Potter Party — Defeat the Dark Wizards!

Wizards battling for control of Hogwarts. A mad dash to find the horcruxes. A classic battle of good versus evil. Time to bring the dark arts to Hogwarts with this year’s Potter Party!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows may not seem like an obvious choice to theme your party around, but this might be the best wizarding party I’ve ever thrown.

Giving Hogwarts a Dark-Wizard Twist

Start with Your Classic Wizarding Vibe

My big task was not leaning too “generic Halloween” for this Potter party. It still needed to feel like Hogwarts, just with some darker, creepier vibes. So I started with the classic Hogwarts pieces that we all know and love.

I set up floating candles and portraits in my entryway for that immediate punch of Hogwarts right from the get go. My entryway is more contained so you can really pack it full for a great wizarding effect.

I made floating candles several years ago and they really last. They are also incredibly easy and inexpensive to make. I use clear push pins and fishing line to hang them from the ceiling.

Most of the portraits are digital downloads off of Etsy and some key Joann’s Halloween wall decor that I absolutely love. I find grouping them together in one space (like my entryway) is more effective than placing them sporadically throughout the party space.

It’s not Hogwarts without school banners. I made these 7 foot banners for my last Potter Party, and they might be the most impressive Hogwarts item I own. We have an 11 foot wall, and with such a tall ceiling, I wanted something with more impact.

If you have a shorter wall or you just don’t have the time to make your own banners, there are a lot of smaller options available on Amazon that look great.

And last but certainly not least, a bookshelf featuring Potions, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures.

Depending on the theme, I may dedicate a whole bookshelf or section to one specific class (like my first Potter Party), but for this theme I just wanted a sprinkling for that classic Hogwarts vibe.

The key to making your bookshelves extra magical? Layers! My favorite technique is stacking books sideways and placing potion bottles and plants on top to give you varying heights and depths. Plus, A LOT of candles.

For more tips on putting your shelves together, check out this article.

Set the Mood

So how did I give this Hogwarts set-up a darker twist? I started by toning down the brightness in my space.

My usual curtains are a warm white, but there are A LOT of them and it took away from the cozier, darker atmosphere I was hoping to achieve. The only option? Change out the curtains!

I didn’t have four darker curtain panels that were the exact same, but I did have a pair of black velvet damask curtains and a pair of black and silver skull curtains. I alternated them on the curtain rod and the effect was immediate! It changed the ENTIRE mood of the space.

If you don’t want to buy curtains, check out your thrift stores. Having different curtains on the wall worked quite well and played into that quirky wizarding vibe.

I also took my potions and care of magical creatures set up down a darker road mwahahaha. Since the dark mark features a skull, I included several skulls throughout my space. I also have some darker potions and props from the Wizarding Trunk that I tried to highlight.

And of course, you can’t have dark and scary without Hagrid’s giant spider creeping in the background of his shelf.

One last fun detail was my house point counter. If Hogwarts is being run by dark wizards, then of course Slytherin will be winning (by A LOT) and Gryffindor will be right at the bottom.

It’s Not a Dark-Wizard Takeover without a GIANT Snake Cake!

Ok, it may not be giant, but this snake cake was the absolute crowning glory of my food spread this year. And it wasn’t difficult!

Bake two bundt cakes. I just used boxed cake mixes and followed the bundt pan instructions.
Cut each bundt cake in half. Then attach them end to end to form a serpentine shape.

Place them on a long board wrapped in foil so you have a solid base to hold your cake. I just used an old shelf.
Make a head and tail out of rice krispy treats and connect them to the ends of your cake. This isn’t as hard as it may look. I basically made the head a similar shape to what a hand looks like palm down with the fingers together. The tail is just a cone shape that I tapered down to a point and curved a bit at the end to continue that serpentine shape.
(I also trimmed a bit off of the ends of the two bundt cake halves that connect to the head and tail to give me more room for shaping.)
Frost your snake. You will probably need more frosting than you think to do this. I underestimated how much it would take, so some parts are a little sparse. I did spend extra effort frosting where the head and tail connect to the cakes to give it that seamless look.
Top with Hershey’s drops in whatever pattern you desire. You can use any round, flat-ish candy for this. I just didn’t want anything too bright and colorful so I went with Hershey’s.

