My niece’s October birthday party always has a great theme because her birthday is so close to Halloween and we go all out with our costumes.   It’s a wonderful, fun, family party where all her Aunts, Uncles, cousins and extended family members get involved.  As a family, we threw this Halloween party way before Mackenzie was born, but my sister began hosting it 4 years ago when Mackenzie turned one and she out-does herself every year.

I was so excited when she agreed to do Harry Potter as Mackenzie’s 4th Birthday Theme!  Normally all the kids dress up, but we decided to have the kids be themselves and only the adults would dressed up as characters from the book. It was as if the kids were real Hogwarts students and we were welcoming them into the wizarding world of Hogwarts.

We did a fun photoshoot where our kids did dress up as characters.  Mackenzie, Xander and Bradyn all watched the first movie and got really into it.  They dressed as Harry, Hermione, and Ron. And better yet, Xander and Brady decided they wanted to be Harry and Dobby for Halloween.

More on this Harry Potter Photoshoot here: https://abeautifulfriendship.blog/2018/10/19/harry-potter-costumes-halloween-2017/

My sister’s invitation was perfect.  It was addressed to first year Hogwarts students. It basically explained that we would be supplying the kids with robes, wands and house ties during the Sorting Ceremony where the Sorting Hat would place them in different houses.  The invites were even wax sealed with a Hogwarts stamp!

The robes were purchased on Amazon.  They are kid’s school graduation robes and we had to cut the bottom off of some of them to fit the smaller kids.   Elyse made the wands out of chopsticks and hot glue with some brown paint.   And the ties were made of felt with an alligator clip hot glued to the back.

We set up tables for each house and downloaded an app on our phone called the “Sorting App”  and we connected the phone to a bluetooth speaker. When the hat was placed on each kid’s head, someone in the back pressed the button on the phone and the Sorting Hat would then pick a Hogwarts house for them.   The adults, all dressed as characters from the book, helped assist the kids during the Sorting Ceremony.  It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen and all the kids loved it, even the kids who weren’t familiar with the book or movies.

This year, the adults at the party went all out with their costumes.  My amazing husband played Dumbledore and I was Professor McGonagall.  My Aunt who played Professor Snape lead a potions class for the kids which involved mixing baking soda and vinegar.  And my mom who was Professor Sprout taught a Herbology class where the kids did some leaf rubbings.

Elyse’s decorations and magical food choices were all amazing as well.

And of course Becca and I made a fun Harry Potter cake.

The party was a huge success.  I would recommend this themed party, even if it’s not October or Halloween.   A Harry Potter party is fun all year round.   If you have also thrown a Harry Potter themed party, we would love to hear about it, please feel free to share.