Harry Potter Birthday Party  For my son's 9th birthday we had a Harry Potter party.  For invites we cut white owls out of funny foam and tied a scroll around the neck using a piece of leather string.  The scroll had all the party info...with a twist. We re-worded the letter that Harry received inviting him to attend Hogwarts!   For decorations we wanted our house to look like Hogwarts. We put a big sign on our front porch that said "Kings Cross Station". On either side of the front door we had signs that said "Platform Nine" and "Platform Ten"(our front door was Platform Nine and three-quarters). Our Dining Room was made to look like the Great Hall with a black cloth covering the ceiling and little stars stuck to it. The table was covered in golden plates and goblets.  I dressed as Minerva McGonagle and my husband was Professor Dumbledore.   We welcomed the "students" to Hogwarts and told them that they would be attending classes. As all the students arrived we put lightning bolt "tattoos" on them and had them start making magic wands.  These were made by taking fish tank tubing and sealing one end. Putting glitter and sparkles inside, filling with baby oil and sealing up the other end.  I made the plugs out of Fimo clay and crazy glued them into the tubing.   Each activity of the party was themed on a Hogwarts class.  The first class was Herbology. The students decorated flower pots and planted "mystery seeds".  The next class was Potions. The students filled small bottles with plain bubble bath and then added scent and color of their choice. The next class was Care of Magical Creatures.  We played "pin the fire on the dragon". I blew up a picture of a dragon, laminated it, and made different colors of "fire" that I laminated as well. The next class was Divination.  We made crystal balls.  I took baby food jars and emptied them and washed them.  I painted the lids black. The students filled the jars with glitter and mini stars, added baby oil and crazy glued the lids back on.   By this time the students were pretty hungry so we headed to the Great Hall.  We ate sandwiches cut out like pumpkins (pumpkin pasties), carrots and dip and chips. The cake was a castle one I made out of a square two layer cake with upside down ice cream cones for the turrets. I used candy rocks and gray and black icing to decorate it.  My son said it looked just like Hogwarts!   Then we opened gifts and it was time to send everyone home with their goodie bag.  The goodie bags were filled with all the things they had made as well as little bags of jelly bellies that I had made labels for that said "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans".    I recommend doing a practice round of all the crafts to work out any kinks. I also had two teenage helpers...they dressed as Hogwarts students and wore "P" (prefect) badges. This party was a lot of work and took a lot of planning but the children had a ball and were still talking about it weeks later.  My son says it is the best party he's had so far!