Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Willy Wonka Surprise Birthday Party - Dylan's Candy Bar, New York

Who says candy parties are just for kids?

I worked with the birthday girl's wonderful husband who wanted to throw her a surprise 40th birthday party. Her being the world's biggest candy fiend, it was only fitting that we held the event at Dylan's Candy Bar in NYC.

For the invitations, I had these custom Wonka Bar candy wrappers designed and printed with "Find the Golden Ticket" and "Win Invite to Meredith's Surprise 40th Birthday Party!" splashed on the front. I wish I had a picture of the back nutrition label because we made everything 0 calories and 0 fat but 25 grams of protein. If only...

Inside each chocolate bar, guests found their golden ticket that won them admission to the birthday celebration. Invitation was signed by Mr. Wonka himself. True story.

Dinner and sweets were catered by Avents Catering who offers amazing menus straight from the kitchens of David Burke.

Yes, of course we had his famous lollipop cheesecake. Too perfect for this candy themed party!

For decor, we made our own vases out of jolly rancher sticks, wheat grass and orchids. Sticky but cute :)

One of my favorite parts of the party was collecting old photos and favorite stories about Meredith from her friends and family and assembling them in this scrapbook for her to keep. I, of course, only got to meet Meredith the night of the party, it being a surprise to her and all, but I felt like I knew her before that night. I only hope one day that I am lucky enough to have a scrapbook filled with such fun and lovely memories of my own.

Now, sorry to always be the black rain cloud but there was a lot of candy consumed that evening. I just wanted to make sure no cavities resulted from that party (liability issues, you understand). So guests were also given a cute teeth cleaning voucher for $50 off if they mentioned the birthday girl at the dental offices of Dr. Diane Deidan, whose office was just a block away from Dylan's (well not that we expected them to go immediately after or anything. Just saying.). She's the best, you watch DVDs through these eyeglasses during your procedure. Appointments are never long enough. Anyhow, the cards read:

You've had a lot of sugar tonight.
Maybe you should come see me?

As guests left they were each given an empty pail with a custom sticker that read "Sweet of you to come." Guests were then allowed to roam around the 2 story candy-shop and fill it with whatever their sweet tooth desired. They were like adults in a candy shop!

Photos by Joanna Wilson Photography

5 comments:

laura@makemery! said...

Love it!! After seeing the dentist card in your portfolio, I've always wondered about this party and wanted to see more :)

Anonymous said...

Whom did you order the invites from?

Daughter of Design said...

We actually had our graphic designer do those invitations custom. I think he just scanned the actual wrapper and made a few modifications. Hope that helps.

Kathy said...

Throw your own WONKA BIRTHDAY PARTY - there is really no better theme !

www.Squidoo.com/wonka-party - you can get everything you need from this site - ideas for EVERYTHING, as well as ideas for games and decorations as well as plenty of printouts and resources as well to make your party - and ULTIMATE WONKA PARTY - that will WOW your friends!

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