We end our season of midwinter holidays with Harry Potter Day, or perhaps more accurately, Harry Potter Weekend. It is another movie marathon, although we don’t quite watch them all. Eight films is a lot.

If you’ve been following along it might seem like this holiday requires the most work, but really it is the cumulation of multiple past parties for birthdays, film releases and movie marathons. Some we’ve hosted, some we’ve guested. If you’ve ever googled “Harry Potter party ideas” you know the thrilling and overwhelming amount of material out there. It can feel a bit like one of those hurtling cart rides down the tunnels of Gringotts with endless twists, turns, and drops. And when you finally find your way back to the surface you know that you passed through only a fraction of the caverns.

So here, for your amusement or assistance are some of our favorites that we have accumulated over the years.

Of course we dress up, as you can see. But then of course we have to dress up our surroundings as well.

Decorations

Many thanks to Paper Trail Design for the free templates to make this wizarding library out of repurposed books.

These LED candle lights are fun to hang from your ceiling with fishing line to simulate the floating candles of the Hogwarts Great Hall.

When you name all your pets after Harry Potter characters and dress like Hogwarts professors for Halloween, sometimes your friends give you free cool stuff. My friend Karen gifted me potions labels. You can find free templates here. We collected various sized jars and bottles from our recyclables. Then I let the kids concoct potions out of food dyes, glitter, glue and paint. We even picked up a plastic snake from the Dollar Tree to go in the snake oil. I painted all the lids black and we were done.

A few weeks ago we inherited our new neighbors’ photo booth props (you can find templates here).

And, last but not least, I just discovered this yesterday.

You would think we had enough going on, but you must remember: I am the mother of boys. So, of course, it was a necessary addition.

Food

Rock Cakes and Tea

Hagrid’s version of these are next to inedible, which is a shame because rock cakes are typically a mouthful of crumbly, soft, goodness. They are a common muggle pastry in the UK, and incredibly easy to make. This recipe is comparable to the one I’ve been using for years, only it doesn’t specify what type of dried fruit to use. I’ve always had them with currants. You can also replace half the butter with lard, for a slightly higher rise and softer end result. And the vanilla’s optional. The tea, however, is not. My favorite available on this side of the pond is PG Tips.

Pumpkin Pasties

You can’t have Harry Potter festivities without Pumpkin Pasties, right? I always imagined them sweet, and dutifully transformed my pumpkin pie recipe into little personalized pastries for several years. Even though… I don’t like pumpkin pie. Then our friend Jason made us this savory version, and I have never looked back. They are delicious.

Desserts

Depending on what we feel like, these cauldron cakes are pretty fun–a little tricky, but not too difficult.

Or there is always Harry’s Birthday cake.

There are plenty of recipes online, but I think you can do just as well with: 1) your favorite box cake mix, 2) a tub of strawberry icing, and 3) a tube of green icing. Sometimes you just need the grocery store to do some of the work for you. The best part is, since you are imitating Hagrid’s baking, this cake requires next to no culinary skill. Just do your best and it will be perfect.

Drinks

We’ve tried our hand at various wizarding beverage recipes, but I think my favorite so far are the free labels by Over The Big Moon that you can attach to the front of 2-liter bottles of various colors of soda. The kids were highly satisfied, and I had less to do.

Mischief managed.