Willy Wonka Party - It's Candy Time!

With the passing of Gene Wilder recently, my husband and I decided to have a family movie night to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the kids. I just LOVE that movie!  I got so many party ideas while watching the movie, that I decided to make it our September monthly dinner theme.  This party was SO much fun to plan and decorate for! Such a fun theme for a birthday party, gathering of friends, or whatever!

Invite:  I made the invite on Photoshop.  The Willy Wonka font I downloaded for free. I send my invites by email typically for monthly dinners is why I designed it this way, but if you want something a little more fun that you can mail, send a Wonka Bar with the details on the golden ticket inside.

Entry Decor:  When the lucky 5 Golden Ticket winners arrive at the Wonka Factory in the movie, they must sign a contract of rules before entering.  I created this foam board sign for my guests to sign with the rules for the evening. I made the sign with my Cricut cutting machine. Next to the sign, I placed a little table with Wonka candies and a pen I crafted with a feather and duct tape.

One guest promising to have fun!

Table Decor:  I used bright colors and candy to decorate my table of course! I started with a lime green tablecloth, and then added some fun candy items.

First, I made a candy table runner -- a large version of the Candy Buttons candy.  I cut a piece of butcher paper the size that worked with my table.  Then I simply placed Wilton's candy melts in rows. I didn't glue them down on anything as I wanted guest's to be able to grab and eat them straight from the table.

The everlasting Gobstopper is the ultimate candy in the movie, so I wanted to have one as part of my centerpiece. I decided to make it myself.  I bought a styrofoam ball and 8 cones from Dollar Tree. I cut off the top of each cone. (I used the cut-off tops to created a smaller everlasting gobstopper for my dessert table.)  I then painted the cones and center ball various colors and used toothpicks to stick them into the ball at the center. Cute, don't you think?

Check out these great candy jars from Oriental Trading that I used in my centerpiece! They were perfect & very well-made with a thick glass. Oriental Trading Co. carries a ton of items that were perfect for this theme, and they really helped me add some special touches to the party! I used two candy jars on each side of the Everlasting Gobstopper and filled the jars with a Wonka Candy mix also from Oriental Trading Co.  The two mason jars I filled with Skittles and large swirl lollipops from Oriental Trading.  The swirl suckers came in a box of 12, and they were all perfectly intact upon delivery! There were part of my parting favor for guests, but my kiddos loved eating them after the party too!

At each place setting, I used colored scrapbook paper under bright yellow paper plates, smaller lime green plates, and pink napkins. A box of Gobstoppers for each guest was above the plates.  For place cards, I made personalized Wonka bars on Photoshop.  I bought King Size Hershey bars and re-wrapped them with aluminum foil before adding the personalized Wonka wrapper.  I decided to place the golden ticket outside.  I designed the golden ticket on PhotoShop, then printed them on gold metallic card stock.

Over the table, I hung giant wrapped candies I made using paper lanterns and cellophane wrap.  The paper lanterns I got from Oriental Trading.  They were perfect as they were a set of 12 lanterns with 4 different bright colors that went perfectly with my decor.  The cellophane I bought from a local craft supply store.  I used zip ties to secure each side and hung them from the ceiling with fishing line.

For my dessert and beverage table, I made a giant Wonka bar using foam board and card stock.  I also had the mini foam everlasting gobstopper I made, and these peppermint decorations that came already assembled from Oriental Trading. Oh...and my chocolate fountain which was part of our dessert!

For my wine bottle labels, I found some Willy Wonka quotes that I liked and designed the labels around those quotes. I changed the one on the left a bit. Willy Wonka's original quote is "We have so much TIME, & so little to do." I altered it to fit my party guests.  Here's a look at the entire labels...

I also made a Fizzy Lifting Drink which was just a Shirley Temple.  The cute polka dot straws I got from Oriental Trading, Co.

For wine charms, I tied gummy bears to my wine glass stems. I used clear fishing line and poked it through the gummy bear with a needle before tying it around the glass.

Menu: My entrees were created around the characters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  We started with a blueberry salad to symbolize Violet Beauregarde who turns into a blueberry in the film.  Besides blueberries, I topped the greens with feta cheese and toasted walnuts.  I served the salad with a Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing.

For the main dish, I grilled bratwurst which is similar to what Augustus Gloop of Austria eats when he is interviewed after finding the golden ticket.  I wrapped each bratwurst/bun in colorful tissue paper and used silver twist ties for the ends.  My way of keeping with the candy theme. On the side, I had mustard, spicy mustard, and sauerkraut. 

With the bratwurst, I served baked potatoes.  After baking these in the oven, I wrapped them in Wilton's gold foil to represent Veruca Salt's golden eggs.

The steamed veggies, I served in small bowls. I cut televisions out of card stock to wrap around the bowl to represent Mike Teavee and Wonkavision.

For dessert, I made these cute little chocolate bowls and filled them with dipping items for the fondue fountain. To make the bowls, I blew up small balloons and dipped them in slightly cooled melted chocolate. (Make sure you wait until the chocolate cools a bit or your balloon will explode and you'll get chocolate on everything...I'm speaking from experience!!). After dipping the balloons, I set them on parchment paper and put them in the refrigerator for a bit to harden.

The chocolate fountain represented Charlie Bucket's Endless Supply of Chocolate that he won at the end of the movie. I served sliced angel food cake, strawberries, marshmallows, and sliced bananas for dipping.

Favor: Besides the personalized Wonka bar and the large swirl lollipops, I also sent my guest's home with a mini golden egg filled with Wonka candy.  The eggs were from Oriental Trading as well.  I made the Eggdicator out of card stock.  My tag line was "So lucky to have so many GOOD EGGS as friends."  I really am super lucky to have these ladies in my life!

Speaking of these ladies...here they are...

I hope you enjoyed this party post!  Special thanks again to Oriental Trading Co. for helping me out with this party!  They helped make this theme come alive!

"This review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience with the products listed above. I was provided the samples free of charge by Oriental Trading Company and I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.”