The Harry Potter series is one of the most successful series of books and films of all time. It is therefore a good source of costume ideas for Halloween or parties.

One of the first things to decide when choosing your costume is who you want to be – do you want to dress as Harry himself, the Boy Who Lived, or one of the other characters from the series? There are a lot of different characters to choose from to dress up as, not just Harry Potter.

One advantage that the films give is that they provide actual images of the characters to work from, rather than just the descriptions in books. You can try and make your own costume, or take the easier route and buy one.

For Harry himself you will need robes with the Gryffindor emblem, a wand and a pair of glasses – fake ones to avoid giving yourself eyestrain if you don’t actually wear glasses. Harry’s distinctive lightning bolt shaped scar can be easily done with makeup, such as an eyeliner pencil, unless you want something that won’t rub off quite so easily.

Then there are the other Hogwarts students. The students all dress very similarly when in uniform; when not in uniform they dress normally, which is not exactly a costume. The other students will also need robes and a wand like Harry and their robes will have their relevant house emblem.

The other major student characters are Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy. A wig combined with the costume will make it more specific to the character – a long, curly wig for Hermione, a red one for Ron and a white blonde one for Draco. These are of course not the only students, just some of the ones with the largest parts.

An alternative to dressing in the school uniform is to wear the Quidditch robes, again with the correct house emblem, and carry a broomstick.

Some other major characters from the series that could be considered for costume ideas are Hagrid, Severus Snape, Dumbledore (which will need a white beard and wig), Sirius Black, Mad-Eye Moody and Draco’s father Lucius Malfoy and aunt Bellatrix Lestrange, two of the more notable villains. All of these are pretty distinctive in appearance. And, of course, there’s the ultimate villain of the Harry Potter series, Lord Voldemorte, after his return from the dead, although his face will more than likely require a mask to successfully pull off.

There are plenty of other characters such as other students, some of whose parts grow substantially in size, teachers at Hogwarts, the Dursleys and various Death Eaters, although you may not want a costume from a lesser character unless you are attending a party with the goal of having as many Harry Potter characters as possible for instance.

If you want to be a bit more adventurous, you could try dressing as one of them monsters and creatures seen in the films and books. Those such as the goblins and giants will be the easiest to pull off as they are the most humanoid; the basilisk will be rather more of a challenge.

Look here for some more detailed ideas:

A Couples’ Costume Idea – The Weasley Twins, Fred and George