Celebrate Your Birthday HARRY POTTER STYLE!

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Games and Activities

Your guests will have a blast with these Hogwarts-inspired games! You'll have more fun if you ask a grown-up to help you organize the guests, explain the rules, and referee.

• Hogwarts Sorting Hat
  
• Broomstick Relay Race
  
• Hunt for Buried Wizard Treasure
  
• Dizzy Gnome Game
  
• Bean Guessing Contest
  
• Other Game and Activity Ideas
  

Hogwarts Sorting Hat

Before playing any group games, you will need to sort the players into two different teams. Make a list of who will go on which team before the party. During the party, seat a cone-shaped pointed wizard hat on a stool or chair. (Wizard hats can be purchased at a party supply store or made of construction paper.) As you call out each guest's name, have him take a turn at sitting on the stool or chair and having the wizard hat placed on his head. As in the Harry Potter stories, whisper in each guest's ear which team she has been chosen to be on. One team could be Gryffindor and the other could be Ravenclaw.

As at Hogwarts, award "house points" to teams when playing games.

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Broomstick Relay Race

You will need:

• Two long-handled brooms with the name "Nimbus Two Thousand" written on the broomsticks
  
• Four markers, such as athletic field cones
  
• A whistle
  

What to do:

1. Line the players up in two equal rows, with each team behind a marker or cone.
   
2. Place another marker or cone about 20 feet away as a goal (one goal per team).
   
3. Hand the first player in each line a broom. Have them place the brooms between their legs as if they are going to ride the brooms like witches.
   
4. At the blow of the whistle, the first player in each line must quickly walk with the broom between his legs to his teams goal, and then turn around and come back.
   
5. They then pass the brooms off to the next team members in line, who then does the same as the first players. This continues until one team has all of its member's finish first. They are declared the winning team.
   

Variation:
Play this game with balloons, and instead of having the players ride the brooms, have them sweep the balloons into a box or laundry basket which represents the goal. Give each player a balloon to sweep with, and have a few extra balloons to pass to players whose balloons should happen to pop.

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Hunt for Buried Wizard Treasure

You will need:

• Rocks spray-painted gold
  Wizard coins (plastic gold coins)
  
• Plastic gems or jewels (found at craft stores)
  

What to do:

1. Before the party, conspicuously hide the gold rocks, gems or jewels and gold coins around your yard.
   
2. During the party, pass out the bags and tell the players that a wizard has buried much treasure in your yard and that they must search for it.
   
3. On the signal to go, all race to find it. Afterwards, gather everyone around to show what they have found.
   

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Dizzy Gnome Game

In the book HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, Harry and the Weasleys must rid the garden of pesky gnomes. They de-gnome the garden by swinging the gnomes in the air and tossing them so that they become disoriented and can't find their way back to their gnomeholes.

You will need:

• A stuffed or plastic doll that resembles a gnome
  
• A target, such as a tree stump or the center of a hanging hula-hoop
  

What to do:

1. Have the players stand single file behind a marked throwing line.
   
2. Give each a turn at throwing the doll lasso-style at the target. The player to get the doll closest to the target or through the target wins. A good prize might be the doll.
   

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Bean Guessing Contest

In the Harry Potter books, Hogwarts students enjoy eating Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans-- jellybeans that came in all sorts of interesting and unusual flavors. Some taste like candy, while others taste like vegetables, meat, spices, etc.!

You will need

• A jar
  
• A felt-tip marker
  
• Jellybeans, such as Jelly Belly® jellybeans
  
• Paper
  
• An adhesive label, such as a binder label (found at office supply stores)
  
• Tape
  
• Pencils, 1 per guest
  

What to do:

1. Before the party, write "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans" on the label and attach it to the candy jar.
   
2. Fill the jar with the jellybeans, and count the beans as you place them in the jar.
   
3. Write the number of beans on a small piece of paper. Fold up the paper so that it cannot be read and tape it to the bottom of the jar.
   
4. During the party, pass out a piece of paper and a pencil to each guest and ask them to write down their name and the number of beans that they guess is in the jar. The guest to guess the closest wins the entire jar of beans!
   

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Other Game and Activity Ideas:

• Have a Harry Potter Trivia Contest. You can use the trivia questions found in the Games section of this website.

• Get a magic book from the library and learn some fascinating magic tricks. Perform the tricks at the party for your guests.

• Purchase or make a spider shaped piñata. Fill it with goodies and have the guests take turns trying to break it open.

• If the party is at night or if it is a sleepover, go outside to do some stargazing. Get a constellation book or map and see which stars and planets you can find.

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