Just as there were multiple Harry Potter movies, there will be multiple blog post about the #HogwartsByTheSea project. There’s just so much amazing details to share! We covered Project Introduction in Part 1 so now for Part 2, I shall take you on the journey through the various rooms and spaces we recreated for this epic party. This is definitely my longest blog post ever. In fact, I struggled for weeks to get through this but alas, it is done! Grab a bowl of popcorn or Bertie Botts jellybeans and happy reading my Harry Potter friends! ⚡🏰🪄⚗️🐍
Platform 9 3/4 – “Wow” factor was important to my client so guests arriving for the party were greeted with a touch of magic right from the entrance – a grand brick wall, reminiscent of Platform 9 3/4!
My team built a 12′ wide by 8′ tall wooden wall panel comprised of three 4′ wide by 8′ tall sections hinged together. We attached a photorealistic brick backdrop with several Command velcro strips. The rest of the items were then nailed or taped to the backdrop depending on the weight of the decorative items. The addition of the balloon garland infused party colors and softened the hard edges of the backdrop wall. Faux packages, cleverly disguised online shopping boxes, added a touch of whimsy! One of my favorite pieces I love to incorporate into parties are foamcore cutouts. The Hogwarts Express cutout was perfect not only in tying in more iconic Harry Potter elements but its size balanced the composition of this vignette.
Sorting Hat Station – Guests then ventured down a pathway lined with black vintage hanging lanterns, which was subtle nod to the scene in the first film where the young wizards and witches arrived at Hogwarts via lantern-lit boats.
On the large front porch, we set up a Sorting Hat station where Dumbledore (actor) placed the Sorting Hat on the child and announced their House based on a small scroll the child had chosen from a bowl of paper scrolls. The child would then receive corresponding House scarf, cape, glasses, and a goodie bag.
The Sorting Hat activity was a hit as it was a great photo op and really got the kids excited even though some of them probably hadn’t even been introduced yet to the wizarding world of Harry Potter!
Foyer – One of the first purchases I made was a Hogwarts Express Battery-Operated Toy Train. It was a bit of a cart before the horse situation. I found a killer deal off Facebook Marketplace but I hadn’t thought about where to put it.
At this time, the entire home was empty and I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed at the thought of filling in 4,000sf to feel “lived in”. So, I focused on smaller spaces, one at a time, starting with the foyer.
We centered a classic wooden brown round dining table in the foyer, dressed the tabletop with black shimmery tulle, added the train set with a closed circular track, and in the middle, we added a Hogwarts Castle Lego set that my client built with her kids. It looked so so good!
My favorite piece in this space would be the custom-designed Mirror of Erised. Instead of buying the gorgeous but pricey one from Pottery Barn, I custom-designed one to be printed on thick 1/2″ foamcore with a cutout in the middle so that the mirror itself was not only beautiful decor but also became a Harry Potter-themed guestbook. Guests used gold and silver chalk markers to leave sweet birthday wishes.
Grand Stairwells – The home had two stairwells with elongated bare walls so it was a no-brainer to recreate the look of oversized paintings and portraits inside Hogwarts castle. I purchased digital “wizard portraits” from Etsy (the one we used appears to have closed its shop) and I digitally added different realistic-looking gold frames over the portraits and had a bunch of these printed at varying sizes at my local print shop.
Pro tip: Poster prints start at 16×20 and can go up to 36×48. I suggest printing 25-35% of your prints at the poster-print sizes and “fill in” the rest of your portrait wall using smaller document sized prints (8.5×11 or 8.5×14 or 11×17) because those are much more affordable.
At the bottom of the main stairwell, there was a feature wall which was the perfect spot for the Fat Lady Poster. I purchased the unframed version and my husband built a simple custom frame for it (I attached the poster to the backside of the framing with a staple gun) and we attached it to the wall with Command Velcro strips.
Great Hall – The living room, with its dramatic, soaring ceilings, transformed into a replica of the Great Hall. We strung 10+ rows of clear fishing line above and secured them taut to the side walls with heavy-duty eyelet screws. This allowed us to hang 120 battery-operated hanging candles that not only created visual interest with its flickering lights but also drew the guests’ eyes up to see the House Banners and Ron’s Howler.
Garlands of Hogwarts acceptance envelopes were also tied to the overhead fishing lines to create the fluttering appearance of envelopes flying out of the fireplace.
