You’ve Been Accepted … To Hogwarts

I’m a big Harry Potter fan.  Read all the books several times.  Can quote you lines from the movies.  Favorite theme park beverage is pumpkin juice from Universal Studio’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter (although I can’t talk myself into $6 a bottle via mail order).  As Hagrid says “It’s not every day your young (wo)man turns eleven, now”, so when my daughter turned eleven recently, I made sure she received her Hogwart’s Acceptance Letter. The template for that letter I’ll share down below, so you can have some fun too. 

Of course, if you’ve read the books, you’ll know Harry actually started receiving his letter days before his eleventh birthday, but was kept from reading them by his Uncle.  It wasn’t until the midnight of his eleventh birthday that Hagrid made a point of delivering the acceptance letter in person, which is why fans have started this tradition.

My Word document template varies in wording a bit from the book, because I wanted to make sure she realized this had arrived because she had turned eleven.  It is three pages long.  The first is the actual acceptance letter.  The second is the list of supplies you need for the year.  The third is the Ministry of Magic’s explanation for why the letter arrived via muggle mail, rather than an owl.

hogwarts

You’ll have to go download a font to go with the template.  A wizard letter in Comic Sans isn’t that realistic.  I got the font I used from here.  I printed the letter on fancy card stock.  I didn’t have time to age it, but it looked fine anyways.  If you want to use wax to seal the letter or envelope, you’ll need sealing wax.  Regular candle wax is too runny, stains the paper, and won’t hold it closed.  I was hoping anyways, as I don’t keep sealing wax on hand.

So feel free to download this, modify and print out your own Hogwart’s Acceptance Letter.  Your young wizard or witch will find it pretty cool.  Download template here.

 

66 thoughts on You’ve Been Accepted … To Hogwarts

  1. What a great thing to do for your daughter. If she’s as big a Harry Potter fan as you are, I’ll bet she loved it. Thanks for sharing.

  2. how fantastic! quick tip for aging is to buy a parchment tan paper(Astroparche is the brand I’m familiar with). then burn the edges.there’s also colored (even glitter) hot glue you can use instead of the wax. Wish I’d have thought to do this when my boy turned eleven. 🙂

  3. I’m a massive Potter fan and love it when I get to share that excitement with my students. One of my swim team girls told me that she asked for a Harry Potter acceptance letter for Christmas. She’s 13, so it’s a little late… so I’m using the excuse that she’s been hidden in America with muggles as the reason why she hadn’t gotten it before. Thanks for helping me make a kid’s dream come true. I’m putting it in her locker next week. :o)

  4. Thank you so much for helping me make this happen for my daughter. She will be so excited on Sunday to receive this letter.

  5. Thanks so much for sharing! I hope your daughter loved it- I have no doubt she did. Is it bad that I’m sending this to myself…? Perhaps. I don’t care, though. Thanks again!

  6. You are AMAAAZING!!!!! Thank you SOOO much, I can’t wait to see the look on my sister’s face 😉

  7. thanks this is so cool
    im having a harry potter themed party soon so this is an amazing document for an invitation 🙂

  8. I made this for my daughter, It’s amazing! Worked like a charm (no pun intended)! She is 12 but the letter says 11 so I changed it to 12 and also added an apology for being late due to the owls always getting interfered by Muggles. 😉

  9. Thank you so much for sharing this. My theme for March is Reading Month this year is Harry Potter, so all my 4th, 5th and 6th graders are getting their letters on Monday morning. You saved me SO much work – thanks!

  10. Thanks for sharing this Sean. My friend is a real Potter fan so hopefully this will make her day!

  11. We are going to use this on our nine-year old sister for April Fools Day (with some editing, of course). Hope it works!

