The holidays are coming.  Budgets are tight. The members of our gift lists who are the most difficult to buy for tend to be the ones we spend the most money on. Then, those same people are the ones who are least likely to like what you got them! This year, don’t spend so much time, energy, and money on uncertain gifts that make you resent your loved ones.

There’s a simple solution that allows you to give a little of everything.

Who can’t help but appreciate a creative gift? (People who deserve to be on your naughty list and receive a lump of coal for the holidays. That’s who!)

Who doesn’t love candy?

Instead of fussing over picky recipients, jump into an imaginative frame of mind, and show up to your Christmas party with something you’re excited to hand off. All while keeping it simple!

Find yourself the appropriate vessel — a toolbox for the handyperson, a pair of oven mitts for the baker, or a basket or stocking for the more traditional ones in your life — and stuff, stuff, stuff!

A Sweet Surprise

Everyone has a favorite candy, even if it’s sugar free! Check out our Retro Candies section of nostalgic candies from each decade of the 20th century. Whether your loved one grew up in the 20’s or the 80’s, we’ve got the candies they remember from childhood — freshly made and in stock! There are cult favorites and the things of legend, in salty and sour, in every color of the rainbow.

For more grateful giftees, our stocking stuffers section offers something for everyone, from edible trinkets to timeless traditional classics. A toy dump truck is great, but what about one filled with tons of treats? Or a play purse that helps you save coins and stay sweet?  It’s never too soon to start those lessons in money management!

When you add the perfect candy (one of life’s simplest delights), any gift becomes more likely to go down in a blaze of glory instead of down in flames. And if you run out of candy-stuffing space, but want to give more (or be SURE they can’t complain), toss in an online shopping Sweet Certificate for good measure!

Being in the candy business is a lot of fun. We often get to connect people with candies they’ve loved and lost. Each holiday brings a wave of exhilaration at being part of something joyful. But every once in a while, we’re fortunate that our work allows us to do something really cool. Just before Christmas this year, an email from a drowsy dad gave us just that kind of opportunity.

Nearly every young child has their favorite thing — some item they hold on to for comfort throughout their early years. For one boy, it was a soft yellow M&M’s pillow. He’d slept soundly with it every night, beginning with his first night home from the hospital after being born. On a recent vacation, that M&M’s pillow went missing and sleepless nights began.

After searching desperately (without any luck) for a replacement, the boy’s father wrote to Candy Favorites. The pillows were long gone from our inventory, but he hoped that just maybe we could connect him with one yellow pillow. It just happened that our President,
Jon Prince, had set a few collectible pillows aside, thinking they were interesting novelty items. He went searching, and sure enough, a yellow M&M’s pillow was among them. Jon was delighted to send it off just in time for Christmas.

Here’s what happened on Christmas Morning:

Christmas Wish on Vimeo.

We are so grateful to this family for sharing their Christmas with us. Like anything else, the candy business has its ups and downs. But these are the moments that make it all worthwhile.

Entertaining guests is an integral part of the holiday season. Whether you plan elaborate get-togethers or get caught off guard by spontaneous drop-ins, your unused chairs and “nice” dishes are bound to get some play before the end of the year. I recently discovered a time-tested strategy for making all this visiting easier — one that seems to have been forgotten along the way by generation X.

Pam Knows What's Up

It’s very simple. Put candy all over your house.

I’m not kidding. As an eater of salad in lieu of dessert, I am the last person who ever expected to say this. Sure, I celebrate individual candies as their own independent holidays. But scattered candy previously meant nothing to me aside from an abundance of temptation.

I’ve finally found what receptionists and bank tellers have known for years. Candy makes people feel better. It makes them calm down! Even when they’re being told bad news, like, “No, Michael’s not here” or “No, you can’t make a withdrawal. We actually want you to pay us before we’ll let you leave.”If little bits of sugary sweetness can brighten those moments, imagine what they can do for your too-small apartment when your great aunts, who don’t like your boyfriend, suddenly feel the urge to spend unending amounts of time with you.