My client chose a House for each child, Gryffindor and Slytherin so we opted for two long banquet tables, each decorated with corresponding House colors. Tablescape included 3D printed Quidditch rings, tiered dessert trays filled with treats, amber plastic goblets, My Mind’s Eye partyware, mini floral arrangements, gold Deathly Hallow cutouts, and battery-operated tapered lights. Is it me or does this space feel reminiscent of the Great Hall’s Christmas scene, especially with the ruby red and emerald green table linens? 😍
The Deathly Hallows wooden backdrop, a custom piece cut from two large pieces of plywood hinged together at the center, emphasized the focal point of this space. We added decorative props, such as the red velvet chair, gold pedestals, and one of my favorite DIYs…the Dumbledore owl lectern!
Hogwarts Library – Stepping into the formal dining room was like stepping into the Hogwarts Library itself. It was time for some magic! Mimicking the flying books in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, we used clear fishing lines to suspend books mid-air, which would swing ever so slightly when tapped. Adults and kids thought it was the coolest effect!
Set in the middle of the room was a large farm table with a stunning charcuterie tablescape beautifully complemented with stacks of vintage books that we purchased from thrift stores and food cleverly placed on top of loose parchment sheets that looked like torn pages from old books.
An easy DIY that really transformed this space is creating faux stained glass windows with black electrical tape. I didn’t measure it and mostly eyed it as I went, making sure each line was roughly the same distance apart. I love an economical design hack!
Prefect’s Bathroom – The bathrooms were also an opportunity for whimsy fun! Crystal-clear plastic ornaments, glistening like enchanted bubbles, dangled from the ceiling while a bubble machine, hidden in the corner, surprised our guests (especially the little ones!) with a burst of fizzy merriment upon entry. Lucky for me, the timing of this party was right after Easter so I scored a discounted plastic supersized golden egg from Target and hand-sketched the Golden Egg design on it.
The Prefect’s Bathroom would not be complete without the Portrait of the Mermaid. This faux stained glass window DIY project is one of my favorites! It’s so magical it deserves its own tale, which I’ll unveil in a future post!
Honeydukes – One of the must-haves for my client was to make the event interactive and no better way to do that than offer a mega candy buffet! #sorryparents
Foamcore boards were my secret weapons in this space. I love when I get to incorporate my graphic design experience into my event planning work. Partnering with a local printer who specializes in large format printing, I custom-designed facades that when placed over generic white bookcases from Target, looked like something straight out of the Honeydukes! 😍
The Bertie Botts candy display featured clear pasta tubes filled with colorful pony beads to look like jelly beans. The display itself also held individual packs of Bertie Botts candy boxes that were given to each kid.
For this party, kids were allowed to fill the candy bags however much they wanted from the two round tables. The little kiddos were content with a few goodies whereas the bigger kids went to town!
The backwall of “larger and special” treats were only redeemable after the kids played Quidditch outside. Each kid can then get one large prize, which varied from giant lollipops to Dubble Bubble Spiral Gum Dispensers to hand-painted (by yours truly) dragon eggs (post-Easter sale for the win!) that were filled with Harry Potter Kinder Joy Eggs. Yep, I made sure to find the Harry Potter ones…thank you Walmart!
Professor Umbridge’s Office – The existing crystal chandelier in the breakfast nook was the source of whimsy inspiration for this space. We added layers of pink, pink and more pink, channeling the spirit of a certain cat-loving professor! Painted pink walls (we used Sherwin Williams SW6576 Azalea Flower). Handmade curtains from pink floral metallic jacquard fabric. Pink brick wall backdrop. Pink ribbon strands with faux tea (paper) plates with cat images. Pink tablescape. And pink drink wall featuring Butterbeer in mini plastic stein mugs. Professor Umbridge would have been so smugly proud!
Hagrid’s Hut – One look at the family room and we knew what it would become. The towering stone fireplace and the rustic wood mantel looked like something straight out of Hagrid’s Hut. It was the perfect space for the magic show performed by none other than Jeffrey Lee, who performs often at famous Magic Castle in LA! Knowing the magician would stand front and center, we focused on turning the fireplace wall into a natural extension of Hagrid’s cozy hut. We filled the shelves with homely decor and special treasures that we thought one would find in his rustic home. My teammate who is an expert thrifter crushed it with this space! Let’s just say she scoured A LOT of thrift stores, consignment shops, and even estate sales to unearth some truly unique finds. Can you spot the antique rabbit hutch in the top left area?
