Although it is easier to buy all your birthday party supplies and decorations from a party store, it is much more special when you can create a few things yourself.  For example, one year instead of sending out store-bought birthday invitations, I created a full-page one on my computer and had them printed by a local flyer printing service.  They turned out great and did not look generic, like many packaged invitations do.

For our children's birthdays this year, we had an intimate celebration with just close family members.  All their birthdays are in January, so we were able to celebrate all at once.  Even though there were not other children there, I wanted to do a few things to make the celebration special.  In addition to ordering a SpongeBob cake and blowouts, I made these SpongeBob place cards with Toblerone chocolate and tied SpongeBob mylar balloons to them.

Step 1:  Tightly roll an unopened bar of Toblerone chocolate in a piece of construction paper, making sure each open end forms a neat triangle.  Then secure with a few pieces of transparent tape along the seam.



Step 3:  Tie a balloon to each wrapped Toblerone bar, double-knotting the ribbon or string so that the balloon is secure.


I only made 3 of these since our celebration was so small, but I think a table set with one at each place setting would look very impressive.  Then each guest would get to take home a bar of delicious chocolate and a balloon as their party favor.  This craft would certainly work with any child's birthday theme, but can also be altered to be used in an adult's birthday or anniversary celebration, a baby shower, or a bridal shower.  You simply need to use more elegant wrapping paper or scrapbook paper.  If you use scrapbook paper, you could even use a printer to add the text.  If you try this craft at your celebration, I would love to hear about how it turned out or even see a photo.