Harry Potter Escape Room Party

Since our Harry Potter Party was a Halloween party and not for a birthday, the acceptance letter stated –
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Students shall be required to report to the Chamber of Reception upon arrival, Thursday, October 31st at 2:00pm.

Please ensure that the utmost attention be made to the list of requirements attached herewith.

We very much look forward to receiving you as part of the new generation of Hogwarts heritage.

If you are hosting a Harry Potter Birthday Party, wording might say something like this –

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Students shall be required to report to the Chamber of Reception upon arrival for a celebration honoring…

And if you wanted to include a RSVP, you could incorporate the following –

Celebration begins on 1 September at 2:00pm. We await your owl RSVP by no later than 15 August.

The first stop of our Harry Potter Escape Room Party was The Great Hall (aka our dining room). Hogwarts’ House Banners were hung from the windows, the food was prepared on the table, floating candles glittered above, and the Sorting Hat was waiting for our guests!

Two of my favorite décor spots were the fireplace setup, which represented Harry’s house on Privet Drive when he received his invitation to Hogwarts, and the kitchen area, which doubled as our “Potions” classroom. The painting above the fireplace is something I made for my daughter’s bedroom awhile back and the floating envelopes can either be purchased or made.

Clue 1 – Read to the Group

Everything you seek,
Can be found within these rooms.
Make sure to locate the clues in order,
or it will be your doom.
A sneaky little poltergeist,
has caused things to go amuck.
But you can unlock the secret chest,
with some courage, wit, and luck.

Your first clue is hidden,
where you can plainly see.
It holds important documents,
And this may be the key.

Items Needed for Clue 1 –
⊹ Print or Read from Phone the Breakout Mission and Clue 1

Clue 2 – School Schedule and List of Requirements

Location of Clue 2 – 
⊹ Inside a bag or backpack (we used a vintage document bag) is a school schedule and a list of requirements. In our house, the bag was on the fireplace next to a plush Hedwig.

Items Needed for Clue 2 –
⊹ Bag, Backpack, or a Vintage Luggage Trunk
⊹ School Schedule (*Don’t forget to circle History of Magic) and List of Requirements

Clue 3 – Mandrakes Bookmark inside History of Magic Book

Participants should now be on the hunt for something related to the History of Magic. You can purchase the Unofficial History of Magic or make your own. This is a fantastic tutorial to make your own History of Magic book, if you want it to be a real working book.

I decided to make A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot and Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger. I did not make actual books where each page contained information, but rather purchased 3 blank 7×10 books and added covers to them. I found clipart for the books online, printed them off, and glued them to the blank books. Then, I painted the back of the books in a similar color to the covers.

For the Mandrakes Bookmark, I took a mandrake sticker from the Harry Potter World of Stickers and placed it on a piece of cardstock. Then, I cut it out and placed it inside the History of Magic book.

Location of Clue 3 – 
⊹ The History of Magic Book was located on a bookshelf in playroom.

Items Needed for Clue 3 –
⊹ History of Magic Book (Make)
⊹ Potions Book (Make)
⊹ Mandrakes Bookmark (Make)
⊹ Box with a Lid and Number Lock

Clue 4 – Paper Puzzle of a Quibbler Cover

Hopefully, if your guests are familiar with Harry Potter, the mandrake bookmark will lead them to the Herbology table. It took some trouble to find, but a light-activated “screamer” made this clue more fun. We used the LEGO Harry Potter Mandrake set because we already owned it. The Noble Collection Harry Potter Mandrake is a little more authentic or you could always make your own!

To make the Quibbler cover puzzle, I took clipart of a Quibbler cover and placed it in PowerPoint (you could also use Adobe Photoshop or something similar). I then overlaid it with a puzzle outline, printed it, and cut out the pieces. This is best done with cardstock so the pieces have a little more weight and structure compared to standard printer paper.

The puzzle pieces were placed in the bottom of the LEGO mandrake pot with the light activated screamer on top and finally, the mandrake.