I always make sure to have a good mix of sweet and savory foods for people to enjoy. Besides the cake, we also had:

Fever Fudge
Butterbeer Fudge
Pastries
Grapes
Bread
Crackers and Dip

Let the Battle for Hogwarts Begin

In past Potter parties, I have split my guests into four teams for games. (Just makes so much sense, you know?) But this year, instead of leaning into the different houses, I went with just two teams — dark wizards vs. good.

And honestly? I liked it better than four teams! With 16 guests, it may seem like that wouldn’t be small enough groups for everyone to get involved. BUT, with the right games, it is totally possible and a lot of fun.

Protect/Catch Potter (a.k.a. The Marshmallow Toss)

At the beginning of book 7, the Order of the Phoenix creates 6 body doubles of Harry to help him escape from Privet Drive. We combined this idea with the minute-to-win-it game “The Marshmallow Toss” for an on-theme game that worked well with multiple people.

Here’s what we did:

- Line up 7 cups/glasses/mugs horizontally. Don’t use thin plastic cups. They are too light and will fall over.
- Take 4 people from each team and line them up on opposite sides of the cups at an equal distance. I placed our participants about four feet away from the cups. It was a good distance for adults!
- Give each team one bag of normal sized marshmallows. Make sure you have marked all the marshmallows for one team so you can verify which team gets the points. I just drew a “V” on the dark wizards’ marshmallows with a marker.
- Each team throws their marshmallows into the cups simultaneously for one minute.
- After one minute, whichever team has the most marshmallows in the cups wins!

To make things a little more interesting we used 4 different sized cups.

The single cup in the middle was the smallest and hardest shot to make. So naturally, it represented the real Harry and was worth the most points.

And in true wizarding fashion, we assigned seemingly random point values to the other cups based on difficulty level as well. (The values weren’t actually random, but calculated to give people a chance to win even if they didn’t make a marshmallow into the real Harry cup.)

Battle of Hogwarts (a.k.a. Swish & Flick)

Since wands and magic were out, we had to make do with a very energetic and slightly athletic round of Swish and Flick (muggles call it rock, paper, scissors).

This is the game I used for inspiration. It’s a little hard to explain in writing, so I highly suggest watching the video first.

Here’s how you play.

- Tape 16 parallel lines on the floor 18” apart to form your “battle ground.”
- Put four people from each team at either end of the battle ground.
- On “GO,” one person from each team will hop from line to line until they meet in the middle.
- When they meet, they must play Swish and Flick. Again, similar to rock, paper, scissors. You use the same symbols, but instead say “swish and flick.”
- The loser leaves the battle ground returning to the back of their team’s line, and the next member of their team starts hopping.
- At that point, the winner will continue to hop towards their opponent’s side until they are met by the next player. This continues until someone reaches the other end of the battle ground.
- Whichever team reaches the opposite end first wins!

Find the Horcruxes

Being the only long-form game, this was the perfect ending to our Potter Party.

Each team had to find all seven horcruxes and a “tool to destroy them” in our “Room of Requirement.” The team with the fastest time won.

The Room of Requirement

I wanted to keep the Room of Requirement a surprise, so I chose to transform the basement. We have a lot of shelves down there loaded with books and board games. This helped fill out the space quite a lot and then I just built on top of that.

You’re really going for a chaotic vibe here. This makes it easier to hide things, and it feels very much like a space where things might get lost.

To make it feel more magical, I used wizarding items that I already had but wasn’t using for the main party upstairs. This included prophecy orbs I made for a previous Potter Party, common room tapestries, a cauldron stack, and more.

I also found that draping fabric and tablecloths over bookshelves and tables helped add to the forgotten, chaotic atmosphere.

