These are three amazing “real” wands that you can make at home to go with your wizard costume. It’s easier than it looks and just requires a little craftiness. I made these from materials I had at home for virtually pennies. Be sure to get your kids to help, because every wizard or witch should know a little bit about wand making!
What you need:
- wooden stick about 10″-14″ (a very dry natural branch works best)
- sandpaper
- pocket knife
- candle wax or scented oils
- glue gun and beads or small stones for decoration
How to Make the Wand:
First you will need to find just the right stick to transform into your wand. This is truly the most important part. It should be a very dry natural branch. Green wood will not sand as easily and should be avoided. A hard type of wood is also good, so that it will hold up over time.
The branch should be at least a foot long and fairly straight, although it doesn’t have to be perfect. It can have some knobs in it too. In fact, the knobs make a great transition from the handle part to the wand part, and are really good at the end of the handle.
I used rose wood. You might be asking where does someone get rosewood? Is that even a thing?! Well, every year I trim away the dead branches from our rose hedge in the yard. It occurred to me that I should possibly use them for something!
Study your wand carefully. Decide where the handle should be. Use a pocket knife to carefully shave away the bark from the wand portion.
Use sandpaper to smooth the whole thing, especially the cut ends.
Finally, carve a nifty design into the bark on the handle, without removing too much of the bark. (See my photo above for a reference). The bark and lighter wood underneath give a nice contrast. This can be truly anything you want. Glue on some beads for effect if you like.
For added authenticity, I rubbed wax all over it to make it nice and smooth, and I added some rose-smelling essential oils to it as well. This part was optional but made it nice. One of our wands had a hollow core — so we placed a special feather inside of it for “extra magic”.
Now you are ready to work some magic!
You can complete your look with a black robe. Most of ours were old graduation gowns that we got at Goodwill, or long black cardigan sweaters worked well too. There is no need to spend a lot of money to get the right look. We also made scarves to finish the outfit!
Also see my article on how to make a Hogwarts scarf from fleece!
