Hogwarts Party My daughter Katie is a fanatic for all things Harry Potter, so when her 9th birthday came around she and I had a blast creating the perfect Hogwarts party.  First I printed invitations on beige parchment-like paper using green ink and a script font. The invitations said: Dear Miss ____:  We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for a special term. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on June 14. The Hogwarts Express will arrive at the end of the school day to transport you and the other new students to Hogwarts. (Fancy Signature) Deputy Headmistress  Date: 14th of June Time: End of school day until 10:00AM Saturday morning Place: Hogwarts for Katie's birthday (address) Reminder: Please bring a sleeping bag for it is a sleepover party Please R.S.V.P: _____  Supplies Students should bring from home: Sleeping bag Pajamas Toothbrush Change of clothing Students may also bring an owl, a cat or a toad \*\*Parents are reminded that first-year students aren't allowed brooms The invitations were folded into envelope shapes, sealed with sealing wax, then tied on to small stuffed owls that I purchased at a bulk-supply place for next to nothing. The invitations were addressed appropriately to each guest with a personal location included, like third desk from the right, class rm. 103.  I sent the girls a Hogwarts Express train ticket several days before the party (with a reminder on the back for parents to send a note to school with their kids so I could pick them all up).   On the day of the party, I picked all the children up from school, announcing that we were taking the Hogwarts Express to start their session. For the "trip" I packed pumpkin juice (juice boxes), gummy worms, pop rocks, and chocolate frogs. I made chocolate cookies with a frog design in frosting on top then put them in 5-sided boxes I designed on the computer. The piece de resistance was that each box also contained a 5-sided wizard trading card I created and printed on cardstock.  Plenty of information and graphics on wizards are available on the internet, so it was easy to come up with a sufficient number of cards for each girl to receive a different character.  Once we got home, we stopped at the front door, which was labeled with a sign that said Diagon Alley. I had left an umbrella by the door so I could tap on the bricks that formed part of the sign before opening the door.  I gave the girls each a Gringotts credit card and told them to get their supplies for school.  In our foyer, I set up several "stores" –  Gringott's bank - our glass display cabinet I filled with shiny bric-a-brac and fake jewels  Apothecary Shoppe - various containers filled with strange-looking stuff with interesting labels like eye of newt and dried dragon spit, plus metallic slime in plastic flasks from Oriental Trading Co. for each guest. Madame Malkins Robes - a homemade black felt hat and short cape (just a circle with with a Velcro closure) for each guest Ollivander's Wands - wands made by cutting up dowels and rubbing them with brown shoe polish and gold spray paint, placed in boxes created on the computer Flourish and Blotts – quill pens made by putting ballpoint refills into turkey feathers, plus rolls of "parchment" (off-white paper rolled individually) and small black paper books with neon gel pens (from OTC) Quality Quidditch Supplies – one broom for each guest plus Quidditch balls Cauldron Shoppe – Plastic cauldrons purchased from a party supply store Eyelops Owl Emporium and Pet Shoppe– filled with my daughter's stuffed animals (for display only) The kids put all their supplies in their cauldrons (labeled with their names), and this stuff served as our party materials and their take-home favors.    Decorations included floating candles (rolled paper for candles with crepe paper flame hung from fishing line across the dining room ceiling), a troll in the bathroom (drawn on brown paper), and a fat lady portrait on the living room door, which served as the Hogwarts common room.  I also pulled out any jars, vases, books, fabrics, etc. that looked magical and used them to decorate around the party area. I sorted the guests into houses using the sorting hat program on the official Harry Potter site (www.harrypotter.com0, then we started our classes, based on the HP books. First we did potions.  The girls mixed together a number of scary-named ingredients (dragon spit, etc.) to form a potion they then drank.  The real ingredients were various powdered drink mixes (some bubbly) and dark food coloring. The girls used their parchment rolls and quills to copy down the "recipe". Next we did Defense Against the Dark Arts. I gave the girls a sheet of runes (found on the internet) and had them write their names and other things in their black paper books using runes.  For Care of Magical Creatures, I read them a bit of history about unicorn mythology, again from the internet.  They also did scratch art pictures of their favorite magical creatures – lots of unicorns and dragons!  The girls then spent a bit of time casting spells with their wands and acting out their favorite parts of the HP books and movie.  I served my daughter's favorites for dinner – fried chicken plus mashed potatoes.  After this the girls sat on their sleeping bags in the living room to watch the HP movie.  For intermission we served birthday cake. At the end of the movie, each girl searched for a sorcerer's stone (a faceted high-bounce ball from OTC).  Each girl was given a small glow stick to take to bed, so there wasn't any argument about whether the lights stayed on or off. In the morning after a big pancake breakfast, we went outside to play Quidditch, which was a combination basketball, dodge ball, and keep away game.  We divided the group and assigned positions.  The Seekers tried to catch the Snitch, a small gold ball that was tossed across the court at random moments by the adult participants.  The Chasers tried to score goals by getting a large rubber ball (the Quaffle) into the trashcans we set up as goals. The Beaters could freeze any player for 5 seconds by touching them with any of several smaller rubber balls (Bludgers) on the court. Of course everyone had to play holding their broomstick. It was totally chaotic but a lot of fun.  We rotated a couple of times so everyone could play the different positions. At this point parents came to collect their kids, who were presented with a certificate of completion for the term, printed with a Harry Potter-looking font on beige paper.  These fonts are available for free on the internet.  By making a lot of my own stuff on the computer and buying from discount sources,  I kept the cost of the party quite low. Everyone had a great time, and my daughter said it was the best party ever!