It was our son's 5th birthday and he wanted a Harry Potter party. We decided to start early and get some party preparations done. We stated with the inviations. We printed them on old parchment like paper in a similar envelope. We found at a craft store a old wax seal and sealed each inviation with a wax tablet. As for the party we decided we would invite about 15 children. We went online to find a whole host of party goods rangeing from plates to cup to stickers. We then went online to the oreintal trader and found black rimmed glasses pop rocks and tatoos. We also purchused wands with a little light on the end for each child. At anohter local craft store we found a soap mold for frogs. We used this to make chocolate frogs. We purchased some material and made a cape for each child. We also made a house sticker using a picture off the internet and using a special scrap booking tool. Finally the day of the party we decorated the house with baloons and all the harry potter stuff we got on line. The children arrived on by one and they received a lightning bolt tatoo, purchased at the oriental trading company. In the background we had hedwigs theme playing for some ambiance. When all the children arrived we advised them that they had to go to gringots to get some money to buy supplies (capes and wands). We gave each child a small bag wiht some gold coins (chocolate). Once they had their capes on it was off to the sorting hat. We placed the recieving end of a baby monitor under a chair. Then I went into another room to sort the children. We had talked to each child parent prior to the party and got two traits about each child. My wife called each child then I would read something about each one and sort them into one of two house, Gryfindor or Ravenclaw. This was the part the children like most. Once each child was in there house and had received thier house sticker we went to potions class. In potions class we decided we would make a few potions. First we made homemade rootbeer. This is a simple receipe of water, suger, rootbeer extract and best of all dry ice. The kids really got a kick out of the smoke coming from the rootbeer. (This potion takes about 20 minutes to complete). So as the rootbeer was brewing, we had a cup with some baking soda in it. I also place a drop of food coloring in the middle of the baking soda. We then added some vinager and watch it bubble. After the top layer of baking soda had been used, we poured in more vinager and it turned green (food coloring). Last we got a glass of sprite and added some raisons. Then the children chanted wingardium leviosar and the raision bobbed up and down. Each child thought it was his or her spell that made the rasion bob. After postions class we went outside and played find the golden snitch. This was a variation to an easter egg hunt. We got about 50 styrofoam balls and painted one gold. We put numbers on all the other and hid them in our backyard. Each house had a team and they tried to get as many balls as they could. The golden snitch being worth 150 points. For the winning team we gave each member a pop rock bag. Next we play the wizards stomp. We tied a small ball to each child's leg and the object was to be the last child standing with a ballon. The winner of this game received a box of Berty botts beans. We then went back inside and played pinned the glasses on harry. We bought a post of harry and made some paper glasses to stick on the poster. The winner again got a box of berty botts. After the games we decided it was finally time to open presents then we followed with cupckes and our homemade rootbeer. The kids really like the party. As the parent came to get thier children we present them wiht a goodie bag that contained their gold coins, sticker, more tatoos, a chocolate frog, some berty bott beans, a xploder cadny bar, some black glasses, pop rocks and a small report card and thank you note. We aslo gave each child a party hat and a balloon. They also took home thier wans and capes. This was quite a lot of work but we started planning we in advance and it worked out great. All the kids seemed to have a great time.