Make your own Harry Potter Christmas decorations: How to make it magical!
Thanks to our tips, a magical Christmas should no longer be a hackneyed cliché phrase. Because with just a few simple steps and well thought-out spells, you can experience a truly magical celebration.
"Wingardium leviosa!" shouts Professor Flitwick, teacher and expert professor of wizardry at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The words make a crescent moon and star float to the top of his Christmas tree as if by magic (in the video below from 0:22).
Unfortunately, muggles (non-magicians) are not capable of such levitation. Since magical applications are forbidden by law in front of non-magicians anyway - we don't want "silly wand-waving and childish witchcraft" to jeopardise the secrecy of the wizarding world - I would like to show you how you can conjure up a little Harry Potter flair in your own four walls even without magical blood.
A little free tip: You can easily do everything I show you here on your own. But it helps immensely if you get someone who is at least as crazy about magic as you are to help you. In my case: my Hufflepuff girlfriend (I'm a Gryffindor, by the way). John Williams' unforgettable music for the film is also a must, which you have playing in the background. "Da daaa, da-da daaa, daa daaa, daaa.... and so on".
Golden snitch made from Christmas baubles
In principle, quite simple: get a few golden Christmas baubles, paint a structure on them with hot glue and then glue golden wings to them. Voilà! But one thing at a time.
- Using a hot glue gun and the corresponding ammunition, draw the structures of the golden snitch onto the ball. You can see what a snitch looks like here
- My friend and I discussed whether we wanted to simply use feathers as wings. We decided on golden paper, about 200 grams in weight. You can find paper like this in any DIY store.
- Draw a template on a sheet of paper before you start snipping away at the precious golden paper. This way, all the wings will look exactly the same. You can see what the shape of the wings could look like in our pictures below.
- Now it's time to cut! We have added small grooves about half a centimetre apart.
- Once the pair is cut out, glue it to the ball. We first tried using quick glue, but the paper didn't dry quickly enough. So it's better to use the hot glue gun. 8.
So, after you've glued both wings on, the end result should look something like this:
And this is what it looks like when you hang the snitch on the tree:
Homemade magic wands
"The wand is looking for the wizard, Mr Potter," whispers Mr Ollivander in his soft voice. He owns the specialist wand shop in Diagon Alley and is considered the best wand maker in the world. I imagine the old man scrutinising me with his large, pale silver eyes - which don't blink but often seem fixed and brash: "How the magic wand chooses its master is not always clear. But one thing is very clear, namely that we can expect great things from you".
Thank you for the motivating words, because my Hufflepuff friend and I really do have big plans: We're turning an ordinary paintbrush into a magic wand. That alone is a bit magical, isn't it?
- As in the film, we use different brush sizes to make different sized wands.
- The hot glue gun is also used here. Wrap the brush bristles and don't be stingy with the glue. After all, this will be the handle later on.
- Create wild textures or smooth everything out nicely. It's up to you - after all, it's your world. Oh man - now I sound like Bob Ross.
- Now the spray can comes into play: spray everything until there's nothing left of the surface. Hufflepuff girl and I used two colours
- Make sure to allow the spray coat to dry sufficiently. Without magic applications, you should allow around 1-2 hours.
- Now you can pimp your magic wand to your heart's content with gouache colours. Gold and silver look good, but you can also add a little blue or a dash of black. As I said, it's your world...
- Spontaneous idea: embellishments for the finishing touch! Use a little all-purpose glue to coat the relevant areas and then simply pour the glitter product over it.
- "I'll open up at the end." Okay, it's written on the snitch that Harry inherited from Albus Dumbledore, but you can just as easily refer to the clear lacquer spray that you use to seal the colour on the wands.
The end result looks something like this:
By the way, the little wands ended up directly in our Christmas tree:
Flying keys with wings
Courageous as I am as a Gryffindor alumnus, I would like to undergo the same test as Harry in the first volume: Catch a flying key to open a secret door before the other flying keys turn me into grits.
The plan? To hang the keys on an invisible thread all over my flat. I got them, the cute little things, from a less than reputable Muggle institution whose-name-may-not-be-mentioned-here. And I did it online. Only when I picked them up in the shop did I realise that the keys are so small that one of them fits comfortably on the tip of a finger!
Of course, I wouldn't be a Gryffindor if I gave in so easily. Okay, my loyal Hufflepuff friend helped turn the failed key project into something clever after all.
