i love harry potter. my deepest sorrow is that i never got the opportunity to make hats for the movies (maybe not my deepest, but you know ;) i also love planning parties... the decorations, the games, the food... oh, happy distractions for an otherwise unstoppably nattering brain! the two together?! bliss.

buuuuut, parties are such a luxury item when money is tight and time is so stretched and stressed. so when then idea for a harry potter halloween party ignited, the practical part of me said NO. but the crazy, louder part of me started inviting people to a halloween party that was only a reality in my brain. darn it you fun and careless side! now that i had committed myself there was only one solution: create everything out of found and/or very cheap supplies and MAKE the time to do it all...

below are 12 homemade, on-the-cheap ideas i used to make my H-Pots party a reality...

1. flying bricks of diagon alley

buy 3-4 large sheets of black cardstock, a pack of rectangular sponges, and red, white and brown paint from dollar store
press sponge lightly in white paint and stamp in a brick-wall-like fashion on all of the cardstock
repeat with red and brown overtop of the previous colours to give a more life-like effect
cut out individual bricks on 1-2 pieces of cardstock, use sewing machine to sew them into various length chains with a brick-sized space between each brick
cut the remaining brick sheets into chunks to create the edge of the brick wall
tape up all the pieces in a door frame!

2. potions

strip your fridge of all the useless, mostly empty, 2 year old condiment bottle, de-label and wash them.
buy non-twist cap wine, drink heartily, and use corks to top off your condiment & wine bottles.
fill bottles with curiously coloured liquids
print potions labels off from numerous sources on pinterest, glue to bottles
place in clusters on any & every flat surface (putting led candles behind and in front of them adds a nice touch)

3. textbooks

go to pinterest and search "harry potter textbook printables", print many off onto different coloured 8.5x11 cardstock (print some horizontal and some vertical for variation)
grab a cookie sheet and add 1/4cup (ish) of water, a couple drops of food colouring, and a couple tablespoons of veggie oil... swirl it all around. lay cardstock on mixture gently and lift off to dry... admire cool old marbly effect
find different sized novels and wrap the cardstock around to cover just the binding
don't worry about the rest of the book showing, just stack all your partially covered books together and place around the room

4. dementor

get some thick gauge wire to make the armature for your dementor, basic creepy hand shape, arms and neck
reinforce shoulder with an appropriately sized tree branch, wrap arm and neck wire around it
ball up a bunch of plastic bags into a head like shape and jab it onto the neck wire. crumple up some newspaper to add further shape to head & hands (sucky mouth, eyeless eye area, knuckles) use masking tape to anchor in place.
use more masking tape OR papermache (depends on how serious you are - tape is MUCH faster) and wrap completely around head and hands to stabilize shape and give a consistent surface.
spray paint head and hands black then age with some grey by wiping it on with a rag
drape dementor with black plastic table cloth (dollar store!) and stretch and rip the ends for great spooky texture... finish with black cheesecloth, if you have it (popular at halloween time at dollar stores)

5. patronus

this is easy! go into the basement and/or attic or your and/or your grandmas house and pull out their light up wicker christmas deer lawn ornament! ta da!

6. aragog

take out some white yarn and weave yourself an amazingly easy and cheap giant spiders web! look on pinterest for tips and tricks on making the web
buy some plastic spiders of various sizes and tape them to the wall like they're getting scared out of the house by the basilisk
make an giant aragog in the same manner as the dementor... wire, bags, tape and spray paint!

7. floating candles

spend some time collecting toilet paper and paper towel rolls
use hot glue to dripple some faux wax down the sides of the paper rolls
spray paint white
glue in some led candles (or for a less permanent option put a line of glue inside the rolls to give some traction for the candles to sit on)
sew some thin fishing line through the top of the candle paper roll
BONUS: buy some black plastic table cloth and tape to ceiling, glue some glow-in-the-dark stars to pushpins and use to hang floating candle from the ceiling! boom! amazing great hall!

8. sirius in the fireplace

print off a picture of sirius black's head and coat with veggie oil to make transparent
lay some wood in fire place and make a fake floo fire from green cellophane, add sirius' head to the flames
light with a flash light!

9. sorting ceremony

of course i couldn't resist felting the sorting hat... it's kinda my thing :D but you could get creative and make one from kraft paper or brown felt sheets - it's supposed to look worn and old, so have fun.

place hat on guest and have everyone in the room cheer for the house they think they should go to - loudest wins!
OR make reveal cupcakes with different colour icing in the middle
OR have house pins or stickers hiding in the top of the hat... they randomly pull one out!

10. quidditch pong

get your standard beer pong set of ping pong ball and plastic cups and add three hoops in the middle to make it quidditch pong!
fill the cups with alcoholic or non alcoholic butterbeer (i'll tell ya my recipe if you like! see drinks below)
OR for less mess with kiddos, put some bertie botts every flavour beans in each cup... the risk of getting the barf bean makes it a hit

11. wall decor

print off copies of umbridges educational decrees (pinterest!) and cluster on walls
buy some cheap canvases and get the family to paint portraits of witches and wizards and fantastical creatures - make your own gallery!
print off a picture of moaning myrtle and put her in the bathroom where you least want to find her
use some lipstick to write "the chamber of secrets has been opened" drippy blood on a mirror
write up some hogwarts acceptance letters ("harry potter, cupboard under the stairs...") and tape them to the door mail slot on the walls, under the door, etc

12. feast

there is so much fun harry potter food and drink! here are a few things i did:

drinks

butter beer (my recipe: clear cream soda, touch of rum or rum extract, pinch of cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger and/or cardamon, whipped cream on top... seriously yum)
pumpkin juice (my recipe: small scoop of pumpkin puree, peach and/or mango smoothie drink, orange pop)
polyjuice potion (my recipe: ginger ale, lime cordial to taste, couple drops of green food colouring, whipped cream on top)

food

*note* make cheap cake stands to diplay your yummy's by hot gluing sturdy candle holders or small ceramic pots to old plates!

cauldron cakes (two bite brownies with a jube-jube press deep into the centre)
bertie botts every flavour bean (just have to buy these ones! i bought one box of the bamboozled beans and mixed in a bunch of regular jelly belly's to stretch it further and make the odds for a nasty one a little more rare)
hufflepuffs (cheesie poofs!)
raven claws (bugles)
lemon sherbets (any lemon candy)
licorice wands (twizzlers)
... gosh you can do so much! chocolate frogs, pasties, puddings... just go to town!

oooooh!! there is so much more you could do! this is really just the beginning! but i hope it helped to get you started!

xoxo

rena

Lalabug Designs Blog

12 harry potter party diy's!