Colorful Willy Wonka Birthday Party!
I simply ADORE parties themed around books: Guess How Much I Love You, Olivia the Pig, Curious George, Dr. Seuss… the list could go on and on! On top of that, finding a book theme that includes tons of bright colors and CHOCOLATE is right up our alley! Amanda Edwards and Simone Norris from Invite Me sent us this bright and cheery CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORYÂ party brimming with color and sweets. The team left no detail of the book behind, from Oompa Loompa figurines, to good and bad eggs, and a boiled candy ship–Simone fills us in on all of the details of her daughter, Laila’s chocolatey seventh birthday party:
“My lovely Laila turned seven last week and having just finished reading Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, she wondered if this could be a great theme for her birthday party. Being a chocoholic myself and seeing the endless possibilities for a fabulous party, who was I to refuse?
We warned the parents of our little guests well in advance that this Wonka Chocolate Factory celebration would be a super-sweet affair – literally! From the golden covered good and bad – {but mostly good!} Easter eggs sitting next to our goose, to the marshmallows and chocolate fountain, all the way through to the chocolate mousse, cupcakes and whipple scrumptious fudgemallow delight cake pops, our bright and bold celebration really was a festival of all things Sugar.Our bottles of Fizzy Lifting Drinks were filled with milk (what else should one have with chocolate?) and Three-Course-Dinner gum, Everlasting Gobstoppers (bubble gum balls), Wonka Chocolate Bars and Candy Allsorts sat tantalizingly in glass candy jars on the dessert buffet.
We couldn’t decide if we should stay true to the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie or whether we’d fall in line with the Johnny Depp verison. In the end we borrowed inspiration from both.Rounding up a fabulous pair of Oompa Loompas on ebay, our small bobble-headed friends stood guard in front of the ‘boiled-candy’ ship made by patisserie chef, neighbor and friend Emma McKay of Cakes of our Lives.
Trying to recreate the inside of the edible chocolate factory, we used polystyrene blocks as props and laid artificial grass over the top, easing in some old-style lollipops of varying shapes and sizes as well as a smattering of hard boiled candies dotted strategically on the table.
After some afternoon tea, our seventeen guests were sugared-up and ready for some game action.We blew up a backyard worth of balloons and put a small chocolate easter egg in each of them. Our guests had to pop the balloon any way they could {imagine the squeals of delight as they jumped, pinched and squashed their balloons until they popped!}, find the egg, and see if it was a Good egg or Bad egg. There was only one Good egg in the bunch and this lucky ducky won a copy of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!
Our next game was a treasure hunt that required participants to find the Golden Ticket in the backyard. Followed by Musical Oompa Loompas + Chairs (musical statues and musical chairs), our celebration finished with some good old dancing, disco-style. Nothing like a bit of high-energy activity to burn of some excess energy!”
Resources + Credits
I love the glass bottles with the cork. Do you know where I could find those?
Love Willy Wonka, this party is adorable!