- Take a piece of silvery paper, as thick as possible, and draw small, symmetrical wings. Like butterfly wings (Ron: "Why do they always have to be spiders? Why can't we just follow the butterflies?").
- Use the hot glue gun to press a small dot onto the centre of the wings.
- Press the spanner onto it and wait until it has dried.
Try not to always use the same shape. Sometimes round corners, sometimes pointed corners. This will add a bit of variety. For example like this:
Floating candles
Harry, Ron and Hermione enter the Great Hall of Hogwarts for the first time. Harry and Ron can hardly keep their mouths shut in amazement. No wonder, with so much magic gathered in one place! Only Hermione stares right past the flying candles - which have almost achieved cult status: "By the way, the ceiling isn't real," she says in a slightly ninth-grade tone, "it's just enchanted to look like the sky outside. You can read about it in the History of Hogwarts book."
What kind of Hogwarts students would my girlfriend and I be if we didn't give our guests such a rousing reception? And so the plan to make floating candles is born!
- We got ourselves LED candles. These have the advantage that they are battery-operated and don't get particularly hot thanks to the LED. Almost like real magic: no black spots on the (unfortunately not enchanted) ceiling!
- The hot glue gun is used again. Yes, this thing is simply super practical and should be adored. We use it to conjure up little droplets of melting wax on the LED candles, just like a real candle
- Use an invisible thread to hang them up. First, attach the thread to the candle with hot glue (where the drops are already), then attach the blanket. To make the effect as cool as possible, we choose different heights - the candles should float around randomly and not be arranged like a small army of goblins.
- How do you attach the candles to the ceiling? We first tried it with transparent adhesive strips. With moderate success. Then we used white tear nails. The candles are still holding today :).
Ideas that are not "self-made"
Because certain things just pop up during a Christmas shopping spree and don't disappear from our creative minds, here is a small collection of decorating ideas that we didn't make. Don't worry, you can leave your gallons behind - none of this should cost you more than a few beads.
Time reverser as a tree decoration
Admittedly, you can't really tinker with them, the time reversers that Harry and Hermione use to travel back in time to save lives. In any case, we couldn't find any instructions anywhere that would have been comprehensible to mere mortals or non-magicians. What's more, we don't want to put you through more effort than you can manage on a cosy Sunday afternoon.
Luckily, the vastness of the internet offers plenty of places you can go to get one. My girlfriend and I are totally fascinated: The unique combination of fantastic-looking design and mechanical construction is something that characterises many props from the Harry Potter universe. This makes them seem magical, strange and exotic, but at the same time they are grounded in our reality and therefore always remain tangible. No question: the little turntables are going on our tree!
The Nimbus 2000 - the (almost) best racing brooms of our time
Harry doesn't fly just any broom. That wouldn't do justice to the world's most famous boy wizard. No, at the beginning of the story at least, he is the proud owner of a Nimbus 2000. The flying brooms in the Nimbus range are regarded as excellent racing brooms with unrivalled flying qualities. The Nimbus 1000, co-developed by company founder Devlin Whitehorn in 1967, was able to accelerate to an unprecedented speed of 160 km/h within seconds. The previous leading racing brooms, the "Sauberwisch" and the "Komet", lost their top position as a result.
So, and because it's all so damn cool that a person like Joanne K. Rowling comes up with so much backstory, a broom decoration like this should not be missing from our collection.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Panting and with beads of sweat on his face, Harry crouches down. No wonder, because he has just attempted one of the most difficult spells in the world: the Patronus. The spell is so difficult to perform because it has to be created from the pure power of a happy memory. This is obviously very difficult, especially in the terrifying situations in which the Patronus spell is used.
The patronus - the personal protector that appears during this spell - takes on a different animal form for each person. The animal form symbolises the saving power that the person trusts deep in their heart. Harry's patronus is a stag, for example, because his father had the ability to transform into one.
When my Hufflepuff friend and I walked past these golden stags on an afternoon stroll through Hogsmeade - also known to Muggles as 'Constance' - we couldn't help but take them with us. After all, who doesn't dream of an animal form made of pure light that is always there to protect you even in the darkest of times?
Do you have any ideas that my Hufflepuff friend and my Gryffindor brain have totally sweated over? Then let us know in the comments - we're excited!
I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»