Delicious Reads: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Book Club Ideas {FREE Printables}

Goblet of Fire Book Club Delicious Reads

Moderating Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter #4) for Delicious Reads was EPIC. The whole weekend was perfection. Each moderator went all out with discussions, activities, decor, and costumes.

Start off with a Goblet of Fire and have each person put their name in. I created my own version of the Goblet of Fire. I just used wood glue to attach a large wooden candlestick to a ceramic popcorn bucket from DI (my local thrift store). Then I painted them a wood color. My plan was to use this recipe for blue fire. My brother also suggested getting blue cellophane, cutting it to look like fire, and putting a light and fan in the bottom of the cup, which I think is an excellent idea.

I decided to begin the discussion with our very own Harry Potter Triwizard Minute to Win It. I figured it would remind everyone of the main plot line of the book and it would be a lot of fun too!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Minute to Win it

Harry Potter Tri-Wizard Minute to Win It

In Harry Potter #4, the Triwizard Tournament is a contest between three schools in Europe: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Durmstrang Institute, and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Each school is represented by one champion, but in the case of HP #4, Harry Potter is the 4th champion chosen by the Goblet of Fire. Selected contestants compete in three tasks that test their magical ability, intelligence, and courage. I chose to do three activities as part of our book club discussion.

TASK#1: Adult Maze (Task of Intelligence)

I know, technically this should have been last (if you are following HP#4), but I wanted a task everyone could participate in and would easily whittle down our 25 book club members to 4 champions. This one took several minutes longer than one minute, and it was hard! Just print off a copy for each person and have it face down. We had these fantastic wand pens created by our amazing Kellie. We all started at the same time and the first four to complete the maze were the winners. I was only going to give one minute, but it actually took over 5 minutes for the first person to solve it!

FREE PRINTABLE:
An "Adult" Maze
(and, no, that's not a dirty joke)
(more great mazes here)

TASK #2: Move the Dinosaur Eggs (Task of Magical Ability)

The first 4 to finish the maze puzzle became the contestants for the rest of the tournament! Since the champion in HP#4 had to retrieve a dinosaur egg, I thought it would be fun to use Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans as "eggs" and have our maze champions use wands as chopsticks to see who could move the most from one bowl to another in 1 minute. Again, we used the awesome wand pens created by our Kellie (see her tutorial here):

I then made the champions eat all of their Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans just for fun. The top three were supposed to go on to compete in the last task.

I made the girls eat all the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans too!
None of them died, but I'm pretty sure they wanted to kill me!

Poor Summer had the most beans to eat. I was totally gagging with her. Bertie Botts are no good all together!

Bryn finished eating her Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans in record time!

TASK #3: Hold the Plank (Task of Courage/Strength)

In HP#4 the champions have to save someone they love by swimming underwater. I decided to do a play on word (i.e. walk the plank) and have the winners up to this point hold a fitness plank (i.e. face down on ground and only forearms and toes holding up your body). Who ever held theirs the longest was given the Triwizard Cup. I let any of the other girls in book club join in too so they weren't bored. But Summer ended up holding the longest out of the champions so far. I think she held her plank for 5 minutes and probably could have kept going! She was a true champion aqnd deserved the Tri-Wizard cup.

Summer (aka Cho) was our Tri-wizard Champion!
(she also took most of the pictures of the night - Summer Nicole Photography)
No one died during our contest, but I think several girls were sore the next day from doing a plank for over 5 minutes!

Make Your Own Tri-Wizard Cup

I created this simple version of the Triwizard Cup. I thought about adding getting three plastic snakes and painting them silver to add to the sides, but decided to keep it simple so the winner would actually use it afterwards as a candle holder or something.

I went to my local thrift store (DI) and bought a candlestick and a cup (I think the candlestick was actually crystal, but the cup/bowl was glass. I don't think it matters as long as it is clear and it has a similar cut to the triwizard cup from the movie).
I used this glass glue (yes, it's a thing!). It dries clear and is waterproof. I actually use it all the time to create fun serving display plates and such (for another post!).
Make sure your candlestick and bowl/cup is clean and dry. Apply the glue to the top of the candlestick and set the cup on top. Allow to dry overnight. It's that simple!
It only cost me about $3 to make because I already had the glue, but you can get some for about $3-4, so it's still an inexpensive prize. You could add Bertie Botts to it too if you wanted.

My simplistic Tri-wizard Cup

If you want to go all out, you can get this Tri-wizard cup on Amazon for about $40. It lights up too.

After out Triwizard Cup was won, we had some serious discussion! I got most of my questions here from Bloomsbury. They have great questions for every Harry Potter book. Here are some of my favorites.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Discussion Questions:

Bloomsbury created this great 12 page PDF guide with the book summary, questions, and activity ideas.

The previous books have all opened at the Dursleys’ home, but this book starts instead in the Riddle House (Chapter 1). The pain Harry feels in his scar in Chapter 2 is an omen of what is to come. Soon after, the Quidditch World Cup is interrupted by a sinister attack (Chapter 9, ‘The Dark Mark’). Why do you think J.K. Rowling departed from the way she had started the other books?
Talk about the many ways in which Harry is helped through the tasks of the Triwizard Tournament by adults and fellow pupils alike. How much of his success is down to him, and how much to others? How does Harry repay the support he receives? Why does Harry take time to free others besides Ron during the second task? How does the relationship between Harry and Cedric develop through the three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament?
What do you believe causes the connection between Harry’s wand and Voldemort’s? How do the shadow figures that emerge from Voldemort’s wand during the connection help Harry escape? Why does Voldemort need Harry’s blood to regain his body? Is Harry learning to become a great wizard or is he just lucky to escape the forces that arise against him? Do you believe that Harry is living out a destiny or acting of his own free will?
In what ways do we see the main characters starting to grow up in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? What things are they experiencing that they haven’t in the previous books? What is Harry’s unexpected task in Chapter 22?
What is the significance of Hermione’s campaign for the welfare of the house-elves? Why is she adamant about improving their conditions? Why do the house-elves resist her efforts? Discuss what Sirius Black means when he says: ‘If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.’ (Chapter 27, ‘Padfoot Returns’, p. 443)

Because every Harry Potter party needs a baby Dobby!

This is my little 4 month old Olive, dressed fabulously in a pillow case I found twenty minutes before I left for the party. I cut off the top to fit her body length (I could have gone shorter) and then I cut a little down the side so I could tie the shoulders together. I printed a little S.P.E.W badge and laminated it with clear tape, then hot glued a pin to the back to hook to her pillow case.

If you really want to play the part of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, you need to dress the part! You could go traditional as Harry Potter, but I decided to be a little more unique and be Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons. If you want to see how I made my costume, check it out here (link coming soon!)