51 Of The Best Harry Potter Party Ideas

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Throwing a Harry Potter party? From invitations to decor and everything in between, these awesome Harry Potter party ideas will help make this the best birthday party ever!

Love Harry Potter? We’re huge fans too and love both the movies and the books! We’ve also been lucky enough to make regular visits to The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter (one of the bonuses of living 90 minutes from Orlando)

That’s why we love a good Harry Potter party! Whether it’s a Harry Potter birthday party or a Halloween party, it’s a theme that kids never get tired of (each of my girls have had their own Harry Potter birthday party).

From Harry Potter recipes to decor, there’s a lot that goes into planning a party. I’m making it easy for you, with everything in one place! Here’s what you’ll find:

• Invitations
• Cakes & Cupcakes
• Party Decorations (DIY and from Amazon)
• Crafts & Activities
• Games & Printables
• Goodie Bag Ideas
• Butterbeer Recipes (& variations)

I’ve also got a separate post for Harry Potter gift ideas if you’re looking for the perfect present!

Ready to plan your own magical party? Check out these awesome ideas…

The Best Harry Potter Party Ideas

Some of these are creative ideas that you can make yourself. Others are things you can easily order because let’s face it, sometimes we just can’t do it all! Either way, these are some of my favorites…

Harry Potter Invitations

I’ve designed several different sets of Free Printable Harry Potter Invitations (with envelopes too). You can customize them online or just print blank invitations and fill in the party details with a marker. It’s all up to you and super easy!

This Hogwarts Letter Party Invitation looks just like an official Hogwarts acceptance letter. What kid wouldn’t want to get one of these by owl post?!

How awesome are these Daily Prophet Invitations invitations? Designed to look like the Daily Prophet, you can even add your child’s photo…they look pretty authentic to me! Plus, this Etsy shop has lots of other Harry Potter invitations to choose from too.

Hogwarts Express Invitations – Etsy

If you’re just way too busy to customize your own invites, these Hogwarts Express invitations couldn’t get much easier! Just enter your info and someone will customize the tickets for you. Now all you have to do is hand them out!

Harry Potter Food And Drink

You’ll need plenty of party food and drinks! Start with a cauldron cake, then wash it down with a glass of butterbeer! Check out my list of awesome Harry Potter recipes for more themed food like pumpkin pasties and polyjuice potion.

Harry Potter Butterbeer

Butterbeer Cupcakes

Golden Snitch Cupcakes

Cauldron Cakes

Hedwig Owl Cupcakes

Harry Potter Cake

Harry Potter Unicorn Cake

Hagrid’s Harry Potter Birthday Cake

Monster Book Of Monsters Cake

Harry Potter Snitch Cake

DIY Harry Potter Party Decorations

It’s not a party without a banner and this free printable Harry Potter banner is perfect. Just print the letters and images you need to customize it any way you like!

Hang these Harry Potter Flying Keys and your party will feel totally enchanted.

This Platform 9 3/4 decor is just one of the awesome ideas that I found on Tuxedo Cats And Coffee. They have all kinds of amazing ideas for your Harry Potter themed party, including a life sized Dementor and Hedwig Welcome Sign to greet arriving guests.

Want to give the MInistry Of Magic a call? Check out this phone booth and lots more fun Harry Potter party ideas.

The site Delicious Reads has so many great ideas that I couldn’t even list them all! From the Harry Potter phone booth to printable signs, there are a lot of fun Harry Potter decorations to choose from, including the magical Mirror Of Erised!

These “flying” acceptance letters are fun decor but also make a great photo backdrop!

Easy Party Decor

Don’t have time to make your own party decor? Check these out instead…

Create your own Platform 9 3/4! This brick wall backdrop works for both your front door or as a cool decor for inside. You can also buy a stone wall backdrop to make the living room look more like a room in Hogwart’s castle.

You can’t have a wizarding party without Harry Potter Balloons. It’s just about the easiest way to give the house a festive, party feel.

These Hogwarts House Banners, make the perfect party decoration, with a banner to represent each Hogwarts House

Want the whole shebang? This Harry Potter Decoration Kit includes a Harry Potter banner, streamers, centerpieces and more.

This magical bookshelf backdrop looks like it came straight out of a castle (and makes a great backdrop for photos too).

Use fishing line to hang these LED candles from the ceiling. You’ll get a cool floating effect, just like the one in the great hall.

Don’t want to make your own flying keys? I found these adorable flying keys on Etsy!

Harry Potter Games

This free printable Harry Potter Bingo Game is perfect for parties! Just print and play…it even comes with printable bingo chips. The best part about it is that this fun game is perfect for kids of all ages.

Want more free printables? These free Harry Potter coloring pages is the perfect first activity because it keeps keep early arriving kids busy while you wait for the rest of the party guests. We also used them for entertainment when the kids were waiting to get their faces painted. The bonus? It’s super easy and inexpensive!

Kids also love a good word search! This free printable wizarding word search is another great party activity or even something fun for the goodie bags. It’s also a great wrap up activity for the end of the party when kids are waiting to go home.

Send the kids on a good old fashioned scavenger hunt in the backyard with these printables from Etsy!

How about a game of charades? This Harry Potter party game should be entertaining for both the kids AND the adults watching them!

After you’ve played a few Harry Potter party games, party guests can also have fun getting silly with these photo booth props. This Hogwarts Castle backdrop adds another magical touch.

What kid doesn’t love a pinata? Fill this Owl Pinata with candy and let the kids go nuts!

Harry Potter Crafts

Crafts always make fun activities for parties and I love this one. Little wizards will have so much fun making these cool DIY Harry Potter wands and the best part is that no two are the same.

Short on time? You can also buy this DIY Wand Kit with everything you need already included.

Want more wand ideas? You’d never know from looking at them but these magic wands are made from paper. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

These chocolate golden snitches are a cross between a craft and a yummy treat…the best of both worlds!

They didn’t make this in potions class! It may look like a simple party drink but it’s actually a Divinations Class Fortune Telling Trick! It’s a simple trick but one that’s sure to be hugely popular at any Harry Potter party!

The kids will love sorting themselves with this free printable Harry Potter Origami Sorting Hat. Plus, putting this origami craft together will keep the kids entertained for awhile.

The kids will love getting crafty with these cute Harry Potter toilet paper roll crafts.

These Monster Book Of Monster book covers make an easy craft that goes perfectly with your Harry Potter theme.

The kids can choose their own “adventure” with these fun HP themed activity cards.

Originally made as a Valentine’s Day box, I realized this Harry Potter Monster Book Of Monsters would make a great pinata too. Just make the mouth a little smaller and add some rope and you’re good to go.

Harry Potter Goodie Bag Ideas

Need Harry Potter party favor ideas? This list has all kinds of amazing ideas, from Harry Potter’s signature glasses to character key chains. All the little witches and wizards will be thrilled to find these in their favor bags.

Let the kids make their own party favor box! It’s a goodie “bag” that doubles as a party craft!

I love how colorful these Hogwarts bookmarks are and it’s the perfect way for kids to mark their pages in their Harry Potter books.

Every Harry Potter fan knows that chocolate frogs are the candy of choice in the Wizarding World. Now the kids can have their own chocolate frogs…and these magical treats won’t even try to jump away.

Print these pages out and kids can make their very own spell book.

You can never go wrong with glow sticks, especially when they come in the form of these cute glow stick broomsticks.

These boxes of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans make a great addition to your goodie bag treats.

Now you’re totally ready to throw the ultimate Harry Potter party! I hope you have as much fun with it as we always do!