How to Make Your Own Harry Potter Magic Wands

Planning a Harry Potter birthday party? Learn how to make your own Harry Potter magic wands and include wand making as a party activity. The wands are a great party favor to take home, too.

Make your own Harry Potter wands. Let party guests decorate them at your Harry Potter birthday party. These simple magic wands make great party favors.

How to Make Your Own Harry Potter Wands

Aiden requested a Harry Potter theme for his 9th birthday party. Since every witch or wizard needs a wand, I decided to let the kids make their own wands.

Pre-Party Prep

For the materials, I was inspired by craft supplies sent to us by CraftProjectIdeas.com. The supplies included (among other things) skinny dowel rods, embroidery floss, paint, and adhesive gems. I picked up more adhesive gems and some glittery washi tape in a variety of colors.

Instead of the skinny dowel rods, I used thicker dowels. We got 3/8 in x 48 in round dowels. Each of these will make 4 wands. Aiden used a miter box to cut the dowels into 12 inch pieces.

Cut dowel rods to make Harry Potter wands.

Then, Aiden and I sanded the ends to round them off.

Sand dowel rods to make Harry Potter wands.

We made the top of the wand slightly smaller than the bottom.

Use dowel rods to make Harry Potter wands.

Next, I painted the wands with acrylic paint and a sponge brush. The sponge brush didn’t leave brush marks and made for a much smoother wand.

Paint dowel rods to make Harry Potter wands.

I painted the wands different colors to have some variety.

Paint dowel rods to make Harry Potter wands.

Wand Making at the Harry Potter Party

Materials Needed:

  • pre-painted and sanded wooden dowels
  • embroidery floss
  • washi tape
  • adhesive gems
  • markers (optional)
  • clear glue

At the party, each child chose a wand. I showed them my example wands for inspiration and provided them with embroidery floss in a rainbow of colors, glittery washi tape, and adhesive gems. They also had washable markers on the table from decorating their goodie bags.

We used the washi tape to attach the embroidery floss to the wands. You can also tie the string on or use a dab of glue. Sometimes the washi tape needed a little glue as well. I used clear Elmer’s glue so it wouldn’t affect their designs.

making a magic wand

Each child chose a different method of decorating their wands. Some chose to add color or designs to the wand with the washable markers or embroidery floss. Others chose to add washi tape and adhesive gems. Some kids used a combination of materials. Each wand was personalized and unique.

DIY Harry Potter wands

I should have taken pictures of all of the wands they created, but the party was busy.

More Harry Potter Wand Tutorials

There’s a wide variety of Harry Potter wand making tutorials out there. Some of them are doable with a large group of kids. Others will need to be made ahead of time and just given as party favors. Below are some of my favorites.

  • Red Ted Art uses acorns and other nature finds to turn chopsticks into magic wands.
  • Instead of using chopsticks, Mama Smiles uses sticks to create DIY Harry Potter Wands. The results are fantastic.
  • Kitchen Counter Chronicles creates beautiful, colorful magic wands with embroidery floss, beads, and twigs.
  • Adventures in Mommydom gives DIY wands personality with beads and aluminum foil.

Light Up Wand Tutorials


Check out our Harry Potter Inspired Chocolate Frogs. They make a great party favor, too.

Check out this super simple recipe for Harry Potter inspired chocolate frogs. They're perfect for your Harry Potter birthday party celebration.I’ll be sharing the rest of our Harry Potter birthday party ideas soon.

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