More Harry Potter... My daughter had a Harry Potter party for her 10th birthday with boys and girls from age 5 to 13. We used many ideas from this and other sites, with a few twists and embellishments.  (Thank you for the great ideas.)  The invitations were replicas of Harry's invitation to Hogwarts, printed on the computer with a scanned image of the Hogwarts castle and coat of arms. When the kids arrived, first we played a name game to get to know each other, then they were escorted to "King's Cross Station" and "Platform 9 3/4"(our back porch, with signs for Platform 9 and 10 on either side of the door).  There I explained that they were going to a Hogwarts orientation, and would be trying out different classes and exploring the "castle".  They were given a sorting quiz, modeled after many found on different fan websites, which determined the house they belonged to. (They were allowed to change if they didn't like where they ended up - after all, Harry talked the Sorting Hat out of sending him to Slytherin!)  From there we enjoyed several magical activities, including: 1. A scavenger hunt for Harry-related objects I had placed throughout the house: Scabbers (a toy rat), Crookshanks (toy orange cat), Trevor (plastic frog), Nimbus 2000 and Firebolt (2 brooms), 3 ghosts (white helium balloons with magic marker faces and strips of white plastic bags for "bodies" - Moaning Myrtle, Fat Friar, Bloody Baron), 2 phoenix feathers (peacock or quill feathers), etc. 2. A game of muggle Quidditch. Divide the back yard (or portion) in half with a basket or goal at either end.  Before the game, hide the Golden Snitch near the field, or as we did, hide several identical balls but paint a gold stripe on one for the "real" Golden Snitch.  Each team has two balls: quaffle and bludger (make sure the bludger is soft).  Each team has at least one Beater (goalie and bludger-wielder who must stay on his side of the field), two or more Chasers (goal-makers who can run the entire field), and only one Seeker (searching for the Snitch). While the Chasers are trying to score goals with the quaffles, the Beaters are trying to prevent them from scoring by throwing the bludger at them. If they are hit, they must sit out for a certain amount of time (30 seconds seemed enough). Goals are worth 5 or 10 points, depending on how easy or difficult they are to get.  Meanwhile the Seeker is searching out the snitch.  Finding the Golden Snitch provides the Seeker's team with 50 points and ends the game.  We had to set up several ground rules because of the range of ages and abilities - and the kids had lots of good ideas of their own.  Flexibility was the key in making this fun! 3. Care of Magical Creatures class. I pulled unusual and silly stuffed animals, as well as familiar creatures, from my kids' collections (with their permission of course) and placed them around the room. We had dragons, aliens, sea creatures, dogs, lions, cartoon characters, etc.  The kids each chose one and sat in a circle, and went around the circle making up a story for their creature (what it was called, where it came from, what it ate, what magical powers it had, etc.) It wasn't long before everyone was embellishing everyone else's story and giggling uncontrollably.  Even still, this was a good "calming down" activity. 4. Potions class. We got all our ideas from the internet, and there are many on this site.  Here's one neat trick - the juice of pickled red cabbage (found in any big supermarket) turns into a dark black-green foam when mixed with baking soda.  I made a big production of mixing the cabbage juice and other benign ingredients together (mint flakes as "ground whomping willow leaves", cloves as "bat claws", etc. - it smelled terrible but that made it more intriguing to them). Then I told them that adding "powdered horn of unicorn" (baking soda mixed with glitter or sugar crystals) would show which of them was harboring a secret. They were each handed a little party favor cauldron (purchased at Target) with the white powder in it.  Unbeknownst to them, some were baking soda, but some were just plain flour.  When they dumped them in the cabbage juice, it caused quite a stir when only some of them had potions that turned black! We also made another production out of baking soda and vinegar, and they played with "troll boogers" that was simply water with enough cornstarch to make a colloid that was thick and simultaneously goopy and solid. Messy, but fun.  It has really interesting properties and fascinated the kids.    (By the way, during Potions class a Dementor (my husband in black robe and Scream mask) visited the class, allowing the kids to yell "Expecto Patronem!" to chase him away.) 4. Feast in the Great Hall. Of course this was your basic pizza, chips, cake, and ice cream affair, but the dining room was decorated with glow-in-the-dark stars and Hogwarts banners, and the cupcakes had purple clouds and lightning bolts.   One touch that really added to the enjoyment was the borrowed black robes from our church's children's choir, which the partygoers wore for the classes. We had to be careful with them, but it was worth it - the kids really felt like they were little wizarding students.  We also gave them cheap little light wands (pen lights with fiber optic wires on the end - I found them for less than $2 apiece at a local store's Halloween display).  When it got dark we went outside and all said "Lumos!" at the same time and turned them on at once - they loved it.  We actually had other activities planned - Divination class with a "cloud in a bottle" (another internet discovery), Defense Against the Dark Arts (that's where the Dementor originally was going to show up), etc., but we ran out of time - after 4 hours! At the end, the party favors were spread out on a table with little signs as if from the shops in Hogsmeade: Peppermint Humbugs, Chocolate Frogs, Treats from the Shrieking Shack Gift Shoppe, etc. We were actually going to make "shopping" another activity, using chocolate gold coins and Rollos as sickles, knuts and galleons - but no time for this either.  Each child simply got a gold bag (a cellophane gift bag) that they filled with candy, a bookmark, some stickers, a pencil, etc. before they went home. The computer and, if possible, a color printer is invaluable for the little details for a party like this.  We used graphics from the harrypotter.com web site, green ink for the invitations, etc.  I even created a Daily Prophet for my daughter using the image on harrypotter.com, with an article about her party and "ads" for different stuff out of the books. I heard from parents later that their kids gave them the impression that this was the party of the century. The truth is, I had more fun than they did