Chamber of Secrets Bathroom – This bathroom was a hit with the kids although they might have felt differently if I kept the Dementor’s silhouette up on the glass block window. If you have an older audience, I highly recommend making a silhouette of the Dementor from black butcher paper and putting it over a window!
My teammate created the storm cloud ceiling following these DIY tutorial on Instructables and it turned out so good! Using my Silhouette Cameo, I made the Chamber of Secrets wall writing from red adhesive removable vinyl and applied it to the mirror. We added Ministry of Magic decals to the toilet seat as well to tie in other elements from the Harry Potter stories.
Privet Drive – Originally we were going to keep this room closed but I’m so glad we didn’t. There was a small door under the stairwell and we just knew we had to turn this into a tribute to 4 Privet Drive. We inflated an air mattress and made it into Harry’s bed in the “cupboard under the stairs”. The framed pictures of the Dursley family and British-like tchotchkes made you feel like you were in their home!
Diagon Alley – You can’t throw a Harry Potter party without Diagon Alley and I loved how ours turned out for this party! Huge shoutout to my teammate’s husband who works in construction and brought our vision to life!
The ~500sf oversized game room gave us the opportunity to create six shop facades, of which two had door openings where guests could enter for interactive activities. While our version of Diagon Alley is mostly one-sided, we still incorporated decor along the window wall such as the Eeylops Owl Emporium and a Nimbus 2000 “window display”. We opted to go with the most iconic and easy-to-decorate shops for our Diagon Alley: Gringotts Bank, Slugs & Jiggers Apothecary, Flourish and Blotts, The Daily Prophet, Ollivanders Wand Shop, and Potages Cauldrons. All lettering for the shops were unpainted wooden letters from Craft Cuts that we spray-painted and epoxy-glued to the facades.
- Gringotts Bank – Wanna know what was used to create the columns? Concrete form tubes from the local home improvement store! Brilliant, right? The columns, one of which is at a slight tilt, made it easily recognizable that it was Gringotts Bank.
- Slugs & Jiggers Apothecary – Keeping interactivity (one of my client’s must-haves) at the forefront, we conjured up a potion-mixing experience for the young wizards and witches. So we turned this shop into one that you could actually enter. Inside, we had two 6′ tables for potion mixing. The built-in shelves were the perfect display for an array of potions, mysterious powders, flickering battery-operated candles, and faux insect taxidermy decor (inspired this DIY tutorial).
A realistic apothecary backdrop adorned one wall, adding to the mystical atmosphere. We even hung decorations from the ceiling – fragrant dried lavender bundles and black lanterns that lit the dark corners of the room. Every detail contributed to the feeling of being inside Professor Snape’s Potions classroom.
- Flourish and Blotts – A simple way to create the illusion of a bookshop facade is to place a larger poster print behind a faux grid window cutout (we made ours from thin plywood). I love using royalty-free photo collections such as Unsplash and Pexels to find high-quality images. Here’s the one I used.
- The Daily Prophet – This is probably my favorite facade! Just look at all the architectural details! Thanks to my teammate’s suggestion, we decided to create a faux door with moulding which makes a 1000% difference. The vintage door knocker detail really just adds to this look too!
- Ollivander’s Wand Shop – Handpainted “ACCIO” letters and a single pendant with vintage bulb adorned the exterior window display. To recreate the look of the amazing wand walls inside Ollivander’s, I turned to one of my favorite decor secrets: photorealistic backdrops that cover the entire wall! I purchased this image of Ollivander’s and had it custom printed via an Etsy seller. After it was hung, we set up two black shelving units that held a total of 120 long boxes that were individually spray-painted in various jewel-tone colors. Half of the boxes were filled with real wooden wands and a vintage-looking sticker was added to the end of the box.
Ollivander’s was our second interactive shop for the young Hogwarts students, where each child would not only receive their own wand from the wand wall but also learn certain spells that would actually do something within the shop. The instructors taught small groups of wizards and witches a series of three spells:
- Wingardium Leviosa – Fluttering paper butterflies magically flew out when the instructor opened textbooks
- Revelio – A hidden message appeared on artwork via black light bar tucked behind decor. We painted the secret message on the canvas using invisible UV paint.
- Lumos – The Golden Egg lamp magically turned on after the spell was said.
- Potages Cauldrons – Last but not least, we have Potages. I chose this shop facade primarily because I loved the look of the topsy-turvy cauldrons and knew it would be an eye-catching visual element at the end of the long alleyway. We placed boxes inside some of the cauldrons to elevate the cauldron above and every so often, we used strong duct tape to keep them from tumbling down.
