Wow it’s been a while and I haven’t written anything. I’ve missed a few birthdays in the Harry Potter fandom and probably other things too. So, to get back up I will write about a possible Fandom Themed Birthday Party. It’s not very elaborate and should be easy for anyone to do. This idea is specifically centered around a sleepover, but can be tailored for pretty much anything.
First off, for a Camp Half-Blood theme, ask everyone to wear orange t-shirts if they can. Also give them the following questionnaire to fill out once they arrive. It will help you decide which camp half-blood cabin they belong to:
Name:__________________
A Quiz Sheet:
(Skip any questions you can’t answer)
What’s your favorite color? ________________________________________________________________
What’s your favorite animal? ________________________________________________________________
What do you want to be when you grow up? ________________________________________________________________
What are your hobbies? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
What’s your favorite sport? ________________________________________________________________
What’s your favorite food? ________________________________________________________________
What’s your favorite subject at school? ________________________________________________________________
What’s your favorite kind of movie? (Adventure, Comedy, Horror, etc ...) ________________________________________________________________
Which Hogwarts house would you like to be in? ________________________________________________________________
If you were stranded on an island and could only have one book, what book would it be? ________________________________________________________________
If you were a demigod, which Camp Half-Blood cabin would you be in? ________________________________________________________________
What’s your favorite type of candy? ________________________________________________________________
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
What are some nicknames you’ve been given? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
If you were a superhero, what superpower would you have? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
What’s your favorite drink? (Water, Milk, Apple Juice, Root Beer, etc ... ) ________________________________________________________________
If you were a race in Middle Earth, which race would you be?(e.g. Elf, Ent, Dwarf, etc ...) ________________________________________________________________
What’s your favorite type of medieval weapon? (Sword, Bows and Arrows, etc ...) ________________________________________________________________
Don’t tell them what it’s for if possible. That should make it easier for them to answer the questions and the answers won’t be based on what cabin they’d like to be in. Grade the quizzes as people finish, giving one point to each god/goddess for each answer that seems to point toward them. Give 2 points for their answer to the question about what cabin they think they might be in. Then tally everything up. Sometimes answers are neutral and don’t point to anything, so only grade what you can. Once that is done, everyone should know their cabins are and should gather in them to make teams.
Note: It’s a good idea to have dinner or whatever snacks set out around the beginning so people will have something to do while the quizzes are being graded.
Then comes the first activity. It’s decorating cabin flags. Pass out pieces of paper to each cabin and let them decorate it however they want. Take a picture of each team with their flag if you want.
After that, it’s time for Capture the flag! Traditionally Athena and Ares lead each team, so if there are people in each of those cabins, then they can be the leaders. Divide the other cabins onto each team so each team has an even amount. You can play capture the flag anywhere. You can go to the park, you can play it in the backyard, or you can even play it inside the house. The first team who brings the other team’s flag back to their side wins.
There are several variations that can happen after this. Either you can set up sleeping bags near the TV and watch a fandom related movie (we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) or you can set up tents in the backyard. If you have access to multiple tents and have a big yard, consider letting each cabin have their own tent.
Other activities that can be thrown in at any time include:
-Marshmallow roasting and campfire songs
-Blue or regular cake (I suggest not using egg yokes if baking the blue cake yourself. If you do then the cake turns out more green than blue)
This can turn out to be a pretty fun birthday party. Some of these ideas are more complex than others and for my birthday party, we did everything above except the tents and roasting marshmallows. Also the cake wasn’t blue, though I have had blue cake before. Anyway, before this post ends, I’d just like to add a list of important birthdays:
- 11th (They get their Hogwarts Letter)
- 12th (They usually get brought to Camp Half-Blood around this time)
- 17th (They are legally allowed to practice magic outside of Hogwarts)
- 50th (Gandalf takes them on an Adventure)