Every time a new Harry Potter books or film comes out, Harry Potter merchandise flies off the shelf. This summer, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince will be released. One of the most popular Harry Potter toys is a Harry Potter wand. In Harry Potter, the characters need their wands to make "the magic" happen. It's how they perform spells, protect themselves, and sometimes even make practical jokes.

At this point, there are many retailers of Harry Potter Wands. You can find them floating around all over the internet. Amazon has an amazing selection of wands and you can find inexpensive ones and expensive ones. There's a Harry Potter Wand with light and sound that goes for $8.99 which is rather inexpensive. It lights up, makes three different sounds, and is motion activated. It's a cheap looking replica but is sure to warm any Harry Potter's fans heart. There are also a replica's of wands belonging to different Harry Potter characters. Hermoine Granger (played by Emma Watson) is a very popular wand. That one goes for $46.40 on amazon and this one lights up when it is waved.

Another Harry Potter wand that is very popular is an illuminating Harry Potter wand that is similar to the Hermoine Granger wand except that it isn't a replica of any specific character. This wand is a little less expensive at $38.95 a pop. You can also get a standard Harry Potter wand at $35.00 and it comes with an authentic wand box to keep your wand in! You can find great deals on Amazon for Harry Potter wands and it would be my first choice. If you don't like buying things off of the internet, you can find wands in toy stores across America and the world, such as Toys 'R Us. The reason I like amazon.com is because you can find most everything cheaper, Harry Potter merchandise included.

Here are some facts about Harry Potter wands. First it's important to remember that the wand chooses you, you don't choose the wand! In the film, Harry Potter's wand stands at eleven inches, is made of Holly and includes a phoenix feather. Hagrid's wants stands at sixteen inches, is made of oak, and is rather bendy. Lord Voldemort's wand is thirteen and a half inches, is made of yew and also includes a phoenix feather, linking him once again to Harry Potter. Ron Weasley's wand is fourteen inches, made of willow and includes a unicorn tail hair.

The core of the Harry Potter wands are made of a magic material, like a phoenix feather. When a wizard or witch goes to get his or her first wand, they try out different combinations of woods, cores, and lengths until they find the one that works right for them. If you are buying Harry Potter wands for a few children, one fun thing to do is to buy an extra one and have them each try one out and when they find the "right wand" make something happen. Make a balloon pop or jump backwards a few feet and fall down. It will really make it magical and you can always return the extra wand later. Children remember details and they will want the Harry Potter wand that chooses them.

You can also make your own Harry Potter wand. Go out and buy some nice wood. You won't need a lot so get some oak or cherry (something nice). You can even buy wood in thin rods. Then all you have to do is carve it out and make it look like a real Harry Potter wand! It's a great gift to give, especially to a child who has just started reading the Harry Potter series. People also collect Harry Potter wands and some are extraordinarily expensive. In the Harry Potter series, wants are made of different kinds of wood, including holly, ash, willow, maple, walnut, yew, mahogany, birch, and rosewood.

The cores of Harry Potter wands, which have magical properties, are the phoenix feather, dragon heartstring, unicorn tail hair, leprechaun hair, demiguise hair, hippogriff talon, runespoor fang, hair from the mane of a kelpie, chimaera scale, and ashwinder ash. If you can pronounce over half of these, consider yourself a true Harry Potter fan. If not, maybe you should learn all of the magical properties of the Harry Potter wands before you start messing around with magic!