Location of Clue 4 – 
⊹ Herbology Table in Bottom of Mandrake Pot

Items Needed for Clue 4 –
⊹ Mandrake in Pot
⊹ Light Activated Screamer
⊹ Quibbler Cover Puzzle
⊹ Mandrake Sign

Clue 5 – Riddle of the Week Answer

With a little bit of teamwork, the puzzle was simple enough to solve. The Quibbler setup at our house was back in the playroom on the coffee table. On top of The Quibbler was a pair of Spectrespecs. I found some printable Quibbler sheets here. I printed them out on both sides of standard paper and stapled it together like a magazine. When flipping through the magazine, I created a page titled, “Riddle of the Week,” with scribbles in red. This tutorial provides the red scribble clipart you’ll need. It also explains exactly how the secret message works.

You will need to fill in letters (in order, but scrambled) throughout the page with a blue pen or marker. Ideally, the letters won’t be too obvious without the spectrespecs, but not too faint where it’s hard to read either. I made the specrespecs with this template. You could also purchase an official pair.

The message should state, “Don’t Forget to Send Your Mum and Owl.”

Location of Clue 5 – 
⊹ Quibbler Table (Ours was setup in the playroom on the coffee table.)

Items Needed for Clue 5 –
⊹ Quibbler Magazine
⊹ Spectrespecs
⊹ Blue pen or marker

Clue 6 – “Flying Keys”

If your guests are younger, they may need a little help here. For our guests (ages 8 – 10), I asked, “Where would you go to send an owl if you were at Hogwarts?” One of the guests knew immediately that it would be The Owlery.

In the foyer, I had flying keys floating around to greet the guests. Little did they know that the keys also served as a clue. To make the flying keys, print out the keys template on cardstock. Don’t forget the wings, which you can print out here. Then, write the following number and letter combination on each key wing. It should be one letter and one number per key spelling out: p(6); h(3); o(4); e(2); n(5); i(1), x(7).

The day of the party, fill up 7 white or clear helium balloons and attach the keys with fishing string so it looks like the keys are flying.

On the foyer table was a sign that said Hogwarts Owl Post #6342517. I created it by using a vintage clipart picture of an owl and adding the owl post number to the bottom. At this point, the guests were really getting into it and knew that the number must also be a clue. After lining up the numbers on the Owl Post sign with the letters from the floating keys, the kids spelled out the word, “phoenix.”

Location of Clue 6 – 
⊹ The Owlery (Or in our case, the foyer.)

Items Needed for Clue 6 –
⊹ Flying Keys (Cardstock, Marker, Fishing Line)
⊹ Helium Filled Balloons
⊹ Owl Post Sign
⊹ Paper Hedwig Hanging from Foyer Light

Clue 7 – Ad for Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes

This clue is a lot of fun because it puts some real scientific magic to work. I made the Elder’s Wand and added a magnetic tip in the end, as shown in the Harry Potter Crafting Wizardry book. When picking a magnet for your wand, you want to choose the largest magnet possible to fit the end of your wand tip. This will make the greatest impact when producing the spell.

Then, I placed the Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes ad in the bottom of a chest, covered it with magnetic iron filings (used to represent a phoenix’s ashes), and then placed a piece of plastic over top that. The little pieces of lead can be very messy so I wanted to contain it the best I could.

The goal in this clue is for the wand to move the ashes around to reveal the clue hidden beneath it. You want the magnet to repel the lead shavings so it’s important that you know which direction to glue the magnet to your wand before attaching it. If you do it backwards, don’t fret. You can still attempt the clue, but rather than repelling the lead, it will connect with the wand tip. Since there is a plastic piece covering the lead, you can move the lead around until the clue is revealed.

Revelio!

Location of Clue 7 – 
⊹ Inside the Golden Chest beneath the Phoenix’s ashes

Items Needed for Clue 7 –
⊹ Box or Chest
⊹ Phoenix to Represent Fawkes (Picture, Figurine, or Stuffed Animal)
⊹ Wand with a Magnetic Tip
⊹ Lead for “Phoenix Ashes”
⊹ Ad for Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes

Clue 8 – Jinx Off Picture with Code Circled

This table was set up to resemble a work table that the Weasley twins might use. On the desk was a markup of different designs, some fun odds and ends, a black light pen (needed for the next clue), and the Jinx Off picture with a code circled.

