It’s hard for me to believe, but My Little Man is now a senior in high school – and that means that this is our last year of book club. As I prepare for him to launch into his future, I’m thinking about what I still want him to learn, things about character and being strong and leaning into what he believes, in part – all those becoming-an-adult things that are so very important. That’s why I chose to kick off this school year with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – this book embodies so many of those things, all while being loads of fun at the same time!
I decided to switch things up a bit and created a game board that follows the sequence of major events for this book. The kids moved their pieces around the board, answering questions about the book and participating in book-related games and activities as they did so. They answered questions about symbols and allegories, about characterization, personal choice, and much more. We also decorated quote bookmarks with charms, found ring pops and Hufflepuff’s cup, and tried to practice our sock throwing skills (cornhole) so we could be ready to free any house elves we might stumble across.
The meat of it all came in the form of our Hogwarts school trunks, though. I spray painted heavy shoeboxes black and printed all sorts of wizarding logos that the kids could use as decorative ‘stickers’ to glue on. As we moved through the book, they took Harry’s challenges and personalized them. When he agonized over the truth in Dumbledore’s obituary, they created mini scrapbooks of their current lives to put into their trunks – something that they could look back at to see who they are right now. When Harry carved Dobby’s tombstone, they wrote their own epitaphs, thinking about what they want to be known for and how they might live that out in the years to come.
We did a lot of snacking, too, because the food connected with the wizarding world is too much fun to miss. I made pumpkin juice, rock cakes, exploding bon-bons, and stew. Since this last book is a bit different in setting than the others, I framed our book club party as the one that Hagrid hosts to garner support for Harry Potter – as mentioned in the PotterWatch radio show. I made ‘Hagrid’s Beast Stew’ as the main dish, and we served it in bread ‘cauldrons’ for fun. I added simple bubble gum, Pocky sticks (as wands), and chocolate frogs, complete with boxes and cards, to round out the food table and to keep the mood festive.
I made a few things for this book club event, too, because I wanted to have memorabilia to go with this one. Party favors, souvenirs – call it what you will – but it was fun.
First I designed a simple logo for the party and had it printed as round stickers. I bought heavy glass tankards from the Dollar Tree and added the stickers – perfect for pumpkin juice or butterbeer at Hagrid’s, right?
Using large, colorful feathers left over from another party, I used glittery washi tape to attach the feathers to the top of simple stick pens. Voila! Griffyndor-themed quills, perfect for the labeling photos and writing epitaphs to go in our Hogwarts time capsules!
So there you have it – our senior-year Harry Potter-themed book club.
Have you read Harry Potter with your kids? I’d love to hear what you did with it!
What are your thoughts?