The Celebration Balloon consists of a smooth and creamy balloon-shaped chocolate shell containing a plastic bag of indulgent Confectionary Confetti.
There will be a choice of milk, white or dark chocolate shells to suit the preference of the customer.
The surface of the chocolate shell should be completely plain to mimic the smooth surface of a balloon.
The only decoration should be a delicately piped personalised message on the surface of the shell.
In keeping with other Thorntons’ personalised products, the message will be piped in white icing.
Personalised Celebration Balloons could be purchased online or in Thorntons’ stores, but a range of standard Celebration Balloons could be sold in
supermarkets with generic messages, for example, “Happy Birthday!” or “Happy Anniversary!”.
To reduce the cost of producing the Celebration Balloons, the balloon-shaped shell can be exactly the
same as the Easter egg shells, but upside down.
Thorntons’ personalised eggs with no extra truffles or toffee seem to fall into these categories.
| Size |
Mass os Shell |
Number of Characters |
| Small |
153g |
10 |
| Medium |
265g |
20 |
| Large |
650g |
30 |
The personalised message is such an important feature of the Celebration Balloon,
so it is imperative to allow space for as many characters as possible.
For this reason either of the medium or large shells would be ideal.
Confectionary Confetti; chocolates, cubes of fudge or pieces of toffee, will be packaged in a clear plastic bag within the chocolate shell.
Having something inside the Celebration Balloon adds an element of intrigue and anticipation when the receiver breaks the shell open. It also allows for a much wider range of products and gives the customer further opportunity to tailor their choice of Celebration Balloon. The Confectionary Confetti also provides an additional flavour dimension for the adults when the children are more likely to prefer the chocolate shell. It also presents an opportunity to personalise the Celebration Balloons.
Below is a selection of some of you products, which would be ideal as Confectionary Confetti, because they are not be too delicate and would not be damaged inside the chocolate shell.
- Chocolate Smothered Special Toffee
- Original Special Toffee
- Original Toffee Chocolates
- Brazil Nut Special Toffee
- Liquorice Special Toffee
- Fruit and Nut Special Toffee
- Chocolate Smothered Fudge
- Vanilla Fudge
- Lemon Meringue Fudge
- Crunchy Mint Truffle
- Luxury Dinner Mints
- Dark Chocolate Gingers
- Continental Alpini Praline
- Coffee Creams
- Milk Chocolate Brazils
- Turkish Delight
- Strawberry Dream Chocolates
- Orange Crisp Chocolates
- Diplomat Chocolates
- Honeycomb Crisp Chocolates
- Rum Truffles
- Marc De Champagne Truffles
The chocolate shell will be packed in a thin cardboard box and supported by a clear plastic frame.
Similar to the boxes of your Easter eggs and chocolate models, the customer should be able to see the
Celebration Balloon through the front of the box. The message on the Celebration Balloon should
face outwards and the details of the type of chocolate shell (milk, white or dark chocolate) and
the type Confectionary Confetti should be clearly displayed on the front of the box.
There will need to be two different sizes of packaging for the two sizes of Celebration Balloon.
The box dimensions below are based on the standard boxes for the Thorntons 265g Large Chocolate Egg and the Thorntons Marvellous Magnificent Easter Egg 650g
| Size |
Box Dimensions* |
| 265g |
21 x 14.2 x 13 cm |
| 650g |
32.8 x 24.1 x 19.8 cm |
*Box dimensions obtained from amazon package dimensions
One side of the box will have instructions with pictures on how to wrap the Celebration Balloon which read:
- Place the Celebration Balloon in the centre of the tissue paper flatter side down.
- Wrap the tissue paper around the Celebration Balloon and collect the edges of the tissue paper at the top.
- Tie the ribbon around the tissue paper to hold it in place and invert the Celebration Balloon, so the ribbon hangs at the bottom.
The example packaging has the dimensions of the smaller box.
Each Celebration Balloon will come with a ribbon and a sheet of tissue paper.
This allows the customer to remove the Celebration Balloon from the box, wrap it
in the tissue paper, and tie the ribbon around the tissue paper collected at the base
of the Celebration Balloon. This will transform the chocolate shell into a balloon and
also make the Celebration Balloon appear more as a present which must be unwrapped,
which will add to the ceremony of receiving this gift.