  12. Hi just want to ask how do I edit it after I download it ? My sisters birthday is today and I decided to make her one as she is a huge fan so I hope you can tell me how to edit it after I download the templet thanks

  13. Hey Sean! thanks for this cool article! I’ve actually been working for a long time to make a PERFECT delayed acceptance letter on my computer but the one single question I have…
    How in the world do you print on an envelope?
    Please email any advice to helmberger2002@gmail.com
    Much appreciated this article was great, Thanks!:D

    • Some printers have a way to stick envelopes in and it prints sideways. For the letters I make, I print the address on a full sheet of paper and fold the sides, top and bottom to make the envelope.

  14. Fantastic!!! I just made one for my daughter who turns 11 tomorrow. many thanks for making the template for us!!!!!

  15. had to up the size of the font a little to make it legible but this is awesome! – im making it for my 20 year old boyfriend…. he is gonna love it

  16. We gave the Hogwarts acceptance letters to our 7yo twins tonight and they loved them! They couldn’t believe their names were on them or how they got to the house- I told them it’s magic! They especially loved the wax seal!

  17. You saved the day! I ordered a Hogwarts letter off of Etsy for my 11 yr old Harry Potter obsessed daughter for Christmas. I got it yesterday and it is something I could have typed myself in a standard word, cursive font and printed in 5 minutes off the computer (and made much much cuter). I am so mad! Not only that but she charged me 25 dollars! Yours is so much cuter!!! I am going to go get some parchment paper and sealing wax and print yours out to save Christmas! What would I do without you!

  18. Sean Locke does a phenomenal job with these harry potter acceptance letters, customizing it to fit your recipients age, location, sex etc. He walked me through the entire process, was super creative, helpful, and just overall wonderful. It was a great gift!

  19. My girlfriend is a huge Harry Potter fan and I’m going to attach a modified version of this (as a promposal) to a stuffed white owl after watching a marathon of the movies, and she’ll love it thank you for the template!

    • That is a great plan – glad it was useful. I modify this all the time for people that order custom letters. Good luck!

  20. Great idea!!
    What about ordres abroad to Israel?
    Devoted fans here as well, and my daughter is turning eleven this coming summer:)

    • Sorry, but thanks for interest. With that much time, though, you can download the template and work on making your own 🙂

  21. Apple’s Herculanum font looked great.
    Thanks for sharing the template.
    Another happy 11th birthday.

  22. We would like to get one letter for two kids telling them we are going to Universal Orlando – is that possible? One is 8 and one is 10. If so what is the best way to do this?

  23. My gf is a huge harry potter fan
    She is going to turn 19 in a few days, can you suggest what can i improvise in the acceptance letter?

    • Try using the “belated” wording:
      “We apologize for the delay in contacting you, likely due to a strong Fidelus charm hiding your location. However, we are pleased to inform you that, as you are well past your eleventh birthday and have the necessary talents, you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. “

  24. my boyfiend is turning 18 soon, but i don’t care. i am making him an acceptance letter anyway. i think he’s gonna love it!

    • Definitely! Add in the “belated” wording: “We apologize for the delay in contacting you, likely due to a strong Fidelus charm hiding your location. However, we are pleased to inform you that, as you are past your eleventh birthday and have the necessary talents, you have been accepted …”

      • Hello how can I contact you to place my order?? I’m trying to order on line BUT it’s not giving me all the months to choose my sons birthday

  25. My daughter is a huge Harry Potter fan and this letter will make her day on her coming birthday. What a kind person you are to share this template and particularly link to the fantastic font – I am so grateful. You must have brought happiness to many this way. Best wishes from London.

  26. Thank you, Sean Locke! My granddaughter has been asking whether you have to live in the U.K. to be invited to Hogwarts? Did I think it was possible for somebody in Australia to get one? It would be such a very long flight for an owl?
    Well, Sean Locke, there is going to be one very thrilled Harry Potter fan turning ten tomorrow in Brisbane, Australia.

  27. This was exactly what I needed for my soon to be eleven year old daughter. Thanks so much for making it easy and free to make her acceptance letter. Much appreciated!

  28. This is so great – and saved a lot of time trying to do it all myself. Thank you for saving this! Do you by chance have a template for the train ticket? If not – I can work on that on my own.
    Best!

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