With a little forethought and very little expense, you can make your home an exciting place to be — for you, your guests, and for the children they drag along with them. Placing candy within reach has the incredible and immediate impact of making guests feel more at home. Elevate your freinds’ enjoyment of your company by giving them something sweet to eat.

Mmm...Sweet Nostalgia

Celebrate the Season

The fun part of holiday candy is that it’s socially acceptable to put it literally everywhere. Red-and-white-striped candy is the perfect complement to sprigs of evergreen. So hang candy canes on your tree and place peppermint sticks throughout your garland.

It’s super adorable to dress up vintage jars or modern glass vessels for Christmas. Just fill them with different candies and slap on some homemade labels to give your guests a variety of beautiful things to snack on and talk about. So showcase your sweet tooth and brighten up your space at the same time. It’s the one step of holiday decorating that will be painless (and might even make trimming the tree go more smoothly)

Share the Love

Putting candy around the house is a really suave way of getting people to try things that you love. We all want to share things we enjoy, but it can be next to impossible to get friends to take the leap on their own. Instead of giving treats as gifts — and having to wrap them and send them — you can encourage your guests to indulge while keeping you company. It’s the perfect way to change minds and get first dibs on the leftovers.

Keep the Kiddies Busy

We all grow up with our favorite houses to visit — and those we dread. Candy is the best way to swing your friends’ kids’ opinions in your favor. Did you throw away the box of toys your cousin Hannah gave you for occasions like this? Distract with chocolate covered cherries. Have a tendency to snap when someone sets a little foot in your parlor? Grab some gummi bears. When kids have off from school, candy is the prime currency for buying time with your adult friends. The more rooms you decorate with it, the greater the scavenger hunt you can send them on. And the best part is, they’ll love you for it!

There’s no use fighting — embrace the season! String up popcorn with your holly and pair peppermint with your poinsettias. And maybe you’ll make the holidays just a little bit sweeter for your self and everyone who visits you.

Interested in celebrating yet another holiday between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Need a distraction from your kids’ constant countdown? Belsnickel Day is the perfect opportunity to practice your early-morning home-videography skills and encourage children to keep the pre-holiday tantrums to a minimum.

Christmas…Before Christmas

A few of us graced with the good fortune of growing up in rural German Pennsylvania towns know the joy of a little early Christmas visit. On the evening of December 6th, we put our shoes (one pair apiece, of course) next to the front door. In the morning, they’d most likely be full of candy treats and small gifts. This was, however, the only occasion on which we really ever saw lumps of coal. After all, it was Belsnickel’s job to let Santa know whether we’d been behaving our P’s and Q’s.

A Sometimes Troubling Tradition

The tradition of Der Belsnickel was brought to America by German immigrants and was soon adopted by other settlers. The name translates roughly to “Niklos in furs,” and the character is traditionally covered in, well, furs. In some traditions, he’ll even wear masks or be painted to look pretty terrifying. The job of Belsnickel is to reward good children and punish those who’d misbehaved.

The Belsnickel I believed in was a far cry from the mythical being who scared the Bejeezus out of kids (and probably their parents). In my own view, Belsnickel was more or less Santa’s brother or cousin popping in to make sure things were as they should be as Christmas approached. Though I never stayed up to try and catch a glimpse, had I known the real legend, I imagine I’d have refused to sleep — or maybe even to leave school. As it turned out, I stayed blissfully unaware and reveled in the fact that I got to enjoy the gifts of an “extra” jolly gentleman who passed by the homes of my classmates.

Keeping a Classic

The Pennsylvania Dutch tradition of Belsnickle started fading in the 1920′s. It’s for that reason that I’d really like to keep it alive. It’s one of those opportunities to celebrate a fading cultural practice and develop a yearly tradition at the same time. Just like I feed my friends saurkraut on New Year’s Day, I plan to add a shoe-Santa moment to my pre-Christmas ugly sweater party. What better way to add a dash of unexpected magic to the holiday season?

