# Harry Potter 2017 - Help Needed!



## PSULarryO (Oct 20, 2016)

Hello All,

My wife and I are planning on throwing a Harry Potter themed party complete with a House Cup award. This will be our biggest theme party since Ghostbusters a few years ago. She's a huge Harry Potter fan but a lot of the prop and decor construction usually falls to me and I am a little shaky on the books. I could use some help and guidance from people that have thrown HP parties before. Our budget is usually around $300 for Décor and props annually. Below is what we are currently thinking, we are a long way out but with the amount of props I need to construct this year it's time to start!


_Current Ideas for Outdoor Décor_
*Hagrid's Hut/Haunted Forest* - Giant Pumpkins, Big Spider, Crates, Repurposed giant dog prop (Gargoyle dog from Ghostbusters), Repurpose an old Wolfman Mannequin for Lupin, Buckbeak Prop if room.

*Deathly Hallows* - Repurpose old tombstones and write names of many characters that died in the Battle of Hogwarts, fog machine, strobes and death eaters (picked up on sale at Halloween city)

*Platform 9 3/4 *- Brick-face entrance over the front door with a slit in the middle 

_Indoor Décor_
Dining Room - Great Hall Hanging candles, Sweets Cart from the Train for desserts - could use some more ideas here...

Living Room - TV playing the Movies, Hogwarts acceptance letters flying from the fireplace, could use some ideas how to replicate Gryff house lounge

Foyer - Have you seen this Wizard? Photo Booth Frame, House Cup Signups/Tracking (matching people's costumes to their house and giving a button/ribbon?), Sorting Hat? Moving Paintings? Not sure how to pull that one off.

Kitchen - Usually keep this pretty clear of décor because there are tons of sterno trays lit and traffic to the bar, wouldn't mind a few ideas here and there though if they are relevant to the theme.

Bathroom - Ministry of Magic Toilet? Troll Prop? Moaning Myrtle Audio?

_Basement Decor_
Snape's Lab and Potions Classroom - Standard Assortment of glowing bottles, potions, insects etc... saw a photo of a homemade mandrake root, would like to do more book-specific stuff like that...ideas?

Chamber of Secrets - I picked up a giant fog machine animatronic Cerberus (which was the inspiration for the party) I plan on putting this to guard our furnace room which has historically been a Mad Science Lab/Execution Chamber in the past with strobes. Not a whole lot of room to work with because the DJ will be in the basement What other parts of the Chamber of Secrets could I incorporate into the décor? Are there dungeons throughout the stories? Anything worth building props toward?

_Games/House Cup Ideas_

Quidditch Beer Pong - Each win earns you 100 Points for your House
Butterbeer Chug (Flipcup) - Each win earns you 50 points
Harry Potter Trivia - Ask questions at Random to guests - 25 Points to their House
Costume - Each House gets 50 Points per character from the house (I feel Gryff will own this category?)
Wizard Chess - Set up a few chessboards throughout the house - Each Win earns you 50 points
Karaoke - Each Song Sung by a house member nets you 10 points 

Tally at the end of the night and give a small prize (usually a shot bottle of liquor and perhaps a chocolate frog) to everyone in the house?

Any other major games or ideas out there?



Food/Beverages

There are a million things on pinterest and we are still months away so I'll backburner this for now.


Again, thanks in advance for your help and Ideas, I'll keep browsing the HP related threads, some of the stuff looks amazing!


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## pumpkinpie (Jul 9, 2011)

Here's pics from our party last year (sorry I don't have more but I didn't get pics of the kitchen) I also made a thread last year that u can peek through...my budget normally tops out at $50-75 (but I bought the wall treatment from shindigz this year...but all my projects r cheap...just message me if your interested in how tos)


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## pumpkinpie (Jul 9, 2011)

I also made a mandrake, golden egg and of course the candles

http://www.halloweenforum.com/party...recipes/150666-harry-potter-party-2016-a.html


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

Check out Epbot's Harry Potter X-mas party (which could easily become a Halloween party):
http://www.epbot.com/2016/12/harry-potter-christmas-party-photo.html

These are the folks behind the Cake Wrecks blog/books (Jen and John) go all out on the geeky/crafty stuff, so there is everything from how to make the Bertie Botts boxes for the candy displays to pensieve punch up to hanging candles for the "great hall" effect. You can search the Epbot site for "harry potter" and she has tutorials for most of the stuff you'll see.


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## PSULarryO (Oct 20, 2016)

Looks like a solid start, thank you!

My wife and I are finalizing our decoration plans so that we can get started on prop building over the summer. Nothing looks potentially hard, just time consuming.

Does anyone have experience with wiper motor props and animatronics? I have an idea for the chamber of secret's basilisk, but have never done anything remotely electrical on my own.


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## TheEvilTwin (Aug 26, 2016)

I am doing a similar theme, so I will share some of my ideas
For gryffindor common room I am doing it up in lots of reds and gold, tapestry rug, books, wizards chest and fireplace. I am going to print out some quibblers and daily prophets to leave lying around, quills and half done scrolls. 
main hall you could do the house point hour glasses and a night sky for the roof.


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## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

I think you've already got some great ideas there. Pumpkinpie, love the photos will have to go back and check out your thread.

Britta, a local lady who loves halloween and was I think one of my first Halloween sources of inspiration, came up with some great Harry Potter themed ideas. Here's her website section dedicated to it:
http://www.brittablvd.com/wizards/

Another great source on Potter parties is 3pinkpoodles: http://www.halloweenforum.com/party.../134946-harry-potter-party-going-all-out.html


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## walkingcorpse (Aug 29, 2008)

Flue Powder by the fireplace....(painted flower pot filled with ashes, or Pop-its)
Spell-o-tape in the kitchen...(modified scotch tape dispenser)
Self-stirring bowl in the kitchen
"Weasley clock" with family members photos on the hands all pointing to mortal danger (or party)


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## Bobbiejo (Aug 9, 2017)

I would love to see how you do the Hogwart's acceptance letters coming from the fireplace.


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## stuffyteddybare (Sep 20, 2013)

I wish someone lived nearby that did party's like this..I would gladly help!...some of the ideas I made/used on my HP party:

1. Have you seen this Wizard?...posters...I snuck pics of people from their social media sites and used line drawing in paint....everyone of them took their own pics home!
2. Spider webbing when stretched out covers a huge area..hanging from the ceiling with spiders always works.
3. In my fireplace I took a bunch of coat hangers, painted them black, drilled a couple of holes in a real log in the fireplace, stuck the coat hangers in, and then taped a bunch of (invitations from hogwarts) cards on the end of each coat hanger.

for other ideas see some of my posts


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## Glitterati (Jul 27, 2016)

Did I miss it and someone said they were going to try this??!!! <3


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## Deathly Hallow-een (Aug 30, 2015)

How did you make the point counters? I made some for my Harry Potter haunt, but I'm not that happy with them.


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