For my son's 10th birthday we went with Harry Potter of course. I had the party in a rented hall with plenty of room. First I put the 4 team tables in a roll,hanging each Hogwart's class
banner over each,with approiate colors(red Griffindor,blue Ravenclaw,green Slyithern,Hufflepuff was yellow)the balloons and table settings were each color. As the childern entered,they sat in
a semicircle on the floor,I had a special chair set up in the middle for the sorting process,Hedwig the owl was sitting on top of the chair. I used the sorting hat from my son's
Halloween costume,and each child placed it upon their head and pulled a class name from a mini cauldron. They then went to their class table. We had 26 children so we had 6-7 per table. Each
team would compete with their classmates for House cup awarded at the end of the party. First was Transfiguration class,in which we played like charades,each housse team took turns pulling a
clue from the mini cauldron to act out,(they pertained to the book),the other classmates on each team had so many seconds in which to guess what they transfigured into(Like Professor
McGonagell did as a cat(no sound or words were to used). 1 point if they didn't guess and 5 points if they did. Then Leviation class was next,this involved each house team(all at the same
time) sitting in a circle,they had to keep their balloon levitated using only thier hands and not moving,if the balloon fell they broke the spell,whoever was the last house team holding the
spell got the 5 points the others got 1. Each house team on each game that won,got to pull a clue,that they kept to theirselves(more games they won the more clues they got),to figure out what
was hidden in the chamber of secerts(I had Scabbers the rat wrapped in a box with the Chamber of Secerts written on it). Then Potions class was next,each house team was given a small gift bag
,with a wand,5 different potion ingredients in zip lock bags,and a cup for their cauldron,then each were given a different list in which to mix their potion,at the end they had to say
Wingardean Levisa,and raise their hands. I had them while mixing the potion save a little of each bag and lay them in the order they thought which was which. Say like Unicorn dust was flour.
Red Koolaid was Dust of Red Bellied Toad. Oatmeal was Fish scale. Sugar was shark's tooth. Yellow kool-aid was dust of yellow striped lizard.
(This was the kids favorite),5 points to the team that had their ingredients layed out and mixed right and 1 for effort. Then they played Quidditch,I used a giant Snitch I had won off of Ebay. All the childern were seated in a circle,and while I turned around and play our Harry Potter CD,they passed the Snitch in the circle. As the game went on Whoever had the snitch was out until it got to the last 2 and whoever was left "Caught the Snitch" and won for their team. 10 points was awarded to the house team who won and 5 for the others. At the end whoever had the most points,got to guess first what was in the chamber of secerts,based on how many clues they had and if they could guess 20 points if they were right,and if they didn't it was passed to the next team with the most points to guess. The kids loved opening the chamber of Secerts. I gave the winning team a certificate I made off the our computer with the date of the party and it said Winners of Housecup and it had the Hogwarts seal on it and my Husband(Dumbledore) signed them all. All the kids got a goody bag. The good thing about dividing the children up,is there is less noise and giving them something to constantly do,keeps them occupied! If you have little to big ones,make sure it's evened up. I recieved many compliments on his party. So many my youngest son wants his party in Harry Potter!When you do the Potion class make sure you use things that are edible as the children love trying their "potion",I told them if they got it mixed wrong,that their potion blew up or they turned into a frog they loved it! My best friend in Pennslyvania used Pop rocks as one of her ingredients,this has a mystical effect as we all know as soon as this stuff hits water it starts popping(this is a child's candy and can be bought about anywhere) I had parents watch during Musical Snitch as I was turned around and one to each group during Leviation class,I also made sure their child was not on that team. My friend in PA,used Hoola Hoops for Leviation class,but a balloon works the same. I wanted to make this a party the kids and especially my son would remember for years,and so far they have as kids come up to me all them time,asking if we are going to have another one! I guess it was truly Mystical!