Mark your calendar for December 6th and check out our naughty-and-nice stocking stuffers for the perfect Belsnickle treats!

Sources:
Der Belsnickel of the Pennsylvania Dutch
Belsnickel on Wikipedia

It’s 2011, folks, and preparing for the holidays isn’t what it used to be. Black Friday is starting on Thursday, and stores explode into Christmas mode as they take down their Halloween decor. Thankfully, online shopping has become much simpler and more secure, so you don’t even have to set foot in a mall. (Speaking of which, you can sign up for our email newsletter to make sure you receive our Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals!)

Each year, stocking stuffer options get more interesting and impressive. Stockings provide a great opportunity to impress your loved ones when they least expect it. Especially in these uncertain economic times, small gifts are a great way to spread holiday joy without breaking the bank. Give some extra thought to your stocking stuffers and gift toppers to make the most of Christmas this year.

Giant Lollipops

When I was a kid, giant lollipops were a spectacle that could only be found at amusement parks. There were two kinds — the big, round, flat lollipop and the long, twisty swirl. I thought the flat ones got you the most candy, but my sister stuck with the twist. Either way, they made special occasions more memorable. These Giant Christmas Lollipops bring this type of fun to the holidays. Whether kids get to savor them individually or shatter them to share, they’ll make little ones feel a little extra special.

Candy Cane Tree Lollipops

Christmas Cupcake Lollipops

Christmas Swirl Lollipops

Candy + Toy Novelties

Companies like Hilco have upped the stocking-stuffer ante by combining holiday candy with toys. These novelty candy-and-toy combinations give kids something to snack on, as well as something to keep and play with long after the candy is gone. Many of them can be refilled, which extends the value of each treat over time. These seasonal exclusives really make a big impression with younger children.

Lindor Truffles

The holidays are the time for savoring the moments, sights, and sounds we love. The flavors we cherish are center stage, and that makes this the best time of year for Truffles. Lindt Lindor Truffle Balls are the grown-up stocking stuffer your friends will go crazy for. We’ve got the flavors below, plus just about every other flavor you can think of — raspberry, hazelnut, peanut butter, and extra-dark chocolate for the most refined palettes. Unlike most online stores, we won’t make you buy 120. Mix and match our 60-count boxes to offer your holiday guests a variety of indulgences.

Dark Chocolate Lindor Balls

Milk Chocolate Lindor Balls

Mint Chocolate Lindor Balls

DIY Gift Boxes

These “Make It Yourself Kits” take the toy-plus-candy novelty treat to a whole new level! Each DIY kit contains an adventure that older kids or even adults can enjoy. One of these gift boxes can enhance a party twice — once when you give it, and again when your giftee uses it. Each one includes everything you need to create a homemade batch of goodies that most people have never thought of making at home before!

Make Your Own Chewing Gum

Make Your Own Chocolate

Make Your Own Gummies

I know that I’m about to give everyone whiplash, but it’s true. The moment you finish off your Halloween candy, you run smack into the Christmas season. Well, Halloween has come and gone, and we’re seeing far fewer hours of daylight. It’s time to think about hibernation.

There’s one little Christmas detail you can take care of now to brighten the holidays. As you stock up for the next snowpocalypse, take a moment and order your Candy Canes.

A Candy Cane Craze

Each year, the holidays creep in earlier and earlier. Before I worked at a candy company, I did not believe that anyone would buy Candy Canes in October. But now I hear those calls coming in, and it’s true! They’re flying off the shelves! The time to secure your Candy Canes (especially if you need lots of them) is now. 1.76 Billion of these puppies will be made this year, so whether there are 6 Billion or 7 Billion humans on the Earth, there’s no excuse for not getting a few peppermint sticks of your own.

