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need DIY Harry Potter gift ideas


wathe
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Hello all,

 

My 6 and 7 year olds are loving Harry Potter right now.  I'd like to make them a few Harry Potter themed treats/gifts for Christmas.  I'm hoping for simple, cheap ideas.

 

So far I've thought of printing up some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans labels and making up packets of gourmet jelly beans, and making chopstick/hot glue wands.

 

They already have cloaks (sewn from black bedsheets)

 

Anyone have any other easy DIY ideas?

 

 

 

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Are they starting to read on their own yet? If they're beginning to read chapter books you can make bookmarks. Even if they aren't the bookmarks can be used in favorite read alouds.

 

One year I made HP bookmarks. Print out pictures of the various characters or locations (mostly Hogwarts) on card stock. You can make several on one sheet then cut them into bookmark size strips. You can laminate them if you have a laminator, or use clear packing tape if you don't.

 

ETA: I used colored card stock but you can use white.

Edited by Lady Florida
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We did something like this several years ago--did the jelly bellies. Also did "cauldron cakes". Just bought some cupcakes at the store and made our own label for them. Got a frog-shaped candy form and made chocolate frogs--put them in a box with a homemade label. They also got Halloween costume robes/wands with this.

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Oh my gosh - I WISH I could go back in time and do all the Harry Potter crafty stuff again!! That was my favorite chapter of homeschooling/parenting hands-down!

 

Here is a link with some ideas:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/crafts/

 

At that age, they'd probably love their own Pygmy Puffs:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/crafts/crochet/pygmypuff/

 

You could also make letters to them (from Hogwarts) inviting them to a very merry Hogwarts Christmas celebration. Then have chocolate frogs, Berties beans, and some of the other foods described in the books as a main course.

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Just thought of another favorite thing we did that would be fun - especially with the new movie coming out soon. It's more of an activity, though...

 

I gave each kiddo (and myself!) a dragon described in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book and they had to draw a very detailed dragon according to the description in the book. Sort of following the style of the Dragonology books (we labeled things, wrote little descriptions in the corners, wrote fancy-lettered titles at the top of each page w the name of the dragon...):

 

http://static.srcdn.com/slir/w570-h337-q90-c570:337/wp-content/uploads/Interior-Page-from-Dragonology-Book.jpg

 

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/ology/images/c/c2/076362814X_int_1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080723145633

 

We spent about 30 minutes per dragon/beast assigned and sat down a few times a week to draw. The rules were: If the book described something in detail, we HAD To include it in the drawing-exactly as described. If it didn't give specific details (ie. color, size, etc) we were allowed artistic liberties. My youngest was probably your kids' age when we did this.

 

We did them on blank sheets of paper, and when we'd completed all of them we found interesting, I bound them together. It's one of my favorite things to stumble across when I go through the shelves. :)

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I'm doing a HP themed gift set this year. My 7 year old did is getting the new HP illustrated hardback book, this coloring book http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Coloring-Book-Scholastic/dp/1338029991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448888689&sr=8-1&keywords=harry+potter+colouring+bookand I'm making a homemade 'potions kit' a friend recommended from Pinterest. I'm saving all sorts of glass jars and droppers and printing out old fashioned labels for them. There is a "spell" book floating around somewhere, that renames household ingredients HP style-black cookie sprinkles become spider legs, dry beans become some sort of egg, soaked chia seeds are lizard eyes, baking powder is ground up bones, vinegar is bile, corn syrup is frog slime, ect. I can't wait, I think she will love it!

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ebay has lighted resin wands (dumbledore, harry, hermione, etc.) for $10 - $15 including shipping.  they ship from china/hong kong.  I got one for dudeling's halloween last year.  came with two lightbulbs.  they sell the same one on amazon for 2 - 3 times as much.

 

eta: I found narcissa malfoy's for $6.  many of them are 'buy-it'now' so you don't have to hassle an auction.

Edited by gardenmom5
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  • 1 month later...

We've been watching the movies this week and I've been serving treats. We got the Unofficial HP Cookbook and I've used it to make a steamed pudding and crumpets, and I've made butterbeer from an online recipe. I'm making pumpkin pasties today. Roast beef and yorkshire puddings are on the menu for the week too, as is an almond cake "from Hermione."

 

I'm thinking of using HP as my Bunco theme this year, and I was planning on making the scorecards look like Hogwarts letters with the wax seal. I'll go through the links above and find some more. :)

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One year, we had a Harry Potter birthday party and made felt wizard hats for all the guests and it was super fun and easy. I just made up a pattern with paper and cut the circles out of the felt and used glue guns to connect the brim to the pointy part. Practice it up with paper before finalizing the pattern. We used pretty colored ribbons (wide, about 2" wide) around the base of them -- wide ribbon is needed because it covered the ugly glued seam where we'd connected the peaked part to the brim -- and had big fake crystals to glue on to decorate as well as glitter glue. It took maybe an hour and was quite fun. The party was for kids 10-15 and all of us (including parents) made and enjoyed our hats. They're still going strong in the dress up bins. You could use other colors, but the black was easy to find and cheap and we added color with the ribbons and decoration. Felt is the best material for the hats, as it has enough body to keep its shape. (Most fabrics are too floppy.) If you want to involve the kids in the project, you could just assemble a package of felt and ribbon and decor items in a "Make your own Wizard Hat" kit, which would be super fun. 

 

You could similarly make wands from sticks you find in the woods with a little whittling and decorating. 

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I found "bean boozled" jelly bellies just before Christmas- they have several different colors and each color comes in two flavors- a good one and a disgusting one. There is a green that could be lime or lawn clippings. A black that could be licorice or skunk spray. A speckled one that could be tutti fruiti or stinky socks. I put them in the kids' stockings and said it was the closest thing I could find in the Muggle world to Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean. My 8 year old loved it, my 5 year old did NOT. She gave hers to her brother. I tried to be a good sport and got a stinky sock. It was truly disgusting. But ds had a great time with them. I found them at Five Below.

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