Location of Clue 8 – 
⊹ Weasley’s Table

Items Needed for Clue 8 –
⊹ Jinx off picture with code (5-3-8 – the code for our lock)
⊹ Black Light Pen

Clue 9 – Marauder’s Map AND Potions Book

For the bogart box, I used a leftover Amazon box and folded it to the dimensions I needed. After painting the box black, I printed, “BEWARE! There is a BOGGART in this box. DO NOT OPEN!” on sheet for the top. Once opened, the lid had another sheet that said, “I Solemnly Swear I am Up to No Good” and when the map is removed, a sheet on the bottom stated, “Mischief Managed.”

I chose a 3-digit code for the lock because there are only 6 possible combinations to try so even if they got it wrong the first time, it wouldn’t take too long to crack it. Before the kids started punching in digits, I encouraged them to write out the code possibilities so they could mark out the wrong ones.

The Marauder’s Map was purchased online and I marked it with footprints using the marker from the black light pen. The footprints ended at Passage to Potions, which was circled.

Location of Clue 9 – 
⊹ Both the Bogart Box and the Potions Book were on the Bookshelf in Playroom

Items Needed for Clue 9 –
⊹ Code (5-3-8) from Jinx Off Poster
⊹ Black Light Pen
⊹ Marauder’s Map
⊹ Bogart Box
⊹ 3-Digit Lock

Clue 10 – Paper with Deathly Hallows Symbol

It was now the moment the guests had been waiting for: the Potions table! However, we weren’t ready yet. The guests headed straight for the Potions area, which was setup on our island in the kitchen, but they were still missing one key thing. There were two things needed at the bookshelf, the Marauder’s Map which led the way, but also the Potions book, which had the potion recipe that we would be using.

*Please note – Science experiments should always be conducted in a well-ventilated area under adult supervision. 

Although I called the potion, Felix Felicis, I made up my own ingredients based on the stickers used for the potions jars. Our Felix Felicis included:

• Juice of Squill Bulb – Water (could be dyed, but ours was kept clear since the color would change with the tablets)
• Lacewing Flies – Bath Color Fizzies
• Boomslang Skin – Bath Crackles
• Ashwinder Egg – Homemade Bath Bomb with Plastic Container Inside
• Frog Parts – Dry Ice

We had 4 guests total so I had each one put in an ingredient and I put in the dry ice at the end. They absolutely loved watching the mixture change with each new ingredient. Once the dry ice started to fade out, I fished out the plastic container and handed it to one of the kids to open. Inside the container was a small piece of paper with the Deathly Hallows symbol printed on it.

Location of Clue 10 – 
⊹ Paper found in plastic container within bath bomb

Items Needed for Clue 10 –
⊹ Potion found in Advanced Potion Making Book
⊹ Black Cauldron
⊹ Potion Ingredients: Water, Bath Color Fizzies, Bath Crackles, Homemade Bath Bomb with Plastic Container Inside, Dry Ice
⊹ Potion Jars
⊹ Stickers for Potion Jars

Final Clue – Deathly Hallows Symbol on Box

All of the hard work was about to pay off. We circled back to where it all began and the kids headed straight for the box. There were no tricks here, just treats. Inside the box lay (4) house crackers with a different small crocheted owl inside each one.

Based on whichever house they were in from the beginning decided which cracker they were to receive. The house crackers were another project from the Harry Potter: Crafting Wizardry book. And the owls were made from this Hedwig Woobles kit and then altered in different yarn colors. If you are looking for an easier treat, Chocolate Frogs would be fun or Magic Wands for each guest!

Location of Final Clue – 
⊹ Fireplace Setup in the Living Room

Items Needed for Final Clue –
⊹ Box with Deathly Hallows Symbol on It
⊹ House Crackers
⊹ Crocheted House Owls