Don’t Be Left Out in the Cold

When you shop with Candy Favorites, you can order candy canes (or stocking stuffers, or bulk candy) and schedule delivery for closer to Christmas. When you’re pummeled with last-minute details, your future self will be so grateful that you had the foresight to plan ahead. All you’ll have to do will be to accept the package and go back to basting your Christmas goose.

Classic Candy Canes

The thing about traditional Candy Canes is, people are expecting them. After all, kids have been enjoying them for 350 years. A Christmas without Candy Canes is like a breakfast without bacon — ridiculous! Classic versions are the most in demand, so here’s a variety of options. We’ve got you covered with tiny ones, normal ones, and totally giant Candy Canes.

Novelty Candy Canes

Novelty Candy Canes make a great stocking-stuffing supplement to traditional versions. They take the candies you know and love a step further with crazy flavors, interesting textures, and even gum. While we don’t advise that you totally forgo the classics, we have a variety of newfangled Candy Canes to keep your tastebuds on their toes.

They say that variety is the spice of life. Well, Brach’s is delivering a variety of spices with its new lineup of holiday nougats.

Okay…so they’re mostly mints. But you get the idea. You might remember Christmas Nougats from going “treeing” at other people’s houses. They have these tiny little trees in the middle, and you can’t help but try and bite around the candy just so, in an effort to free the tree from a forest of nougat. And then, when you fail, you can’t help but try again. Over the years, I wiled away many hours this way, waiting for adults to finish talking. These candies, for many of us, are a signal that the holidays are really here.

Classic Peppermint Christmas Nougats

It all started with the Brach’s Peppermint Christmas Nougat. This red-and-white variety  is the classic soft candy of Christmas, but as a kid I shied away from them. But as an adult, curiosity struck. What I found is that these are actually quite addictive.

The texture seems to be hard before you open them. But the nougat softens as you chew, giving way to one of the cleanest and smoothest candy textures I’ve experienced. They’re really nice after dinner (and after dessert) to make your mouth all fresh and tingly. They’re more peppermint than sweet, so you feel like you’ve eaten a mint rather than a candy.

Wintergreen Christmas Nougats

Somewhere over the years, Brach’s decided to mix it up. So now those more inclined to eat Canada Mints can have a Christmas candy, too. Wintergreen is one of those bizarre flavors that you don’t think you want to eat on purpose. Pepto Bismol might have done that to us. But one bite of something Wintergreen that’s actually yummy, and you can’t stop eating it.

Brach’s Wintergreen Christmas Nougats are no exception. They have the exact same wonderful texture and festive design as the Peppermint nougat, but the base color is light green instead of white. These leave you with a distinct cool feeling in your mouth.

Cinnamon Christmas Nougats

Cinnamon might be the best variety for children new to the world of Brach’s Christmas Nougats. These also have the little tree design, but the main color is pink. When you open an individually wrapped piece, you’re immediately hit with a jolt of cinnamon fragrance. These are just remarkably pleasant, because they have potent cinnamon flavor without overwhelming you with a burst of heat.

Cinnamon Christmas Nougats give you all the texture of classic nougats, plus a cinnamonny experience without the annoying loss of flavor you get from chewing gum. Unlike the mint varieties, this one leaves your mouth feeling warm and toasty.

Chocolate Mint Christmas Nougats

And then there’s one more — the fun one. Brach’s Chocolate Mint Christmas Nougats take things outside the box. They abandon the classic tree design for a basic but totally cute irregular swirl. This makes them fun to smash, so kids — or you — might end up playing with them more than the others. The chocolate and mint layers are made from two distinct flavors of nougat. The chocolate is a really nice surprise. It has none of that essence-of-fake-chocolate taste, but rather adds a subtle chocolate tone to the distinct mint flavor.

I carefully nibbled at the mint layer of several of these, trying to decide what kind of mint it was. I gave up. It has the light green hue of wintergreen but the freshness of peppermint. And seems too much like a Peppermint Patty to be Wintergreen. Either way, when you eat the layers together, you still get that very consistent, smooth nougat texture, with a refreshing flavor that leaves behind notes of mint.

