupcakes.

Puddin' Paintin'

This is a super fun, easy, and yummy way to spend some time together.

MATERIALS:
Boxes of pudding* in different colors (green/pistachio, brown/chocolate, pink/strawberry cream, yellow/lemon, etc.)
Wire or plastic whisk for each child to mix their pudding
Milk and measuring cup- for making the pudding
Bowl for each child in which to mix their pudding
Wax Paper to be used as a painting canvas
Clean medicine syringes for sucking up pudding and squirting it out
Bowl of fruity marshmallows for embellishing ones art (and munching on)!

PROCESS:
Each child sat at the table with a bowl and whisk. I let them choose a pudding box which they then emptied into their respective bowls. I measured 1 3/4 c. of milk and poured it into each bowl. The kids then began whisking away to their hearts' delight. This step could, of course, be done prior to the kids joining the project.

Once the pudding was whisked I tore a piece of wax paper for each child to use as his/her canvas and handed out syringes.

The kids dipped the ends of the syringes into the various bowls of pudding, sucked up the pudding, and then emptied the syringes onto their wax paper. They used marshmallows to embellish their artistic endeavors. Our little one needed help getting the hang of the syringe but soon found herself quite proficient.

*We tried both the Jell-o brand and the generic. The Jello-o brand came out a lot smoother and easier to use than the generic for this project.