Harry Potter Minute to Win It Party

We did this Harry Potter Minute to Win It Party for a “Midnight at Hogwarts” party for New Year’s Eve. But you could really do it for anything – a birthday party, a school reading party, a mutual activity, or just for fun.

It is a tradition at our house to celebrate with an Italian New Year’s Party with an earlier countdown at 3PM (midnight Italian time) since my kids never make it to midnight in one piece. But this last year I thought it would be fun to relocate to Hogwarts with a Harry Potter Minute to Win It Party. Since it is midnight at Hogwarts in England at 4:00 PM our time, we switched our countdown to then.

For the New Year’s Party, we played Harry Potter themed Minute-to-Win-It games, ate pizza, drank Butterbeer, celebrated the countdown with a bang, and gobbled up cauldron cakes.

Here are some of the games we played. Have fun!

Harry Potter Minute to Win It Party Games

Erumpent Horn

The horn of an Erumpent (an animal resembling a rhino) contains a dangerous fluid that causes whatever it is injected into to explode. Create your own horn by stacking five disks on your head in 60 seconds. Be careful it doesn’t blow up!

The horn disks were created by cutting pool noodles up into slices. The easiest way to do it is with a knife and a cutting board. You just cut it much like you would slice a cucumber.

Unicorn Tail

Unicorns are highly valued by wizards as one of the world’s most magical creatures. Unicorn hair is often used in wands. Shake your unicorn tail to get all the balls out in 60 seconds.

This is a variation of the Junk in the Trunk game. I just gave the tissue box a unicorn tail and extra bling.

If your kids are big fans of poop emojis, you can even replace the balls with these little poop emoji toys. But we didn’t go there because my kids have a hard time coming back.

Wingardium Leviosa

Wingardium Leviosa is a charm used to make things fly or float. Try to keep your balloon up in the air for 60 seconds only using your wand.

You don’t need fancy wands for this game. We just used chopsticks that looked like wands!

Everte Statum

Often used in duels, this incantation causes things or your opponent to fly back several feet. For this game, it will be used to blast (blow) the ping pong ball from one water-filled cup to the next.

We did this outside because it got messy. You have to fill the cups full enough to be able to blow the ball out of them.

Triward Cup Maze

To win the Triwizard Tournament, participants must complete several challenges, including navigating a dangerous maze. For this challenge, you must blow a cotton ball through the maze in 60 seconds.

You can create the maze on the floor using masking tape or by lining up your kids’ blocks.

Devil’s Snare

This plant has a deadly habit of wrapping around and strangling anything that touches it. Wrap your partner up tight by wrapping an entire roll of toilet paper around your partner’s body in 60 seconds.

We decided to use black streamers because it looked spookier.

Mirror of Erised

This mirror shows the “deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.” Use it to show you the way through a maze of chairs by walking backwards with the mirror to guide you.

Winged Keys

To guard the Sorcerer’s Stone, Professor Flitwick enchanted several keys to fly in a flock. Harry Potter had to find the right one while fending off the attack of the others. Send your own keys flying by using the head of a key to flip 3 other keys into glasses 3 inches away.

This is a variation of the Minute to Win It game “Stay on Key.”

Collect the Dragon Eggs

To win the Triwizard Tournament, participants had to complete several challenges, including collecting dragon eggs from an angry momma dragon. Using two wands as chopsticks, pick up the eggs (jelly beans) and collect them into a bowl.

We used Nerd Jelly Beans because they looked more like dragon eggs.

House Sorting

When you first get to Hogwarts, the sorting hat sorts each student into their houses – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. For this challenge, you will need to sort the Tic Tacs into their own cups by color using only a pair of tweezers.

Fluffy
Fluff is a three-headed, ferocious dog used to protect the Sorcerer’s Stone. Show how scary you can look by picking up the ruler with your mouth and shaking your head to empty both boxes of mints. You cannot turn your head upside down or sideways.

This game is a variation of the Minute to Win It Game “Mad Dog.” I didn’t manage to get a photo of this one, so if you throw a Harry Potter Minute to Win It Party, please send me some photos!

Download Harry Potter Minute to Win It Party Sign Printables (PDF)