Potter DIY: Floating Candles for a Magical “Potter” Party

by · October 11, 2017

Can’t grow gigantic pumpkins or book a troupe of dancing skeletons for your Harry Potter Halloween party? Not to worry! You can bring the magical atmosphere of Hogwarts at Halloween into your own home with these floating candles.

 

What You’ll Need:

To begin, you’ll need to Summon the following items.

Accio!

 

 

  • Paper towel and/or toilet paper rolls
  • LED tea light candles
  • Scissors
  • Hot glue gun and sticks
  • White/cream acrylic paint (in a plastic container)
  • Fishing line or illusion cord
  • Pushpin

Make sure your tea lights will fit inside the hollow of the paper towel roll; they should not be too wide or too small.

In the first and second movies, the floating candles of the Great Hall were actually all the same size. Beginning with the third movie and throughout the rest of the series, the candles we see on-screen are of varying shapes and sizes. You can cut your paper towel rolls to different sizes to recreate this staggered effect.

 

Directions:

Step 1: Once you have the sizes and shapes you want, cover the rolls in paint and leave them to dry.

 

 

Step 2: Once your rolls are dry, you can use a hot glue gun to create a realistic “dripping wax” effect by drizzling glue around the rim of the tube. Do this carefully! Much like real candle wax or Bubotuber pus, hot glue is not a substance you would enjoy dripping all over your fingers!

Step 3: Once the glue is dry, gently dip the waxy end in white paint. Do not paint over the drips with a brush; the glue may peel right off!

 

 

Step 4: Once the paint is dry, use a pushpin to poke a small hole about one inch below the rim on either side of the tube. Make sure to poke through the body of the candle and not the wax drips.

Step 5: Through these holes, you can thread a length of fishing line. Be sure you have enough on either end to suspend your candles from the ceiling!

 

 

Step 6: Turn the LED light on and place it inside the tube so that it balances on top of the fishing line you just threaded through. Make sure the candle fits snugly inside the tube and balances on the fishing line.

Now all you need to do is hang your candles from the ceiling, turn the lights off, and let the magic begin!