Wizard School parties

What the ninety minutes look like

Welcome, young apprentices, to Wizard School.

Step through our ancient arch curtains and look around. You are no longer in a regular room, but inside the secret stone walls of our hidden castle.

Today, you are true potion masters. Before you sit down, I need everyone to put on a cloak, pick your wand, and look at the cast-iron cauldrons in front of you. Those cauldrons hold ancient secrets. In a moment, you will use these crystal potion-mixing bottles to blend rare ingredients like dragon tears and powdered starlight. But remember: magic requires focus! Keep your eyes on your cauldrons, handle your bottles with care, and let us see who can brew the most powerful potion in the kingdom!

Step into a room you will not recognise. We arrive an hour early and turn whatever you have given us into a potion classroom: a long bench under a dark cloth, cauldrons at every place, the apothecary shelf with its bottles and jars, greenery overhead and a cathedral backdrop behind.

Then the children come in, and it goes like this.

Cloaks first. Each child gets a cloak that suits them and picks a wand off the rack. There is a rack. It matters more than you would think, and it is the first photo most parents take.

Then the brewing. Real bottles, real colour, real fizz. They measure, pour, stir and watch it climb up the sides. We talk them through what is going in and why, and they add the ingredient that makes it theirs.

Then a spell or two. "We are going to mix, bubble, and fizz our way to greatness. After every single potion, we are casting a massive spell to unleash the magic. I want this room shaking! Who is ready to make some noise?" This is the loudest ten minutes of the party and the bit they talk about afterwards.

Then the wish potion, the one that goes home. "We are filling our bottles with shimmering glitter, enchanted herbs, bright flowers, and magical leaves. Once your ingredients are inside, raise your wands high. We are going to cast a massive, loud spell together to lock in the magic and make your wish come true. Let the magic begin!" Everyone seals their bottle, names it, and decorates the bag it goes home in. While they do that we start packing the room back down.

Somewhere in the middle there is a sit-down for a feast: Petrified Spiders, Enchanted Dragon Eggs, Troll Bogeys, Queasy Sherbets, Chocolate Toads, Buttery Beer and All Aboard sweets. You can skip the feast if you are doing your own food, and most people keep it because it buys them ten minutes.