Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Book Review: This book was absolutely one of my kids favorites!  What captures the attention and imagination of children more than Roald Dahl's adventures and chocolate?! This book is great for any age range. It's short and easy to understand. My 5 year-old was so excited about it that he would get a little bit upset every time another child found a golden ticket.  "Mom! There's only two left! We need to find one quick!" I explained to him that it's just pretend, and he said, "I know, mom. But I want to find a Golden Ticket!" This book is a must read!  I may have gone a little overboard on this party, but this was a favorite when I was a kid and I wanted my kids to feel the same sort of magic. Do as much or as little as you want!  I have also scheduled a tour for a real chocolate factory (Mrs. Cavanaugh's). If you have a candy factory close that does tours for families, it would be a great field trip!


Book Party

Supplies from your craft kit
Gold printer paper (I got Gold Vellum by the Paper Studio)
Printer paper
markers
purple balloons
Scissors
Scotch Tape
sheet of foam
straws
plastic cups

Food Supplies
Full size chocolate bar
Various types of candy for decoration (Look at the dollar store for interesting candies!)
Chocolate fountain or fondue pot (If you don't have one already, ask around your neighborhood and chances are, a neighbor will have one you can borrow. Chocolate fountains- which we use for christmas eve at my house- run from about $30 on up if you want to buy one.)
Chocolate for fondue (You can buy chocolate at your craft store that you don't have to add anything to, or you can follow your fondue pot or fountain's manufacturer directions to make your own- a combination of chocolate and vegetable oil.)
12 oz bottled soda
Cookies (See recipe below)
strawberries
bananas
marshmallows
pretzels
anything else you want to dip into the chocolate
Circus peanuts
chocolate milk
Fruit Snacks

From the party store
Two top hats (the plastic ones are cheap!)
cat or rodent nose
Fake tree to decorate (I asked around the neighborhood and got one for free. If you can't find one that somebody wants to get rid of, look at a thrift shop.)
Pinwheel (I got mine for a dollar at the dollar store)

Printouts
Wonka Bar Wrapper
Golden Ticket
Lickable Wallpaper
Fizzy Lifting Drink Label
Glass Elevator Buttons
Glass Elevator Button covers
Room Labels
Nut Labels

Wonka Bars

 I LOVE how these turned out! I would have died for one of these when I was a kid! Not many chocolate bars are wrapped in foil anymore. I chose a candy bar that is already wrapped. If you don't want to spend the extra money, you can easily wrap them yourself with a little foil.  The printout for the Golden Ticket is in Microsoft Word format, so it will download to your computer first. That way you can customize it for your party. I put spaces where you can add your own place and time. I printed it out on Gold Vellum by The Paper Company. I printed out the Wonka Bar wrapper on matte photo paper.

Print out the wrapper and the ticket and cut them out. Carefully open the foil (or fold your own), and slide the golden ticket inside. Fold the wrapper around the candy bar and tape at the end.  I gave these to the kids a few days before the party so they could get excited.















Edible Tree

This was a great craft project for the kids. I didn't have a fake tree, so I asked around the neighborhood to see if anyone happened to have a tree that was sitting around that they didn't want anymore. I got this one (thanks April!) and made sure to clean it so the kids could eat the candy off of the tree. I went to the dollar store and picked up a bunch of candies that I thought would be cute for tree decorations. I used licorice for the trunk and using a needle, strung gummy bears and Laffy Taffy from the branches. I found this pinwheel at the dollar store and decorated it with dots and Nerd ropes.  I also used edible easter basket grass.

 Lickable Wallpaper
When I was a kid, I thought the lickable wallpaper was the coolest! I wanted to let my kids have that experience. I made a strip of fruit and printed it out in color (see printouts). I cut them out and then laminated them (I have my own laminator, but you can get them laminated for cheap). I got some Jolly Ranchers to melt, but after trying it, I decided that they take a while to melt, they harden quickly, and I thought they would chip off of the laminate plastic. So I had some fruit snacks in my cupboard and they worked perfectly. I thought I'd need a lot more than I did. For 5 strips, you'll only need about 6 of each flavor gummy.  Put them in a bowl and microwave for about 15 seconds. Then mix it up with a spoon. I used the back of a baby spoon and spread the melted snacks on the coordinating fruit. If the gummies get hard while you're working, just put it back in the microwave for another 5 seconds. Then, tape to the wall and let your kids lick away! My kids asked me after the party, "Mom, can we have lickable wallpaper all the time?!" Don't we wish!

 Games
I wanted to do a game for each of the kids in the story. They're simple, but the kids loved them.

Agustas Gloop- Chocolate Room:

 The goal of this game is to suck Agustas up with the straw and put him on a plate. Cut out a little kid shape out of a thin sheet of foam. Then float him in a cup of chocolate milk. The kids use suction to suck up Agustas. My 5 year-old said this was his favorite game, but it was a little messier than I anticipated. :o)

 Violet Beauregarde- The Juicing Room:
This game is pretty self explanatory. Blow up purple balloons, draw and tape on a head, arms and feet, and then let the kids have fun sitting on the balloons to get all the juice out of her!

Veruca Salt- The Nut Room:
The goal of this game is to sort the nuts. We used Circus peanuts because my kid has nut allergies. I got some top hats at the party store, along with a cat mask that I thought passed as a squirrel nose. I marked bad peanuts with an "X". Then the kids tossed the nuts into the "Good Nut" hat or the "Bad Nut" hat. Time them and count the correct nuts to make it more challenging.







Mike Teevee- The Chocolate Television Room:
This game requires basically no set-up at all, but was a huge hit with the kiddos. Just gather your kids' Nerf guns and the suction cup bullets. Pause your television on a picture of Willy Wonka and let your kids shoot!





















Charlie Bucket- The Glass Elevator:
The object of this game is to find the button that Charlie pushes, which says "Up and Out".  The button is hidden among 30 other room buttons that are mentioned in the book. To put this together, print and cut out the buttons and the "button covers". Then tape the covers to the front of the buttons.  When we played, on their turn, the kid would lift up the button cover to see if they picked the right one. This ended up taking the kids a while to find the "Up and Out" because they weren't paying much attention to which button the other kids were picking. To make it go faster, you could take the covers off completely after they have been chosen, thus revealing the buttons that they had already chosen. The one to pick "Up and Out" was the winner.



Food

The Fizzy Lifting Drinks are a fun addition. I've included labels for 12 oz. bottles of soda. A chocolate fountain works perfect for this party. If you don't have one, see if you can borrow one from somebody. If you'd like to invest in one, there's a wide price range, but they start at around $30. We like to use ours for a traditional chocolate fondue and game night on Christmas Eve. Then just add a variety of treats to dip into the fondue. It's quick and it's fun!

Everybody should have a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. I made these with white chips to dip into the milk chocolate. If you don't have an awesome cookie recipe, I've included mine here. It's been my family favorite for over 15 years. They always turn out soft, chewy and delicious!

Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1 C brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
1 C shortening (I use butter flavor- also brand matters for this one for some reason. I always use Crisco)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 C flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 C chocolate chips

Cream sugars and shortening until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add dry ingredients. Mix in chocolate chips. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for 10 minutes. Don't over bake.