At the end of Diagon Alley, we created a faux brick wall with removable wallpaper and printed out a bunch of Wanted or Have You Seen This Wizard printables (so many options via Pinterest). I even made custom Wanted signs of the birthday kids, which their family and friends thought was hilarious. We turned this space into a photo op with a custom-printed foamcore frame, which was another checkmark on making this party as interactive as possible!
Quidditch Trillenium Stadium – The spacious yard was the perfect space for young wizards and witches to learn and play Quidditch. We provided lightweight brooms and set up hoops for them to try flying and tossing soft balls through the hoops. Family and friends cheered from the sidelines while holding up House pennants. We enticed all the kids to play the game which earned them a special token to receive a “large” treat from Honeydukes.
Do you spy something in the nearby tree? 🚙
Outdoor Playspace – Bounce houses are a crowd favorite when it comes to kids’ birthday parties, especially for the little ones. Adjacent to the black castle bounce house, we created an outdoor sitting area that included a really fun activity where kids could test their magical skills on The Golden Snitch claw machines (inspired by Nesti Home who btw also planned a pretty epic Harry Potter party). Ferrero Rocher balls were “golden snitches” and at the bottom of each one, we put a numbered sticker. Some of the numbers corresponded to a prize from our Trolley Cart, some of them didn’t. We wrapped prizes to look like old packages using kraft paper and twine. As you can imagine, this activity station was quite popular as each child tried their hardest to win a prize.
The architecture of the home included several alcoves that were perfect spaces for adding more magical touches. These smaller spaces allowed for us to create focal points rather than trying to fill a large space with many items.
- Divination Classroom – Another photorealistic backdrop framed with velvety curtains created an enchanted recreation of Professor Trelawney’s Divination Classroom. We leaned into the burgundy color scheme and also added ornate fabrics and objects, such as Harry Potter themed tarot cards and a crystal ball. Above the table hung one of our best secondhand finds, a vintage Moroccan hanging pendant. Such a beauty! 😍
- Herbology – We couldn’t forget about the Mandrakes! We utilized the kitchen center island and shelving alcove to display 8 dozen cupcakes that were decorated to look like mandrake plants. We printed and glued on mandrake labels that we found from Etsy. A local mama who is a baking wizard hand made/molded white chocolate mandrakes that sat upon a bed of edible “dirt” and faux greenery leaves.
- Gryffindor Common Room – One particular space presented a fun challenge: a tall, narrow wall between two rooms that needed some Hogwarts magic. Due to its location, the decor needed a shallow profile to avoid obstructing traffic. Since my client chose Gryffindor and Slytherin as her kids’ Houses, I thought it would be a great opportunity to create our own version of the Gryffindor Common Room. This spot was a visual treasure trove as upon a closer look, you would notice many various elements from the books/films, especially if you’re a big Harry Potter fan. We included the large medieval tapestry as seen from the movie. Other notable items are a Gryffindor sword, the Triwizard Cup, torn parchment paper pieces with the names of the Triwizard Tournament contestants, a bottle of Gillyweed, photos of Gryffindor students, a couple Cornish Pixies, and more! Probably my most prized consignment purchase of all purchases was the vintage etched glass globe electric lamp! It looks JUST like the one in the movie!
- Slytherin Corner – Juxtaposed to the Gryffindor Common Room was our tribute to Slytherin. Emerald green and gold wallpaper with a vintage black trunk topped with marble pillows created a sitting area that reflected the Slytherin aesthetic. My crafty teammate created a Pottery Barn Nagini Mirror dupe using a vintage gold frame and spray-painted rubber snakes. It looked amazing!
- Winged Keys & Lego Display – I love the look of repeated elements to fill space and create fullness. We had a unique space where we displayed Harry Potter LEGO sets and hung winged keys at varying heights. We used excess polyfill from the storm cloud ceiling to hide the pins from which the keys hung. I loved the visual texture the “clouds” brought to this space!
Still following along? Well, I’m glad you made it this far! 😆 I wish everyone could have seen this home in person but this blog post will just have to do. Tell me, which room is your favorite?
Part 3 will detail the various DIY projects we created for #HogwartsByThesea as well as shopping list so you can recreate your own! Given how long it took me to write this blog post, I have a hunch that Part 3 will take some time too. Wish me luck!