Harry Potter Party

Posted byGinnyPosted inall-ages, Library ProgramsTags:, , , , , , , , , ,

Harry Potter! It’s one of those series that will always stick with me and that continues to be so popular at the library. If we do a program on it, we know we’re going to draw a huge crowd. You can count on that.

I was in 5th or 6th grade when I first read a Harry Potter book. I had really held out on reading them because I was teased (because of my name). But once I started reading them, I couldn’t stop. I went to midnight release parties, stayed up all night reading them, and revisit them, even now, when I need comfort. I’m one of those teens who felt that the Harry Potter series was a true safe haven. I fell head-first into the world of Hogwarts, saw myself in the book’s characters, felt the magic of it all deep, deep in my bones. Then, I got into fanfiction, and at a time in my life where I felt completely inconsolable and alone — I found friends online who understood and supported me — all because of the world of Harry Potter.

Made a quick sorting hat with cardboard, hot glue, and faux leather fabric.

I’m going to tell you how we pulled off a 200+ all ages program that brought people together and encouraged literacy and a love of reading. This program happened a few years ago (pre-covid times) at my last librarian position in a different county. I was so rushed most of the time that I didn’t take as many photos as I should have (Curses!) So here we go!

We had a ton of stations – photo ops, crafts, experiments, activities, and food. And decorations. TONS of decorations. We had to reserve the meeting room for three days. One to set up, one for the program, and one to take down! I am super lucky that I have a friend who has a Youtube channel all about Harry Potter and he makes some great props. He was amazing and let us borrow a lot of his things like floating candles (toilet paper rolls with hot glue drippings and a battery powered tealight candle), golden snitches (gold ornaments with paper wings glued on), Nimbus 2000 broomsticks, character cut outs, banners, signs, wands, and more!

My past coworker, A, and me, going to Hogwarts. This was one of two specific photo ops available. We used a discounted brick veneer wall found at a hardware store and some Goodwill luggage. The other one was the “Have you seen this wizard” frame.

When people first entered the room, we had a Trivia / Sorting Station where they would get their badges and earn a point for their house by answering a trivia question. The points were represented by colored pom poms in glass jars. Then we’d hand them their Harry Potter bingo sheet and they were on their way! The bingo sheets were kind of the guide to what was in the room. Plus, if they got Bingo, they earned some house points.

Crafts:

Food:

  • Honeydukes needs your help! We had sugar cookies shaped like wizard hats for kids to frost and sprinkle (and eat!)
  • Other Snacks: Cockroach Clusters (melted chocolate, sugar and pretzel sticks), Taffy, lemon drops, jelly beans and other candy w/HP names, Nimbus 2000 chocolate broomsticks (Reese’s with a pretzel stick stuck into it)
  • Polyjuice Potion Punch (sprite and sherbet ice cream)
We asked the kids to write or draw an owl post based off our writing prompts. These were some of my favorite responses.
And these were some of the more funny ones!

Activities:

Makey Makey’s are SO versatile! It was so fun using these little circuit boards to do an operation game to take the horcruxes out of Voldemort 😛
Horcrux Operation: Made from a cereal box, a Makey Makey kit, aluminum foil, a pic of old Voldey and some pebbles with the horcrux drawn on them. The extractors were chopsticks wrapped in aluminum foil.

Overall, it went really well. I was so glad for our volunteer help that day and for all the help I had decorating and prepping! It was truly a team effort and was so much fun to put on! After the program, we counted up the house points and announced the winner on Facebook. Of course it was Gryffindor. (I tried to bring up our tally, Hufflepuff! I really did!)

**Disclaimer: I want to talk a bit about the terrible things J.K Rowling has said and done to the transgender community. I can’t imagine how J.K. Rowling’s words and actions impacted transgender fans. How they must be so hurt, to have something that has helped so many people be tainted with her hateful words. Even now, it’s still something I’m processing. How can I be part of the LGBTQIA+ community, support others, and not hate everything this woman has touched or created? But Harry Potter isn’t J.K Rowling’s anymore. He has grown much beyond her and his story has helped, and sometimes saved, kids. Kids like me. I still have mixed feelings about this. My heart is broken.

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