This fantastic FORBIDDEN FOREST FEAST + HARRY POTTER BIRTHDAY PARTY was submitted by Angela Ramsey of hints of whimsy.
What a whimsical party for a girl or boy, it has so many ideas that you could use for any celebration. Some of my favorite elements from this party are:
I was so excited for the April issue of Parenting Magazine! I had the honor of styling a Harry Potter themed birthday party for both the Early Year and School Year April issues!
Being a part of the editorial advisory board for Parenting has been fabulous! When Sabrina James (Style & Fashion Director) asked me if I would like to work on another fun project for them I just couldn’t resist! I will admit, when she asked if I would do a Harry Potter party my first thoughts weren’t all warm and fuzzy. It was a party theme outside of my comfort zone, and a theme I had never done. But now, it’s one of my most favorite parties to date!
If you haven’t yet, be sure and grab a copy of the April Parenting Magazine to see the full spread along with other fabulous parties styled by The Tomkat Studio & Oh Happy Day!
Photography by Valerie Hart.
Decor
The party was set out on Harry Potter inspired items like an old steamer trunk, some vintage suitcases, a british inspired telephone booth shelf and a book themed end table.
Candles were hung from the ceiling with fishing line to create a floating candle effect.
Old books are an easy way to stage a lot of the party food/decor. They go along perfectly with the Harry Potter theme, too.
The printable lightning banner, paper ties, argyle cupcake wrappers, invitation, Hogwarts Express sign and food labels/place cards are all part of the Harry Potter printable collection in the Kara’s Party Ideas Shop.
Invitation
This Harry Potter fill-in-the-blank invitation is a simple download from Kara’s Party Ideas shop. Roll it up and attach it to a white balloon, acting as the “delivery owl” from Harry Potter. Use a black permanent marker to draw an owl face onto the balloon. I weighed down the invitation with a vintage key.
Popcorn Bar
Since children will be watching Harry Potter at the party, provide a fun popcorn bar! This one included caramel corn, original corn & kettle corn. Parmesan seasoning and salt were set out for added flavor. Find the wooden scoops, signs & popcorn baskets in the Kara’s Party Ideas Shop- www.KarasPartyIdeas.com/shop
Butter Beer
Cream Soda acted as “Butter Beer” at the party. To create the foaming effect simply add vanilla ice cream to each drink.
Hogwarts Express Sign
Bring the feel of the Hogwarts Express Train Station into your party with this printable sign available in the KPI shop.
Butter Beer Candy Favors
Small glass salt and pepper shakers perfectly resemble mugs, so they were filled with butterscotch candies and labeled as “Butter Beer Candy Favors”. A vintage key was attached to the top of each jar with twine.
Owl Glasses
If a few simple steps, make these darling owl glasses for the kids to wear at the party.
- Pop out the center eye pieces of inexpensive glasses or sunglasses (available at the dollar store).
Attach white and brown feathers to each side of the pair of glasses with hot glue.
For the nose, cut a diamond shape piece out of orange card stock and make a crease down the middle. Glue the piece in-between the eyes of the glasses with hot glue.
Hanging Key Activity
These darling chocolate keys were made with a key candy mold from the KPI shop & melted chocolate. The keys were hung from a broom with twine. A child held up the broom as children tried to eat the keys with their hands behind their backs or at their side.
Party Activity- Magic Potion Station
Clear plastic gumball tubes from the KPI shop were filled with lemon lime soda. Three small honey jars, also from the shop, were filled with different flavored Koolaid drink mix. Koolaid is perfect because it’s a very light color, so the children can’t tell what flavor it actually is. The kids spooned the Koolaid into their tube of soda & watched in amazement as their color was revealed!
Paper Ties
These darling HP inspired printable ties are available in the KPI shop and are simple to print and cut out. Attach the ties to inexpensive elastic headbands and put the ties on guest as they arrive at the party.
Candy Stick Wands
Rock candy sticks from the KPI shop were placed in an owl vase as “Candy Wizard Wands”.
Honey Dukes Candy Shop
Small burlap bags from Kara’s Party Ideas shop were set out for the kids to fill with various types of candy from “Honey Dukes Candy Shop”, including actual Bertie Bott’s Every Falvour Beans, also available in the KPI shop here.
Owl Cake
Make this cake with fondant or gum paste pieces, cut to resemble leaves or feathers, and layer the pieces up the side of the cake. This cake was made by the talented Marcee, owner of Dippidee.
Owl Cupcakes
Easily make these cute owl cupcakes with vanilla icing, mini vanilla wafers, chocolate chips, almond slices and cashews. The argyle cupcake wrappers are from the Kara’s Party Ideas Shop here.
Golden Snitch Gumballs
Gold gumballs from the KPI shop were put in a jar and labeled as “Golden Snitch Gumballs”.
Golden Snitch Cookies
These were made with store bought banana cream cookies and yellow card stock. Simply cut the card stock into wing shaped pieces and insert the ends of the “wings” into each side of the cookies.
Chocolate Frogs
Simply make these with a frog candy mold from the KPI shop and melted chocolate. The frogs were set a top of an open book for added HP charm.