A Christmas Candy Tradition

The nutrition facts on these puppies makes them an indulgence that’s worth it. The stats are pretty similar for all varieties, so 5 pieces have around 160 calories and 3 grams of fat. That’s not bad at all for candy in any season. Stick with Brach’s to revive old traditions or start new ones. These candies are so unique, they won’t be forgotten.

Hard to find and a true Christmas favorite - Peppermint Tootsie Pop Candy Cane Lollipops

Sharability: 2

Denture Danger: 9

Convenience: 8

Novelty: Seasonal Novelty: 10

Overall: 10

‘Tis the season for the candy cane tootsie pop. The minty sweet peppermint to chill your breath and chewy tootsie roll chocolate to wash over your tastebuds with warmth.

You can enjoy the solo peppermint taste as long as you want until you can’t resist the urge to bite into the lollypop any longer. Then the sweet chewy chocolate flavor blends into the peppermint for one of those favorite flavor combinations that is sure to get stuck in your teeth.

Give your kids this wintertime candy to suck on while you sip on your liquid version of this candy: peppermint schnapps hot chocolate.

The chocolate peppermint makes you think of Christmas trees and Hannukah menorahs. It makes you think of snowy mornings of candy canes and hot chocolate, the feeling of coming back from sledding and gulping down that first sip of hot chocolate before you even have had time to take off your snow pants. This simple candy combines two favorites (candy canes and tootsie rolls) to flaunt its flavor and teach the original tootsie roll pop a little something.

If you loved Brach's Villa Cherries, discontinued in 2003, you will love their new replacment!

Sharability: 6

Denture Danger: 4

Convenience: 4

Novelty: 5

Overall: 8

I have to admit I’m usually not a fan of fruit inside my chocolates. And when I say I’m not a fan, every time I bite into a chocolate with fruit flavored filling, it usually ends up in a gross, slobbery mess inside of a napkin.

I tentatively took my first bite of the cherry cordial expecting the same sickly sweet fruity flavor of most fruit fillings, but I was quite pleasantly surprised. Within the chocolate shell, surrounding the maraschino cherry, is a sweet goopy filling. It has the same consistency of the stretchy, soft caramel in Caramello chocolates. I’m not sure what exactly the filling is, some sort of deliciously sweet, milky substance. Whatever it is, it makes this candy what it is. The milk chocolate blend, with the goopy sweetness, and the fruity cherry creates a perfect trifecta of flavors. This candy is classy too. Place them around the edges of a plate filled with fruit and you can serve that for dessert to Obama at his grand table in the white house. 

You might remember Brach’s Christmas time Villa Cherries (I’ll admit that I don’t), which were discontinued in 2003. These may not be the original Villa Cherries that you all knew and loved, but they are new and improved. Whatever those Villa Cherries may have tasted like, I can tell you that these Brach’s Milk Chocolate Covered  Cherry Cordials  taste even better.

So whether you are going to the Obama’s for dinner, or it’s Christmas(/Chanukah) time,  or it’s right now, the cherry cordials’ trifecta of sweetness will leave you with your eyes closed and absentmindedly expressing your satisfaction through the universal “mmmmmm…”

Enjoy Tootsie Pop Candy Canes Year Round....

As the owner of the Internet’s Largest Candy Store, I have access to over 2800 candies but I am very fussy per what I eat.

The other day, a friend of mine asked what was my favorite candy and, truth be told, it was a tough question….

I guess I go through phases and, currently, I am hooked on Candy Cane Tootsie Pops which we offer year round.

The combination of the classic mint candy flavor, the tactile quality of the round lollipop and the “surprise” Tootsie Roll center make this, in my opinion, one of the best tasting lollipops!

Don’t get me wrong – this is not the only candy that I eat but it is the type of candy that I stash away for when I need my daily sugar fix.

Nothing beats the refreshing and nostalgic inspiring taste of a candy cane and the flavor of Tootsie Rolls speaks for itself!

In this case, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts….