My soon-to-be eight year old asked to have a Harry Potter birthday party this year. Originally, I was going to make some little owl invitations out of felt and cardstock, but then I had a brainstorm about making a golden snitch invitation (inspired by this locket) which opens up to reveal the party details inside.

These are very easy to make. Here’s what you need:

• white posterboard
• gold spray paint
• black paper
• glitter
• small brads
• 1/16th hole punch (I use a Martha Stewart one from Michael’s)
• some tape and paper
• Harry Potter fonts + a printer
• A9 envelopes

1. Use a bowl or a lid to trace circles on a white piece of posterboard (one circle = one invitation). Spray paint the circles with gold paint, and let dry thoroughly. When dry, cut out the golden circles.

2. Draw a set of wings freehand on some cardstock as a template, and then cut out several pairs on black construction paper. Coat them with spray adhesive and sprinkle glitter on them. (In hindsight, I probably should have made the wings gold too. Instead, I used glitter to make them gold and add some sparkle to the invitation.)

3. To assemble the snitch, first cut the circles in half. For the left wing, overlap the two halves of the circles just a little, put the wing underneath, and use a small hole punch to make a hole through all three. Push the brad through and secure it. (Incidentally, I first tried poking a hole through the three layers with an awl, and it didn’t work; then I remembered that I had a tiny hole punch, which worked beautifully.)

4. For the right wing, simply punch a hole in the top half of the circle and the wing, then push the brad through and secure it.

5. I used this template for the party details, with Harry Potter fonts from the link above. I laid out the text, two to a sheet, printed them, and cut them. (They measure about 4″ wide and 8″ long). Then I folded them up, and sealed with them a gold foil sticker.

You could lay these out however you want, though, because all you’re doing is folding up the piece of paper so that it fits into the pocket (see next step for pocket details).

6. To make a pocket on the back of the golden snitch, which holds the party details, I just cut out a semi-circle of posterboard and simply taped it on the back (it’s not pretty, but it works). The folded party details slips into the pocket:

Just to be safe when I mailed these, I sandwiched the invitation between two pieces of cardstock, and taped the cardstock together, so that the invitation would come out of the envelope assembled perfectly. I also wrote on the cardstock as a teaser, “The golden snitch will reveal all.” (Which also gave them a clue that the invitation was a golden snitch, in case they had no idea!)

These really are simple to make, but do allow time for the spray painted circles to dry overnight.

Raise your hand if you’ve got some Harry Potter fans in your house too!

Images: Charlotte’s Fancy