In part two of my Harry Potter Party series, it’s time to learn how to throw a Harry Potter Halloween Party! You’ve learned how to throw a kick-ass Harry Potter Valentine’s Party, so let’s move on from romance to tragedy.
The very first Harry Potter event I created and hosted as a librarian was for a Halloween party. I’m going to share with you exactly what I did at this party and give you alternative suggestions for your own party. Everything I’m describing comes from the perspective of a public librarian who had a shoestring budget and wasn’t allowed to use my funds to buy food for legal reasons, yet I did have access to a nice color printer/button maker/laminator/assistance from staff and I also had volunteers. I prepared my event to be for at least 100 people. If you’re not a librarian and are looking to host a Harry Potter Halloween party for a smaller group of people on a bigger budget, I’ve got some tips for you as well! This entire program can be modified based on budget and size of group.
If you’re hosting a library party, make sure you heavily advertise your program. Create eye catching flyers in bright colors that are clearly Harry Potter themed and blow them up large, placing them as many places as you’re allowed. Place small flyers next to the posters so people can take one home to remind them of the event time and date. Advertise on social media. If you’re planning a personal party, skip this step and contact friends by normal means or make fun invitations. For Halloween, encourage people to wear costumes!
Next, plan out what you’d like to do at your party. Think of your age group (are they adults? Maybe incorporate drinking games!) the rough numbers you expect, and the space you have to use. For me, I often had one meeting room at the library with tables and chairs and beanbags, teen volunteers to assist me, and an idea that I’d get around 100-200 people. (Except for The Time That Shall Not Be Named when I got 400+ people.)
I didn’t usually have a large budget, particularly for food. If you’re throwing a personal party on your own dime, obviously plan for how much you’re willing and able to spend. For me, I had to get donated food due to legal wackiness of how we spent patron funds. I often wrote our local grocery chain (thanks Publix!) and they gave me a gift card every few months for food. I also would ask around local places for donated cakes, and I had a contact at a few pizza places that would give me donated pizza as long as I didn’t ask more then once or twice a year. I also had an in with my local Barnes and Noble manager and she’d often give me merch I’d use as prizes for various contests. If you are throwing a library party try asking around your local area and explain who you are and what you’d use the donated goods for. Let the place donating know that you will add their name to all promotional materials to thank them, as well as have signs at the event thanking them for their contribution.
For my Halloween party, I got a donated cake and took some soda bottles and added “Butterbeer” labels to make it festive. Again, if you’ve got the budget definitely go wild with chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts, Chocolate wands, and all sorts of festive candy and treats that are Harry Potter themed.
Now that you’ve got your space, your advertising/invitations and food sorted out, it’s time to move on to crafts/activities.
I usually like to have a movie playing in the background. For a Halloween Harry Potter event, I think Sorcerer’s/Philospher’s Stone is most apt, since it’s got that great Halloween feast scene. I like to show movies at my programs whenever possible because it adds nice background noise, and also there are always people at the library programs who are either bored, feel awkward/shy, or perhaps are tired and just want to sit down. I always get a solid 10 people (and often many more) watching the movie.
I find it necessary at all Harry Potter programs to sort your guests and have them make a wand. There are wonderful wand crafts that you can make from wooden dowels or even chopsticks! Just add hot glue, beads, and paint.
You can sort your guests by making them take the Wizarding World quiz (if you’re having a small get together at home) a random draw or wheel of some kind, or a quiz they can take to get a button or other ID card saying which house they’ve gotten into. I edited this Buzzfeed quiz for my last Harry Potter Holiday program.
For my Harry Halloween party I also did the following crafts and activities:
Buttons–we used a handy dandy button maker to make buttons in front of the guests. They could pick out a button of their choice and help make it on the machine. This was WILDLY popular, and the person I assigned to that station was cursing my name as their hand started going sore. This is my button maker of choice.
Spellbooks–We prepped a lot of old encyclopedias beforehand by painting the covers various colors, then the guests followed my spellbook tutorial to create their own!
Have you Seen this Wizard? Photobooth–we set up our own “Have you Seen this Wizard” photobooth that I created with printer paper, cardboard, and glue. This was especially funny with people in costumes.
Pin the Scar on Harry Potter–we put up a large painting of a Harry Potter head and would blindfold and twirl people around so they could “pin the scar” on his forehead.
Triwizard Tournament–Follow my tutorial on how to do one here, but this is the program I tested out my “Triwizard Tournament” idea on. It was very popular and went well.
Potions–Make some potions bottles, if you have a large group, try your hand at a potions class with a smaller group, and make your own delicious potion drinks if you’re an adult.
Food–create Honeydukes jars, Bertie Botts Beans, Chocolate Frogs, and have your own Honeydukes store. There’s endless food and candy to make for a Harry Potter party, like chocolate wands, cauldron cakes, and more!
Trivia–Way more people than you realize love a good trivia contest. Create the questions and provides prizes for your winner and participants.
You could also go all out and throw a “Death Day” Party. Have everyone dress up as ghosts, create a reason for your death, make odd looking food, have a Headless Hunt, throw up black candles and blue lights and other spooky decor.
If you’re doing a large program through a library or school, recruit volunteers to man/woman every station. Teach them the craft or activity so they can assist patrons in making their own. Have your assistants arrive an hour early (at least) to help set up your crafts and decor. For easy decorations, I recommend finding Harry Potter themed images, making them poster sized, and hanging them up. If you have more artistic talent then me, you can create an Ollivander’s shop for the wands, House banners for the sorting, Snape’s potion dungeon for the potions, Honeydukes for the candy, etc.
Be prepared to get more supplies throughout the event, and if you’re a library employee do the rounds constantly to see if you’re running out of supplies or if your volunteers/assistants need anything.
Eat some candy and enjoy your hard work!
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Click for more craft ideas or Harry Potter party ideas. Working with teens? Check out my guides here. Follow me on my twitter @HSecretLibrary, pinterest, and my instagram @hermionessecretlibrary