Hogwarts Party Decorations page 3

It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glitter golden plates and goblets...

excerpt from Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone

Great Hall Party Feast Area
We set up the dining area on our back patio.  Try to get or borrow long tables, even picnic tables would work well.  I had to put one long table and one round table together, but I still lined them up to create a banquet hall feeling.   Food was served on silver trays.  All of this stuff can be gotten at a party supply store or a Smart and Final if you're lucky enough to have one in your area.

My supply list:

• Purple plastic tablecovers
• Clear Christmas icicle lights hanging over the area
  
• Gold stars, hanging over the area
  
• Gold/silver moon and stars confetti, sprinkled on the tables
• Gold paper plates, napkins, plastic forks and spoons
• Plastic goblets (champagne glasses); I spray painted the bases gold
• Couple of silver serving trays

Add some background music from the Harry Potter movie soundtracks and let the feast begin!

Next Stop: Costumes

Hogwarts Party Decorations page 2

Decorating Diagon Alley
We used the home office to set up Diagon Alley and set up several shop areas.  I used these signs to mark each "shop" area.  You can also get a PDF file of all the Diagon Alley signs here.They are meant to be printed in landscape format.

For each shop area, you could decorate simply, or you could go wild with other props.  Here's some ideas.

Gringotts Bank

My Gringotts Bank was a closet.  I painted a shoebox black and tacked it to the wall inside as our "vault".  Gold money pouches were stored in here.  A real safe or vault would be a step up from my black shoebox.

There is an engraved sign on the doors at Gringotts that plays an important part in the Harry Potter story:

Every stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.

It can be printed on silver or gray paper.  Frame it in silver or aluminum foil to add some sparkle.

Apothecary

An apothecary is like an old-time pharmacy, with weird ingredients in clear containers.  Reminds me of Chinatown herb stores filled with teas, dried ginseng, ginger, and many mysterious items.  Fill and display plastic or glass jars with seeds, beans, small toy bugs or spiders, dried leaves, colored liquids.  Dried mushrooms, peppers, cinnamon sticks, spices and herbs are all interesting to display, use anything you have in or around the house. Send the kids out to collect leaves, pine needles, twigs, flowers, or whatever nature offers.  The black party bag "cauldrons" and the crystal phials are stocked here.

Flourish and Blotts Bookstore
A bookshelf would be a perfect spot.  Crumple and uncrumple some brown paper from grocery bags and cover a bunch of books with it.  Add magical titles to the spines, like Magical Me, by Gilderoy Lockhart, or 101 Uses for Spellotape.  Get your kids to create new titles, they'll have loads of fun!  The Spellbooks we made for the party are stocked here. 

Ollivanders
Ollivanders' store is supposed to be stacks and stacks of boxes containing wands.  Instead, I just displayed all the wands on a nice velvet scarf.

Madam Malkin's Robes

I made some simple capes out of black fabric and just displayed them on hangers.  We hung ours up on a swing arm lamp!  We also had a tape measure on hand for properly "fitting"our customers with their robes.

Quality Quidditch Supplies (optional)
Stack up a bunch of brooms in a corner, or even hang them on a wall.  Display family sports trophies nearby.  Put out a small suitcase or trunk and label it, "Deluxe Quidditch Game Set: 100 Galleons."  Spray paint a ping pong ball gold and add foil wings to make a Golden Snitch.  Add fishing line and suspend it from the ceiling, cool!

Eeylops Owl Emporium (optional)
If you have any birdcages, put 'em here.  Any stuffed birds, even if they're not owls, can be displayed here.

Leaky Cauldron (optional)
Put out a pitcher of drinks or water and some small drink cups at a table.  Maybe a bowl of pretzels or popcorn to munch on, too.

Next Stop: Great Hall Dining Area

Hogwarts Party Decorations

Ideas for turning your house into Hogwarts Castle!

• Castle Wall Interior (below)
• Bathroom (below)
• Yard (below)
• Diagon Alley (to page 2)
• Great Hall Dining Area (to page 3)

Castle Wall Interior
Materials:

• Large sheets of brown paper (I used 9 ft x 12 ft).  Mine were drop covers from the paint section of Home Depot
  
• Beige paint - check out the "mistake" bin in the paint section of the store for bargains.  Beige is a common color.
• Large, rectangle shape sponge
• 2-3 smaller sponges
• Paint tray
• Rags
• White paint - 1-2 craft size bottles
• Brown paint - 1-2 craft size bottles

Spread out the brown paper on the floor.  Start the 1st row of bricks along the bottom edge.  Dip the large sponge in the beige paint in a paint tray.  (If the paint is too thick, stir in a little water.)  Make an imprint of the sponge on the paper, resulting in a brick shape.  Don't press down too hard on the sponge, you want the bricks to look "rough," not too perfect.  Repeat, leave a small gap between each brick. For the 2nd row of bricks, stagger the imprints so that the center of each brick lies directly over the gap between the bricks in the row below.

Keep going until the whole sheet is covered with bricks.  This took me a while to do.  Let the sheet(s) dry.

To make the uniform looking bricks look more like stones, go back over them with the white and then the brown paint.  Dip the smaller sponge in some white paint and lightly dab onto parts of each brick.  Do the same with the brown paint, adding and dabbing on a little at a time until you get the look you want.

Once dry, the painted sheets can be taped up onto the walls like wallpaper to form a Hogwarts castle-like interior background.  Stone wall backdrops and other decor are also available at party stores and online party supplies if do-it-yourself isn't appealing.

Other Touches

• A knight's costume hung on the wall
• Medieval paintings or portraits
• A framed mirror as the Mirror of Erised
• A Hogwarts banner or other banners
  
• Hanging streamers in House colors 
• Tapestries
  

The Bathroom
A sign "Beware of Mountain Trolls" was taped to the bathroom door.  Inside, a picture of a mountain troll was attached behind the sink, so that if you looked up at the mirror, you would see a funny green-faced troll looking back at you!  My daughter drew this troll herself.

You could also put toy rubber snakes in the bathroom, and warn people not to look at the "Basilisks" or they will be petrified! Another idea is a picture of Moaning Myrtle (or a repeating loop of her sound effects).

The Yard
In areas of the front yard, we placed a "Care of Magical Creatures" area.  We put up a Playhut and scattered stuffed animals around it.  Fortunately, my kids had a good selection of dragons, unicorns, snakes, frogs, winged horses and the like.  We also borrowed an owl puppet from the library and attached it to our mail box -- "Owl Post."  The final touch was a toy car stuck up in a ficus tree near our front door, which looked amazingly like the Weasley's Ford Anglia stuck in the Whomping Willow!

Next Stop: Decorating Diagon Alley