Harry Potter - Kids Birthday Party ideas
INtro
Your entertainer will introduce themselves as a Hogwarts Alumni and although there are muggles around (the parents), they are here to give you a little bit of magic training before everyone gets their letters to go to Hogwarts on their 11th birthday. They will organise a mini house cup.
The entertainer will have Harry Potter music playing on their speaker
Sorting Hat
For this mini house cup, the entertainer will sit each child down, put the sorting hat on their heads and have them pull out a colour.
There will be 2 teams: the Gryffindors and Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.
The birthday girl, just like Harry, will be able to chose their house, even after pulling the house colour out.
The entertainer will adjust things to make sure the 2 teams are even and remind everyone that these house are just for today’s games.
Once a child has been sorted, they will be asked to sit in a particular part of the room to start forming the 2 groups.
Once the 2 groups are formed, the entertainer will get both sides to shout out “yay” and the loudest win.
Wand work and spell casting
The entertainer will ask the 2 teams to stand in 2 lines facing each other and to get out their wands if they have them. If they don’t have a wand, they can just use their hand.
The entertainer will ask if they know 3 spells, their names and what they do.
If they don’t know any, the entertainer will say:
Lumos is to turn lights on
Alohamora is to open locked doors
And Expelliarmus is to disarm someone.
Everyone will practice saying these.
The entertainer will then show wand movements. The first is a little circle. The next, a swich and flick. Then it’s the wand arm pointing over the over arm with the back leg sliding towards the front leg. Then it’s the same again but with the wand arm doing under the other arm.
The entertainer will quiz the kids to see if they remember any and say which team does which move best. Finally the entertainer will show the “show off move”, which is a fully body turn and point.
The entertainer will get the kids to try these moves out with the 3 spells they learnt.
Wizards and witches duel
One child from each team will be picked (usually the birthday girl goes first).
They will be put in the centre so the 2 teams can see them. They will be back to back.
The entertainer will tell the kids that Harry defeated You Know Who with the Expelliarmus spell and so that’s the one that we will use in our duel.
Both of the chosen candidates should say expelliarmus before beginning as a practice.
The entertainer will say random Harry Potter words like “Hagrid” “Hedwig” “hogwarts”. Everytime a word is said, both witches should take a step forward. When they hear Expelliarmus, they should turn around, do their wand move a shout out expelliarmus first.Whoever did it first wins a point for their team.The entertainer should get the 2 teams to encourage their team member and cheer at the end.
Harry Harry Potter - Riding a broomstick
The kids will sit in a circle and the entertainer will walk all the way around the circle to make sure the path is clear of any obstructions (chairs, coats, parents watching, babies)…
This is basically a round of duck duck goose adapted to quidditch training.
The entertainer will ask the kids if they know what sport is played at hogwarts. The entertainer will then demonstrate how to mount a broomstick. The entertainer will explain that as there are muggles around, they will be practicing quidditch on the ground so everyone is ready to ride a broomstick in the air when they get to hogwarts.
Kids should go around tapping other kids heads, saying “Harry, Harry” (with the broomstick between their legs). When they’ve selected someone, they should put the broomstick down behind the person’s back and shout “Harry”. That person should get up and chase all the way around the circle with the broomstick between their legs.
Musical Bumps
Encourage the kids to suggest one move each and slowly build up a little routine, but at any point, stop the music and they must sit. First to sit wins.The entertainer should shout out “petrificus totallus” when the music stops
Camping with Death eaters
Everyone has their legs under the parachute. The entertainer says they are at the quidditch world cup and they are having a picnick while camping. The entertainer comments on how lovely the camping trip is and starts to notice people disappear.
The person selected to go under the parachute is a death eater. Everyone around shakes the parachute so they don’t know where the death eater is. The death eater pulls on people’s toes. If they get dragged under, they also become a death eater. By the end, everyone will be under, the entertainer will pull the parachute off and say “what’s everyone doing under there?”