Hiding the Horcruxes

I like to reward those with some Harry Potter knowledge at my parties if possible, so when hiding all of the items I put them in places similar to where they are found in the books. This also makes it easier to give people hints if needed.

Slytherin’s Locket: I definitely wanted to recreate finding the locket in the basin at the cave. I was a bit stumped at first, but I decided on using this random glass bowl and filled it with antiqued keys from another project. Then I just buried the locket under the keys to give it some coverage.

Slytherin’s Ring: Dumbledore has the ring in book six, and I happen to have a LEGO Hogwarts set with a Dumbledore figure. So I put the ring on LEGO Dumbledore’s arm. It was actually very visible, but a lot of people didn’t look very closely which made it a great hiding place.

Hufflepuff’s Cup: The cup is found in Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault in Gringotts. To recreate this, I used an old chest and filled it with plastic gold coins, a gold dragon’s egg, and the cup.

Ravenclaw’s Diadem: Harry remembers placing the diadem on a bust with a wig in the Room of Requirement. I still wanted it to be hard to find so I clipped the diadem to a hat stand and put a witch’s hat on top to cover it.

Nagini: This was a tough one since Nagini doesn’t have a specific hiding spot like the other horcruxes. Nagini is almost always with Voldemort so I tried to find something that would represent him. I ended up coiling the snake into a cheap death eater mask and placed it on a bookshelf.

Tom Riddle’s Diary: The diary is kind of all over, but our first introduction to it is technically Lucius Malfoy putting the diary into Ginny Weasley’s cauldron. To mimic this, I took a small plastic cauldron and placed the diary and several other books inside to disguise it.

Harry Potter: We have a closet under the stairs in our basement which was the perfect place to hide Harry’s glasses.

Basilisk Fang: I decided on a basilisk fang for the tool to destroy the horcruxes since I don’t have a large sword. There was also a bathroom in the basement so I had the perfect hiding place. I placed the fang in the cupboard under the sink, but it was surprising how many people didn’t think to look there.

No Dark Wizard Take Over Is Complete Without Our Favorite Couple

When planning this Potter Party, it was a no-brainer what our costumes would be—Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy!

Lucius Malfoy

I put together a death eater costume for my husband several years ago, so I decided to keep things simple and just use that as my base. All I needed to add was a blonde wig and Malfoy’s wand cane. We trimmed the wig up a bit so it wasn’t quite so long and lucious.

Narcissa Malfoy

Narcissa’s costume took a bit more effort. She has several awesome costumes, but I chose her outfit from movie 7 that she is wearing at Malfoy Manor.

The Dress

I didn’t have the time to make her coat AND dress, so I found a dress on Amazon I thought would work. It has a similar color and higher neckline like the dress Narcissa wears, it’s just not quite as long.

It does have a cowl back that I was worried might bulge under the form-fitting coat, but it didn’t show at all.

The Hair

Personally, I abhor wearing wigs and will often avoid costumes that would require one. But Narcissa was just too perfect a character for this party so here we are.

Narcissa’s hair is iconic and somewhat difficult. I have little experience with wigs so I didn’t want to worry about piecing a couple of wigs together. Just more stress haha. Fortunately, I found this two-toned wig on Amazon.

I did have to make some modifications to the wig. Narcissa doesn’t have a middle part, so I rotated the wig just a bit to give me more of a side part. Then I trimmed the length and the bangs to match Narcissa’s hairstyle better.

The Coat

Now for the tough part. I’m a decent seamstress, but I absolutely must have a pattern to get me going.

Fortunately, Joann’s delivered! Simplicity pattern 8482 is the perfect base for Narcissa’s coat. To learn more about the modifications I made, check out this post.

Happy Potter Party!

KellBell

I’m Kelli, a cosplaying Potter Fan who loves to find new ways to cook, design, and experience my favorite geekdoms.

I want to inspire those around me to embrace their inner geek and find creative ways to enjoy the nerdy things they love.