The next Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, is scheduled to be released on November 19th. Have you considered having a Harry Potter pre-movie party?
Last year I developed and ran a Harry Potter after-school program and a Harry Potter camp. Both were very successful and I learned a lot about which activities worked and which ones didn’t. This year I wanted to do a 2-3 hour party instead of a 8-10 week after school program. Here are some activities that I’m planning to offer during the party.
The Harry Potter Party
As the kids arrive (3rd – 8th graders) they will placed in houses. I do not use the houses from the book as most of the kids would want to be in Gryffindor. Instead I came up with two new houses. In fact this is Hogwarts Americana – a foreign extension of Hogwarts. Therefore, we have different houses; Firesong and Embredor. Since we are smaller than Hogwarts we only have two houses.
The day before the party I’ll be doing some serious decorating. Thankfully, I have most of what I’ll need from our Harry Potter camp.
During the party we’ll be playing one of the Harry Potter movies using a projector. By the way, we recently purchased a projector that had a built in DVD player. It’s gotten great reviews and the price was awesome. It’s the Epson MovieMate 60. We have watched movies, done PowerPoint presentations and played Xbox on it. But I digress…
Besides the movie we will have our guests make their own wands, participate in trivia challenges, mix potions and create magical creatures – all while earning points for their houses.
Is anyone else planning on doing something like this in November?
Hey RG-
for a few years now I have had harry potter pArties during summer rec camp, sorted the campers and do a huge party. creating a game of quiddith ahs been challenging but we always come up with something. What other activities do you do that are popular with the kids?
I am looking for games and other ideas.
Thnaks so much and I will let you know how it goes.
Diane
North hampton Rec
Diane, I am putting together a packet/report of the materials I use for my Harry Potter camps and parties, and once I am done I will email it to you. I should have it completed by the end of August.
Its this FRiday (July 23). WE have laready sorted 150 kids into the houses, created houses flags (they will earn points for this) are going a Quidditch game, will have a huge jar of jellybeans for guessing. the party is fRiday and food will be served. tables will be dressed in house colors.
Any games would be helpful.
Please email me your wonderful packet as I may have a Harry POtter pre-opening party in November. I look forward to seeing it.
Love your website and ideas!!!
Hi Curt-
We have just had a very successful program with 100+ kids at the library where I work. We are hoping to have another pre-movie release party in the summer and need some new ideas! I would also love a copy of the packet you created. Thanks!
Hi Beth,
I was creating the packet when it all became overwhelming. What I am going to do is post all the materials I used for the HP camps, classes and parties I’ve done. I’ll have that up in the next two weeks. I would love to hear about your activities as well.