Party Favor- Truth Serum
Cute miniature glasses with cork lids from the KPI shop here were filled with water, mimicking “truth serum”. What mother wouldn’t love her child to come home from a party with this! The tags are part of the HP printable collection in the KPI shop.
Gowns
Inexpensive children’s graduation gowns look just like Hogwarts gowns! A gown was given to each child as they arrived at the party. The gowns are available in the Kara’s Party Ideas online shop here.
This amazing WICKED {THE MUSICAL} SIXTH BIRTHDAY PARTY was submitted by Melanie of Melanie Monroe Photography. What a fun and creative way to capture the spirit of the musical and celebrate the birthday of twin girls!
Here are some of the elements I love most in this Wicked themed party:
The painted cardboard life size castle
The pink “Glinda” cupcakes and black / green “Elphaba” cupcakes
The witch broom pens in the favor pails
The “Emerald City Dress-Up Boutique” overflowing with green apparel for the guests to wear
and MORE!
This is what Melanie said about planning the party- “My twin girls turned six a few weeks ago and I can’t believe how time flies! This year they wanted a “Wicked” (the musical) birthday party and I was happy to comply. This party was so much fun to plan! I started a pinterest board for the party MONTHS ago and got lots of great ideas. During Halloween time, I was able to get some great witch decorations and I was able to snag some fun green items for the “Emerald City Dress Up Boutique” when all the St. Patrick’s Day items came out right after Christmas. This was a karaoke party, so we had some great singing and dancing going on, as well as the “Flying Monkey Zipline” and the “Madame Morrible Tornado Ride.” We had lots of green snacks and drinks (even green ice cubes in the punch!) as well as Glinda and Elphaba cupcakes with witch hats and princess crowns. For favors we gave out a small “Anti-witch water bucket” filled with pink and green lollipops, pink Glinda bubbles, green Emerald City sunglasses, and a Defying Gravity broomstick pen. Thank you to all the friends and family that joined us to make my girls’ 6th birthday extra special! We had a wicked good time!”
Party Styling and Planning- Melanie of Melanie Monroe Photography
Photography- Amy Gray Photography
Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Candles Cupcake Liners Broom Pens Tin Favor Pail Clear Cellophane Bags Paper Lanterns Tissue Balls Honeycomb Flowers Flexible Straws Paper Cups Plastic Wine Goblets
This fabulous HARRY POTTER WIZARD THEMED SIXTH BIRTHDAY PARTY was submitted by Rachel Johnson of Creative Little Stars. For those of you who are looking for great Harry Potter party ideas, look no further than this party! Rachel did a wonderful job!
Rachel said this about planning the party- “We had so much fun creating this 6th birthday Wizard party. The venue we chose was the local park, which was surrounded by owl pictures and figurines. The party was complete with a specially erected spell room of which birthday Wizard Ryan had exclusive access to practice his wizardry powers!
The party guests sat down to a super-natural feast prepared by Ryan’s Grandma. The menu included jelly brains, and was topped off by a deathly delicious Grave Yard Cake. Harry Potter music filled the ears of Ryan’s 20 friends, which really added to the ambiance of the day. Ryan’s Mum ensured the scene was set by providing a smoke machine, making the children feel like they were at Hogwarts and also dressing up like a witch. Mosman party Hire supplied a handful of the children’s costumes to make sure they really got into character.
We added further finishing touches by including printable stationery and a printable Wizard Game collection, available on our website.”
Vendors and Credits:
Party Hire & Printables – Creative Little Stars
Costumes – Mosman Party Hire
Jelly Brain and Graveyard Cake - Ryan’s Grandma
Wizard Cake – My Little Party Planner
Chocolate Brain – Tutorial by Creative Little Stars
Items used in this party available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop: Mini Black Cauldrons Glass Spice Bottles Burlap Balloons
All of you Harry Potter fans out there are going to love this HARRY POTTER THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY submitted by Katelyn Meekel of Events by Kate!
Katelyn said- “This collection of items makes up my “Harry Potter Inspired Party”…This party was designed and tailored for a young lady named “Maddy” & she loves Harry Potter. I designed “Every Flavor Beans”, “Half Blood Prince Potion Books” where each child is free to print their name, as well as “Deathly Dark Chocolate” for all the sweets lovers! “Anything off the trolley?” I also created potion bottle labels and liquid luck containers for the kid’s games. They must make up a concoction of magical beverages to make the best potion in the class, while keeping track of their thoughts and ingredients in their notebooks! Everyone also receives their own golden snitch! I love Harry Potter, and I hope you all enjoy the wonderful wizarding printables that can be found in my shop!”
Vendor Credits:
Photography, event design, party printables- Events by Kate
Party Supplies used in this party that are available in Kara’s Party Ideas Shop:
Glass Spice Jar with Cork StopperSmall Mason Jars
Harry Potter Party for Parenting Magazine!
Harry Potter Birthday Party
Harry Potter + Make-a-Wish Foundation Party!
Harry Potter Themed Birthday Party
Harry Potter Wizard Themed 6th Birthday Party
Toy Story Birthday Party- Jessie and Woody!