Celebrate with a chocolate factory theme
It’s time for a birthday celebration, and inspired by Roald Dahl’s classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Miss L chose to theme her party around all things chocolate!
Creative invitations
To kick things off, we focused on the invitations. We bought several chocolate bars, sliced them in half, and wrapped them back up in their aluminum foil or additional foil. After preparing the bars, we printed golden ticket invitations to place inside each one, using Willy Wonka’s iconic candy bar wrappers.
For the tickets, I downloaded a free font inspired by Willy Wonka and created the printable wrappers and golden tickets. The golden tickets can be printed and customized by hand to include the date, location, time, and RSVP contact number. For the best results, I printed the wrappers on plain white paper and used gold paper for the golden tickets, purchased from a local arts and crafts store. You can download the candy wrappers here and the golden tickets here. Enjoy!
Party at the Chocolate Museum
Hosting an entire chocolate factory-themed birthday party at home can be quite a challenge, so we decided to take advantage of an incredible Chocolate Museum in Paris! Despite the numerous chocolate shops in the city, we realized we had never explored this museum, making it the ideal setting for the birthday party.
At the Chocostory museum, they offer a special birthday party theme. This includes access to three floors of chocolate history and a candy-making workshop where guests can bake a cake, create hot chocolate, and even unwrap gifts!
For our party, we chose to have a museum visit and workshop, followed by continued festivities at home. The kids were thrilled during the museum tour, learning about chocolate production. The museum features a fun Playmobil quiz with the tour; however, since our kids were a bit older, I prepared a small quiz and treasure hunt to enhance their experience. You can download our chocolate quiz here.
Fun activities at home
Back at home, we organized several activities to keep the chocolate factory theme alive:
- To recreate the enchanting vibe of the book, we filled a room with balloons and labeled it Violet Beauregard’s Bubble Gum Room. The kids were tasked with finding the balloon featuring Violet’s face taped on it!
- We included party favors, games, and photo booth props. To mimic Violet’s ever-changing gum, we mixed various flavors of gum into surprise packs. Tommy’s two-dimensional candy was Pop Rocks.
- We constructed a cardboard television and paper glasses, allowing kids to pretend they were zapped into the TV – a fantastic idea for a photo booth. Additionally, I downloaded Oompa Loompa masks from the James Forward Design website for another fun photo opportunity.
- We also made fizzy lifting drinks using an empty glass bottle. I printed out custom labels and combined bubble drink balls with fizzy water and syrup, which turned out to be a huge hit!
Each child left with their unique creations and a newfound knowledge of chocolate history! Overall, the birthday celebration was a tremendous success!
Visit the Chocolate Museum
If you’re interested in exploring Paris’ Chocolate Museum, they will have a very special Easter activity this Sunday at 11 AM. Be sure to call ahead to reserve!
Musée Gourmand du Chocolat
28 bd Bonne Nouvelle
Paris 75010