Craft Project: Harry Potter Monopoly

EDITED DECEMBER 2021: Please see bottom of post for links to the PDFs

I mentioned a few weeks ago I was finally back to working on craft projects again. I wasn't able to post about this one until now because it was a birthday gift for one of my besties and he reads my blog. :)

My friend Chance is obsessed a huge fan of the Harry Potter books and movies (he is the person who forced encouraged me to read the series). A few months ago he mentioned how he couldn't believe that there was no Harry Potter Monopoly game. We even double-checked and looked on Amazon but couldn't find one (I'm convinced if you can't buy it on Amazon, it just doesn't exist). Lol. I decided a few weeks later to go online to see if someone not associated with Amazon sold the game. I found this website called Mugglenet and it had a picture of a Harry Potter Monopoly game someone had designed. First and foremost, I want to make sure I give full credit to Robbie, the designer of this game. I just printed the PDFs and made my own game pieces. He was the master mind behind this design. He was gracious enough to provide PDFs for everyone to make their own game. He just obviously asks that no one sells his designs. Please check out this post here if you want the PDFs to make your own game.

I used white card stock paper to print out the property "titles" and red and yellow card stock paper for the "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards (which are called "Spells" and "Potions").

I needed to find a design for Harry Potter Monopoly money (I didn't like the one provided on MuggleNet), so after a Google search, I found this website that provided PDFs of Harry Potter themed money. I originally was going to print out the money on different sheets of colored paper, but instead I took the files and used Microsoft Paint to color the edges so each denomination was a different color. A quick search online let me know how many bills of each denomination is included in a regular Monopoly game.

I used my handy dandy craft cutter to cut them apart (that was such a great purchase a few years ago). :)

I had originally planned to find an old Monopoly game so I could just Mod Podge the board layout on top of it. I looked at four different Half Price Books and couldn't find one (I didn't want to buy one new). So, I had to improvise. I bought art board at Michael's (with my 40% off coupon, it was very reasonably priced) and used Mod Podge to glue it down. My only problem with this is that the board couldn't be folded up, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I figured he wouldn't mind.

The first time I glued it down, it didn't seem even, so instead of ripping it up (and ruining the board), I just glued a second "layer" on top of the first one. There are two PDFs of the board (divided in the middle), so in order to not have a huge line running down the middle of the board, I used Microsoft Publisher (am I the only person who still uses that?) to "combine" the logo portion of the board so I could print it as one piece. That way there wasn't a line down it.

I covered the entire board with several layers of Mod Podge to give it a "glossy" look and less "papery" feel.

I kept wondering what to use for game pieces. I looked online for Harry Potter mini figurines or Legos, and they were WAY TOO pricey ($16 for one piece is crazy). A few years ago I used glass beads in a craft project and had a ton left over, so I decided to cut out pictures of Harry Potter characters and glue them on the back for the game pieces.

This is what the pieces looked like afterward. I know I had more pieces than what was needed, but I figured whoever played could pick their favorite character (I did design two different Harry Potter pieces though).

Since I wasn't able to find an old Monopoly game, I didn't have house or hotel pieces. I decided to use buttons. Mainly because I had a lot of buttons left over from another craft project and I was trying my best to use supplies I already owned. :) I used 36 smaller buttons as the "houses". I tried to use buttons that were the different colors from the houses of Hogwarts, but I had to improvise (again). I didn't have gold, so I used orange. I didn't have silver, so I used clear. I used bigger purple buttons to represent hotels (mainly because it was the only color I had bigger buttons in).

I decided to make a "Rules Book" so I looked online and found a copy of the Monopoly rules. I copied them and "altered" them to fit a Harry Potter Monopoly game. The Rules Book is the one thing that was actually MY design. :) 

I bought this little plastic tote (again at Michael's, I love that place) to keep all the pieces in. I also bought a set of dice and included them in it. I used "sticker" paper and printed out the Harry Potter Monopoly logo designed by Robbie and stuck it on the top and edges of the tote. I also used that same logo on the cover of the Rules Book. 

I gave Chance the game last Friday. I also had bought him the illustrated version of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone (he had not so subtly hinted that he wanted that book). I had bought the book as a back up in case I didn't finish the game or if he didn't like it. But of course he loved the game. :) He has a son (who is beyond adorable) and can't wait to play a game with him and read the illustrated book with him.

I didn't get a picture with Chance on Friday with the gift, but here is a picture from last Tuesday when I forced him to take one at the Stars hockey game. :)

And here is a picture of his dog Dobby (who I like better than him). Just kidding. A little. Maybe. :) I always take a Dobby picture when I see him. HE doesn't complain about taking pictures (unlike someone). :)

Dobby was not happy that Aunt Rachel would not share her Whataburger with him

Hope you enjoyed my craft project! I'm hoping to do more around the holidays! :)

XOXO!

EDITED DECEMBER 2021:

I'm so sorry if you have emailed for PDFs and I haven't responded. I got locked out of the email associated with this blog and since I haven't posted in a year, I haven't had use for it (so I now have to figure out how to either change the email or get back into my old one). I am going to try and link the PDFs below- I hope that helps everyone looking for them!! Again, so sorry for the delays!!

Board PDFs:

Part One Click Here

Part Two Click Here

Rules:

Click Here

Money:

Click Here

Properties:

Part One Click Here

Part Two Click Here

Part Three Click Here

Part Four Click Here

Part Five Click Here

Part Six Click Here

Part Seven Click Here

Part Eight Click Here

Part Nine Click Here

Potions:

Part One Click Here

Part Two Click Here

Part Three Click Here

Spells:

Part One Click Here

Part Two Click Here

Part Three Click Here