My Harry Potter Party: Potions Class

Potions Class - The Fun

Unfortunately my Professor Snape wouldn't agree to come (You know who you are.) so Dumbledore taught Potions Class. The kids really had a blast. We had a few do-overs and a couple spills but that was to be expected.

The kids were pretty good about sharing the ingredients but I made sure to have lots so kids weren't standing around waiting.

On second thought perhaps test tubes full of concentrated food coloring wasn't such a good idea.

Some kids even dared drink their potions. For that reason I only used edible ingredients. That's not to say it tasted good.

"Hermione" consulting the potion book to make Polyjuice Potion.

This is how gross they got.

Instruct the kids to dump any rejects in the toilet (and yes they did dump and start over) NOT the sink unless you happen to be a plumber.

The aftermath. I was really glad I used a plastic tablecloth.

Sadly I was so busy the day of the party that I forgot to get any good shots of the potions table beforehand. But I did take some pictures of the ingredients afterward, they are in another post. It really did look cool.

Potions Class - The Decorations

I had to take the liberty of combining elements of different rooms into one. Obviously we didn't have enough space to have a Great Hall, hallways with art, and a potions classroom. I knew Potions class could make quite a mess. I considered the kitchen but I didn't think I could pull off the decorating. So we decided to use our dining room but to remove all the chairs to make it easier for the kids to move around. I hung the 4 house banners from the ceiling. We added to the gallery style artwork that I already had by removing family portraits and hanging the painted eye my father painted and the Shakespeare holograph.

I took a picture of the blackboard from the movie and replicated that as best I could using artists black mat board that I got from Utrecht on Capitol Hill. I did the lettering in real chalk. Steve made a very simple frame that we then stapled the mat board to (using a construction staple gun)and hung screw eyes from to hang it.

The specimen jars and staging area for potions class.

The inspiration for our blackboard - from the movie.

A very handsome toad I got from the toy store.

Some funky pods my friend Janet brought.

A plastic creature from the toy store, in colored water.

A finger ball I got at the Goodwill for $.99. It really is about being resourceful and using what you can find creatively. This was one of my favorite finds.

A crowded glimpse of the potion classroom.

I covered the table with a protector pad, a black sheet and a black plastic tablecloth on top (from the party store). That worked great to protect against spills. I put three metal trays (that I already had) in the center of the table, full of ingredients. It looked really cool. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures before the party started because I was so busy.

I used the same metal trays, that I already had, to protect my sideboard from spills. I set some specimen jars on one of them for something interesting to look at and to help make my dining room look less like a dining room and more like a potions room.

Potions Class - The Potion Jars

My kids had so much fun making potions in a cauldron with their friends earlier in the year. I knew this could be one of the best parts of the party. I had been wanting to create potion bottles for Halloween anyway so I was excited about this because I knew I could reuse them for that purpose after the party. That part was easy.

But what to mix the potion in. I knew one big cauldron would be a disaster as I'd already witnessed the arguments about who gets to add what ingredients to the potion. Each child needed their own container to mix in. Preferably something that was water tight so the kids could take their potions home with them. Fortunately I'd been saving large jam jars so I had a good start but with 16 kids I was going to need a few more so I saved jars for a month prior to the party. Just cleaning the labels off was a job.

I had done some research on the internet and found a few antique English chemist labels. We used those for ideas and then designed our own in Photoshop including the Hogwarts crest our own Chemist logo with a place for the student's name. I printed them onto full sheet (8 1/2 x 11") labels and cut them with a paper cutter, then applied them to the jars.

They turned out cool and I know my kids will continue to make potions in theirs for a long time.

Potions Class - The Ingredients

Making potion ingredients was one of the funner parts of planning this party. I collected cool bottles and jars from the Goodwill for $.69-$2.99 ea. I knew I would reuse them for Halloween so I felt I could justify the time and expense (it adds up) because I knew we'd get use out of them in the future. We made a list of ingredients we needed to make particular potions. We made a potions book as a party favor and many of the kids referenced specific potions from the spellbook during "potions class". I loved trying to create authentic looking ingredients in the kitchen. Maybe I missed my calling as a chemist. A lot of the spices were purchased in the bulk foods department for very little money.

Acid - Jarritos Lime Soda

Mandrake Juice - unsweetened cranberry juice with black food coloring
Swamp Water- water, asafoetida (a super stinky spice), brown & green food coloring

Boomslang Skin - Hyley's loose whole leaf tea soaked in water

Dragon's Blood- Rasberry cocktail mixer

Spider Legs - Black sprinkles from the cake decorating store

Fluxweed - Dill

Knotgrass - Catnip

Lacewing Fly - Plastic flies from the party store

Sal Amoniac - salt
Crocodile Heart - candy hearts
Asphodel Powder - ground mustard seed
Gingerroot - powdered ginger
Salpeter Filings & Rasplings - coarse shaved garlic (Safeway bulk foods)
Daisy Root - Wondra flour