Badge: Harry Potter – Miscellany

This badge covers all the miscellaneous items that didn’t fit into the other nine badge programs in this set.

Steps

1. Houses.

Depending on the size of your event, you may choose to only have one house or all four. You may also choose to create new houses so no one is upset when they don’t get the house they want from the Hogwarts choices. Decide how you will run your magical event.

NOTE: All steps in the Harry Potter badge set are based on Hogwarts four houses. You may need to adjust to make these usable for your event.

2. Type.

Your choices of activities will depend on the length of your event. Decide on the type of event, then the time devoted to activities. Adjust your activities to fit your time frame or ask participants to bring certain materials from home to help with time limitations. Some types of events may include:

After school (1-2 hours daily with rotating activities)
Single evening event (1-2 hours)
Overnight (2-4 hours in evening, possibly 2-4 the next day as well)
Lock-in (8-12 hours of activities)
Day camp (2-4 hours daily over a period of 2-5 days)
Resident camp (2-8 hours daily for length of camp)

3. Bring.

To help reduce the number of activities, you can ask participants to create one or more of the following to bring specific items with them to the event. A starting list is below. This is especially useful for your participants if you plan to run a Harry Potter event more than once. Feel free to add your own ideas to this list.

Book, blank
Cloak
T-shirt, blank
Tote, blank
Scarf
SWAPs
Wand

Provide Web links if you have specific items in mind for patterns or supplemental information.

4. Volunteers.

Make sure your volunteers are familiar with all areas of your event, even if they do not think they will interact with parts of it. Your participants may ask questions of any volunteer and they all need to know what’s happening. Similar to preparing for day camp, you may have all volunteers together for a meeting on-site before the event.

See about hosting a pre-event to allow your volunteers to try the activities, see the props and more.

5. Change.

If you’re planning on running more than one Harry Potter event, think about changing it up. Running the exact same event over multiple years may make it easier for you, but you’ll be reducing the number of people interested in attending your event. For additional ideas, look at the classes supplements (Harry Potter: Hogwarts Activities) as one way you might do activities based on the year.

Theme Ideas

6. Style.

Change the style of your pieces using fonts and graphics. It helps your participants visualize your theme. Find fonts and graphics to incorporate into your preparations and event. Be sure to carry your style throughout your entire event and the materials you prepare for it.

7. Letters.

For camp or special events, two weeks before camp, mail letters or postcards to each participant with their acceptance to Hogwarts. You might include a little note about needing to use the post because all Owls are busy reporting on Voldemort, escapes from Azkaban, discovery at the Ministry of Magic, the Tri-Wizard Tournament or any other large happening that you can tie with your event.

For meetings or after school activities, hand out cards to your participants. Fold the letter in half, add an owl sticker or owl stamp on the outside to simulate Owl mail. You might also want to create scrolls with wax seals.

Check out the provided supplement for ideas and printables to make letters, postcards or scrolls.

8. Signs.

From Hogwarts Express to signs that identify where classes are located, signs are another way to add the theme into your event. They need to match your style (Step 6). Create your own signs, find some on the Web or check out our signs to print for your event.

9. Movies.

You may choose to watch one or more of the movies during your event. Set up and make sure all equipment is working before anyone arrives. Your sound levels will vary greatly between an empty room where there is nothing to stop the sound waves and a room full of people. Make sure your audio is strong enough so everyone can hear over munching and whispering. Also, make sure everyone will be able to see the screen. Remove any obstructions you can and point out those you cannot.

10. Photos.

Make sure you take a photo of the members of each house. If you have the time, take individual photos as well. Look into a site where you can place the photos privately and email the participants the link to allow them to download and print those they want. You can make them more self-sufficient by providing photo booths, boards and props. Providing photos is a low-cost additional activity. Look at various photo sharing sites online to find one you like.

11. Printables.

You may want to make your event a little more specific to your area and participants. Some printables that you may want to personalize for this are:

Wanted posters — create your own escaped Azkaban prisoner notice
Marauder’s map — map out your camp or area with areas noted
Daily Prophet — either highlight happenings at your event, throw in troubling events from Azkaban,
Muggle sightings and news
Graduation certificate — make these specific to your event

What other items might you add that highlight your unique event?

12. Identification.

Prepare name badges / stickers beforehand if possible. If you sort your participants before the event, the identification can have the logo of their house. For volunteers, add titles so your participants know who they are supposed to represent.

13. Areas.

From assigning areas for the houses to using the various locations mentioned in the books and movies, you can hold activities to help carry the theme into your event. Search the Web for specific areas that fit the places you plan to utilize from the steps of the other badge programs or from your own ideas.

Additionally, check out the supplements in the Harry Potter badge set to get more information and ideas that are area-specific.

14. Studies.

See the class supplements for a listing of classes per year as well as some general information and ideas to work with them. Do research on the Web for additional ideas. When you’ve decided what “studies” you want to include, take ideas from the Harry Potter badge set or brainstorm your own activities.

15. Beyond.

Share the fun of reading within the same genre. See the supplement reading list recommendations. Not only might this spark interested in another series, you might come up with related ideas and activities that you can use to make your event truly unique.

Badge and Supplement Files

Member Level

0EP_B_BPG_HP_Miscellany_2in_12up_MS1_larajla — generic badge printable
0EP_BLIST_HP_Miscellany_MS1_larajla — badge items per membership level
0EP_BSET0_HP_Miscellany_MS1_larajla —badge set and related badges
0EP_SUPP0_HP_Miscellany_Journal_MS1_larajla — badge journal
0EP_SUPP0_HP_Miscellany_Planner_MS1_larajla — badge planner
0EP_SUPPL_HP_Miscellany_MS1_larajla — supplements currently available per membership level

Supplement Fun

0EP_SUPP0_Instruct Fun_HP Letters Postcards_MS2_larajla — Instruct Fun: Harry Potter Letters and Postcards
0EP_SUPP0_List Fun_HP_Fonts_MS2_larajla — List Fun: Harry Potter Fonts
0EP_SUPP0_List Fun_HP_Reading_MS2_larajla — List Fun: Reading Similar to Harry Potter
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Acceptance Letter_MS2_larajla — Printable: Hogwarts acceptance letter
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Acceptance Postcard_MS2_larajla — Printable: Hogwarts acceptance postcard
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Blank Postcard_MS2_larajla — Printable: Blank postcard
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Express Sign_MS2_larajla — Printable: Hogwarts Express sign
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Letterhead_MS2_larajla — Printable: Hogwarts letterhead
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Railways Sign_MS2_larajla — Printable: Hogwarts railways sign
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Second_MS2_larajla — Printable: Hogwarts second sheet
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Tickets 1_MS2_larajla — Printable: Tickets 1
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Tickets 2_MS2_larajla — Printable: tickets 2
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_Hogwarts Welcome_MS2_larajla — Printable: Hogwarts welcome sign
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_HP_Azkaban Female_MS2_larajla — Printable: Wanted poster, female
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_HP_Azkaban Male_MS2_larajla — Printable: Wanted poster, male
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_HP_Mauraders Frame_MS2_larajla — Printable: Maurader’s frame
0EP_SUPP0_Printable_HP_Mauraders Map_MS2_larajla — Printable: Maurauder’s map

Sites to Explore

Get the infographic here > larajla blog post
Get the PDFs of the badge program / supplements here

Badge: Harry Potter – Miscellany

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