So, we're planning this really cool Hallowe'en party...

[katiesue]

Sounds great. We do a pumpking carving party every year. I just spread out plastic table cloths all over my kitchen floor and let the kids go at it, then they take the pumpkins home. Easy clean up I just gather up the tablecloths and trash em with all the pumpkiny guts in the middle.

I may need to swipe some of your ideas for this years event.

[Moonliner]

Time management.

Something like the whomping willow mentioned above can take a large amount of time to setup (plus it requires a full time person) for about 2 seconds of fun per kid. Make sure you have enough activities for them interested based on the length of the party. Costumes and decorations do not keep kids busy and a busy kid is a happy kid.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

Time management.

Something like the whomping willow mentioned above can take a large amount of time to setup (plus it requires a full time person) for about 2 seconds of fun per kid. Make sure you have enough activities for them interested based on the length of the party. Costumes and decorations do not keep kids busy and a busy kid is a happy kid.

Potions, quidditch. Kids who misbehave can be sent to Azkaban or under the stairs.

[wendybeth]

I like the way you think, Strangler.

I may borrow the Azkaban idea, for everyday use. I'm fresh out of Dementors, but I could throw in some of Eric's socks.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by wendybeth

I'm fresh out of Dementors, but I could throw in some of Eric's socks.

If they're anything like the socks around our house, I'm sure those could suck the life out of just about anybody!

That's a marvelous party idea, Jughead! Sounds like so much fun. Have you guys found the recipes for pumpkin juice/butterbeer online?

The US Potter conventions (I was part of the administrative staff for one once, before I quit. Don't ask.) have an official ground quidditch game and I'd bet they'd be willing to share the rules with you.

We've been to many a Potter book release at bookstores... and we've seen some fun activities. Build your own wand, with string/pipe cleaners/etc. Potions classes... kids could make slime, or do those simple chemistry tricks (color-changing, dry ice, etc.)

I'm sorry I'm not nearer, as to portray the Fat Lady!

And about the whomping willow stuff.. two seconds of glee per kid ain't bad, as long as you have somebody willing to do it. We did a live scarecrow once, and the bursts of terror/laughter made all of the waiting in-between completely worth it.

[Jughead P. Jones]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

Time management.

Something like the whomping willow mentioned above can take a large amount of time to setup (plus it requires a full time person) for about 2 seconds of fun per kid. Make sure you have enough activities for them interested based on the length of the party. Costumes and decorations do not keep kids busy and a busy kid is a happy kid.

Exactly! I think how we're doing it is that each section of the house will be a classroom (i.e. Divination, Potions, Transfiguration, etc), and each class will have an activity. It'll be like a rotation thing going on, similar to class activities within school.

[Jughead P. Jones]

Originally Posted by katiesue

Sounds great. We do a pumpking carving party every year. I just spread out plastic table cloths all over my kitchen floor and let the kids go at it, then they take the pumpkins home. Easy clean up I just gather up the tablecloths and trash em with all the pumpkiny guts in the middle.

I may need to swipe some of your ideas for this years event.

Hallowe'en has always been a holiday that my family has celebrated with full force. About 15 years ago, when I was a small fry, we had a tree in our front yard that was, well...dead. And, we were getting new siding to replace the cracked and warped siding that we previously had when we moved in. So, that year, we decided to have fun with it. We made our house look like a haunted house, and threw a fake corpse in the dead tree along with bats and ghosts. And, we also painted murals on our glass doors to add to the spookiness. The Hogwarts party we're planning this year is going to be really fun to plan out.

I'm glad you like our ideas! Feel free to borrow as many as you like!

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Jughead P. Jones

I know Hallowe'en isn't for a couple of months, but I have to book the night of October 28 off so I can help out with a Hallowe'en party that my older sisters are planning together for their kids and a few of their classmates. (and, by few, I mean the whole classroom)

Before I go on, I should state that my sisters and I are huge fans of the Harry Potter series, and we know far more about the book series than we really should.

So, we figure...why not create a Hallowe'en party where we turn my sister's house into Hogwarts, and where we adults dress like the characters in the book and where the kids are students?

That's exactly what we're doing.

I couldn't go to this party. I'd spend the entire evening trying to get into Snape's crotchety pants.

[Jughead P. Jones]

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

I couldn't go to this party. I'd spend the entire evening trying to get into Snape's crotchety pants.

Yeah...not exactly the most kid-friendly activity.

[Jughead P. Jones]

You guys are awesome! I'll definitely fill my sibs in on these ideas!

The whole Azkaban idea for bratty kids is so cool!

And, actually, we're going to drape a net over black balloons to make Dementors. I just remembered that idea.