As I may have previously mentioned, my Harry Potter themed birthday party was amazing. After the Wand Making class, the Tri-wizard tournament and the Great Feast we really got down to some competitive gaming - board gaming that is. To make something truly competitive I believe you need the following:

An arena
Allegiances
A prize - or multiple prizes
A twist
A sneaky Slytherin or two

Now if you are going to be doing all of this as a Harry Potter themed party - you also need to get creative and crafty to turn those muggle board games into something akin to Wizard Chess. As you should well know by now, I like to take the cheap road. Sorry, a-hem, affordable road. If this sounds like you and you want to make an magical party on a budget, please read on. If this is not you and you want to laugh at the shoddily constructed party I made, go right ahead, Peeves will get you in the end.

THE ARENA

I did not have access to a full size Quidditch pitch which was of course my first choice, so I managed to simulate the experience with a total of $40 dollars in my pocket.

First, we needed some team spirit. I found some cheer pom-poms at the local $2 shop for $2 a pair. I grabbed some in the main colours for each house. So go ahead and cheer.

The ‘pitch’ was covered in a length of maroon fabric a co-worker had gifted me for crafting only a fortnight earlier. But the item that really set the stage was a queen sized Hogwarts doona cover that I purchased from Spotlight and suspended across the blinds at the back of the table. So not a lot of crafting involved in this step but overall very effective for creating the ambience of Hogwarts.

ALLEGIANCES

The entire educational premise at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is division and allegiances (or is it). Much like a group of First Years entering the Great Hall for the first time, the guests were sorted into houses upon arrival. There were two people per house and through the course of the day they could earn points for their house.

In the weeks leading up to the party I began scouring the countryside (or at least the work kitchen) for four different shaped glass jars. I found four houses crests on the internet and simply cut them out and glued them to the jars. I purchased a couple of bags of marbles from the $2 shop to represent the house points. Points were awarded for each round or game won. This idea is around a bit on the interweb so I don’t know who to credit but you should definitely do this.

If you have read the series through to the end you will know that the key to victory is not in what divides us but the differences that make us stronger. Even though we all ultimately had a vested interest in our team winning I wanted guests to work cooperatively with different people throughout the day. This also made it a bit of fun as you would get to chat with everyone and not just be paired with one person for hours on end.

For each game I wanted teams reformed and given that some games had two teams, some had four, I needed a flexible system. I decided a random lottery draw of players was the way to go and I wanted to make it a bit fun. Ahead of the party I asked each guest to tell me who they were dressing up as. I printed a small 3cm version of that characters head. I purchased two packets of colour table tennis balls and painted them a colour to match their character. The viola, eight character lottery balls.

PRIZES

There is no point having a competition if you don’t have prizes - if you ask me. And where do you keep your most prized and valuable possessions in the wizarding world - Gringotts, of course. To create a spectacular Gringotts complete with vaults I reached out to my dear friend Ikea and procured a small box with storage draws. I had high hopes for decorating this but sadly ran out of time. I did, however, manage to create a beautiful illustration of Gringotts on the side of the draws which really was enough to send the message.

Through the Google search I found a beautiful illustration of Gringotts by artist Jon Torres that nicely suited what I was aiming for. I cropped the image (sorry Jon), so that it matched the side of the unit. I then proceeded to paint a white, grey and blue shadow of the building. Using the computer I flipped the Gringotts image so that it was in reverse. Using a piece of Willow charcoal on the printed, reversed image I traced the outlines and the details that I wanted to retain in my illustration. Once the paint was dry, I placed the charcoal sketch face to the painting and gently rubbed to transfer the image. I used a sealer spray to ensure the image wouldn’t smudge.

Next I had to fill the vaults with treasures worthy of the deepest vaults at Gringotts.

The Philosopher’s Stone - a small red gem wrapped in brown paper and twine. Prize claimed prior to photo…

The Hufflepuff Cup - Quite a number of small plastic trophies - this was post activation of the Gemino Curse.

The Dragon of Gringott’s - A purchased a small dragon decoration from The Famous Arthur Daley and painted in white and grey to mimic the some that appears in the movie.

I also purchased a lot of cheap, knock-off merchandise from Gumtree and even some licensed merch from the shops, Jay Jays and Zing. As each guest won a game they would get house points and to open a vault at Gringotts. So much fun!

A TWIST

I had mentioned in my previous blog that the winner of the Tri Wizard tournament got a special mystery prize as well. That additional prize was the Elder wand (in necklace format) to be retrieved from the Cabinet of Requirement. The Elder wand, as we all know, is a very magical and very powerful wand. Whoever had this wand in their possession would be able to alter the course of the game as they saw fit. As in the magical world, there are rules to the magic - they could only use it once per game (let’s be reasonable); they would be disarmed if they lost the game; they could not use the wand to avada kedavra the opposition (let’s keep it PG).