How to Throw a Harry Potter Themed Halloween Party
So, you want to throw a Harry Potter themed party? You’ve come to the right place. I mean, there might be better places, but this is the only one on your current path. So deal with it. Let me teach you my ways.
I had decided on a Potter theme for last year’s Halloween party on November 1st of the following year. I started a lengthy list of ideas and over the course of the year narrowed it down to the things that were the most feasible and the least costly. What I ended up with was this:
Good Eats
There were plenty of British foods to choose from, but I’ll be damned if I’ll feed myself and my friends something called spotted dick or blood pudding. I wanted the food to be relevant, but I’m not an adventurous eater, so narrowing it down was a little tricky. I finally settled on Cornish pasties, cottage pie, and an assortment of sweets. Chocolate frogs, cauldron cakes, licorice wands, pumpkin pasties, and acid pops. Recipes are available for all of these. If you’re interested, just email me. Or Google them. That’s what I did.
Good Friends
Some people didn’t dress up, others did, and some took a bit of convincing to get into character. We had a Ron Weasley (me!!), a slutty Hermoine, a Neville, an Azkaban prisoner, a Hagrid, and a bunch of lazy bastards muggles.
Good Decorations
I did purchase a few items: a Hogwarts banner, a book that contained replicas from the movie like a few educational decrees, a Quidditch World Cup program, a Yule Ball ticket, plus several more cool items. But the cost started adding up quickly so I scoured thrift stores and Goodwill for some things and made others at home. I put black ‘creepy cloth’ over black balloons and called them Dementors. I made books out of Styrofoam and stuck them next to tea cups and potion bottles to serve as a “divination class” and “potions class.” I filled jars full of candy to act as a Honeydukes sweet shop. A corner of the basement was covered in spider webs, with a big fake spider and dozens of tiny spiders.
Good Activities
With adults, it’s really hard to put together Potter related activities. All the possibilities seemed fairly juvenile so I didn’t even bother with that. We tried playing HP Scene It, but I need new friends. Too many people were not familiar enough with the series to enjoy it and others couldn’t handle losing to me, the master. Mostly we played board games and Pictionary and sat around chatting and eating. And then eating some more. And then eating again. Lots of eating. I had a lot of food.
Good Butterbeer!
I would think that butterbeer would also be a necessity, but I couldn’t find a recipe that didn’t sound disgusting. I wanted everything taste-tested first and since most recipes contained butterscotch and butterscotch is nasty, I wasn’t willing to try out all the recipes to find a good one. So I didn’t serve it. There are so many recipes though; hot ones, cold ones, in many different varieties. But like I said, all contained butterscotch. And if not butterscotch, then cream soda, which is just as nasty.
And that, my friends, are the keys to throwing and a pretty good Harry Potter themed party. Take what I’ve taught you and spread it to others.