Only a single sheet of tissue paper is required with the standard dimensions of 500mm by 750mm.
The ribbon provided will be of length 1m and thickness 6mm.
The colour of the tissue paper and ribbon could be selected by the customer if they purchase
a Celebration Balloon online or in one of Thorntons’ stores. Initially there could be a choice
of five different tissue paper colours: pale blue, pale pink, violet, yellow and dark blue and
five ribbon colours: deep blue, pink, gold, purple, white. The standard Celebration Balloons in
supermarkets would have a random combination of colours and tissue paper and ribbon.
Note: The box dimensions above do not take into account space for the ribbon or tissue paper
so the height may have to be adjusted accordingly.
The Confectionary Confetti will be wrapped in a clear plastic bag within the chocolate shell.
After assessing a range of Thorntons' bagged products, I calculated that to hold 100g of Confectionary Confetti, the plastic bag must have a total volume of 360 cm3 and have the dimensions: 10 x 6 x 6cm.
Considering that Thorntons’ smallest Easter egg shell is 15cm, a bag of height 10cm, width 6cm and depth 6cm would definitely fit within the shell.
I first came up with the idea of a Celebration Balloon in March 2019, when searching for an ideal
present for my father’s birthday. My father is a chocolate lover, so chocolate was the obvious gift,
but I wanted the present to be impressive, special and personal so it would stand out amongst the
numerous jams and socks we had also bought for him.
It was approaching Easter, so supermarket shelves were buckling under the weight of Easter eggs.
I had wandered the aisles searching for birthday inspiration for a dishearteningly long time,
before I came across the largest Easter egg I had ever seen. That would be perfect, but it seemed
wrong to give my father an Easter egg on his birthday.
That was when I had a flicker of inspiration; I would transform the chocolate egg into a birthday balloon.
So the morning of my father’s birthday I presented the first ever Celebration Balloon wrapped in purple
tissue paper and tied at the base with a couple of ribbons. Later that evening the balloon was burst and
its huge chocolate shell was shared out amongst our family.
My original balloon was simply an Easter egg wrapped in tissue paper and tied with a ribbon,
but it was Thorntons whose products inspired the finer details of the Celebration Balloon.
I have fond memories of receiving a Thorntons Easter Egg every year from a dear family friend
who would travel our local shop to have my name and my brother’s name iced on the egg.
The effort she went to in order to personalise the egg was always so touching and these
happy memories are why it is important to me that customers should be able to personalise
their Celebration Balloons with their own messages.
I had always subconsciously wanted the Celebration Balloon to be a chocolatey treat to be shared
by the whole family, but it was only when I read the following sentence on Thorntons’ website that
the idea became one of the most important aspects of my product. When describing Thorntons’ range of
Chocolate Models the website reads, “There’s a chocolate model for every generation – from sweet gifts
for kids to celebratory showstoppers for the grown-ups.” It struck me that children and grown-ups had
been separated as they are throughout most of modern day culture. But surely everybody’s love of chocolate
should unite people and sharing can only enhance an already sublime chocolate eating experience?
I believe the potential of the UK’s love of Easter eggs has not been fully realised by most chocolate companies.
8 million Easter eggs were sold in 2018 and in 2017 £325m was spent on Easter eggs in the UK.
Their popularity with the public is obvious, so why should the Easter egg experience be limited to the
few months surrounding Easter?
The Celebration Balloon takes full advantage of our nation’s passion for high quality chocolate lovingly
shaped into thick oval shells. It provides the Easter egg experience for all special occasions and encourages
the sharing of such a delicious treat with the entire family. The creamy shell favoured by the children and
the more sophisticated Confectionary Confetti for the adults.
The Celebration Balloon is the perfect thoughtful gift. The iced message and carefully chosen Confectionary Confetti
provide a personal touch while the DIY tissue paper and ribbon create the ultimate balloon finish.
My aim is that the giving and sharing of a Celebration Balloon would become a family tradition, so when you might
expect someone to say, “Who is going to cut the cake, I’m ravenous!” you will now hear, “Who is going to burst the Balloon?”