Wands - the making of

It's fairly cheap to make cool looking wands.  Walmart has round wooden dowels in assorted sizes for $1 per pack.  Other people have used chop sticks.  We used hot glue guns, black acrylic paint (we tried other colors but liked the black the best), and glossy acrylic spray sealer. 

The kids love to use the glue gun and shape the glue (once cool enough, wait until it's slightly cloudy). Painting the wands was more time consuming and tedious -- too many nooks and crannies.  Maybe spray painting would have been better?  Regardless, you can make these in one day.

Dowels with the glue designs added

Painted with black acrylic

And, finished with spray acrylic sealer.  Can you spot the Elder Wand?

Quidditch Pitch

Our kids have been wanting to play Quidditch for quite some time.  How do you make the field?  I found several tutorials using PVC pipe and solvent cement.  If you plan to play Quidditch every weekend, then these industrial strength courses are just for you.  If you plan to play for 30 minutes at a party, and re-use the hula hoops and garden stakes for other things, then this post is for you.

This version is often referred to as Muggle Quidditch, as, unfortunately, our brooms don't actually fly.

The Quidditch Pitch (Course)
Six garden stakes, six hula hoops from the 99 cent store, nails, and cheap Halloween brooms, under $40 in total

This is what you need:

1. Open field/yard (the Quidditch "pitch" or course)
2. One broom for each player
3. Six goal hoops (Keepers try to keep the quaffle out of the goals)
4. One Quaffle (the ball the Chasers throw through the goals to score)
5. Two Bludgers (Beaters try to hit other players with these balls)
6. One snitch (Seekers try to get this ball)

Each team has 7 players:

-Three Chasers
-Two Beaters
-One Keeper (you could add another keeper if you have more kids)
-One Seeker
(You need one referee to organize the mayhem)

How to play:

1. Place one Quaffle (largest ball) and two Bludgers (medium sized balls) in middle of field, hide the snitch somewhere in the yard (smallest ball)
2. Each team starts from their end and runs to middle to try to get their assigned balls (except the Keeper who stays by the goals)
3. Chasers try to obtain the Quaffle and score
4. Beaters try to obtain the Bludgers and throw them at the opposing team members
5. Seeker tries to find the snitch
6. Keeper defends goals 
7. When the snitch is found, that match is over, whoever has the most points wins

Rules:

-Each goal is 10 points
-The team that finds the Snitch gets 50 additional points
-Stay on your broom
-Don't throw Bludgers at the Keeper
-You cannot touch anything but your assigned ball
-If you get hit by a Bludger, you have to sit out for 10 seconds (kids can count themselves)
-If you were holding the Quaffle when hit by a Bludger, you have to drop the Quaffle and sit out for 10 seconds

Tip: Drive the stakes in the ground first with a mallet, then nail on the hula hoop.

Platform 9 3/4

The crest and platform number were printed on photo paper and affixed with glue.  Scrap wood and gold paint used for frame.

Platform 9 3/4 makes a great entrance.  There are several ways to do accomplish this.  An easy way to do this is to wrap your door or hang this plastic brick backdrop from your door frame. If you slit the plastic so people can run through the wall per Mrs. Weasley's instructions, "Do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous," tape the top of the slit so it doesn't rip. 

My husband decided to go bigger.  Disclaimer -- he actually does have a background in set design, so this was his contribution to the party.  He built a wood frame that would fit between our front pillars and wrapped it with muslin.  You could also get an old white or tan curtain panel and use a tension rod to hang it in the front door frame -- to avoid building the wooden frame.

After priming, he used flat red primer for the brick color using a template that he made from Trader Joe's bags.

Flat red primer

Muslin wrapped frame, primed and showing brick template

Stencils from Walmart were nearly perfect for the font. He used a piece of scrap metal for the sign itself, and spray painted it dark red with letters in gold.