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candy buffet

Candy News, Licorice, Wedding Candy

Why Not Propose a Candy Buffet for Your Special Day

June 9, 2017 by

“Life is the best party I’ve ever been invited to.”     — Arlene Francis

candy buffets are the life of the party!Dearly beloved . . . we are gathered here at the most popular month for weddings! Finally it’s your day. A day you’ve been dreaming about for so long. All the planning and preparation is over. Now it’s time to celebrate with family and friends. White dresses and black tuxedos. Beautiful flowers and great music. Delicious food, delectable cookies and you even remembered to include an eye-catching, colorful, candy buffet.

But hold the rice! Don’t toss your bouquet just yet!  Because candy buffets aren’t just for weddings you know!

On your wedding day, I’m sure you’ll hear the saying “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.” But for all those candy lovers not walking down the aisle this month, let’s “marry” that well-known quote to some unique candy buffets for any occasion.

Candy buffets

Candy Buffets are not just for weddings anymore…

How about Something old to create a Happy 60th or 70th birthday candy buffet using candy favorites from years ago like Kits Taffy, Butterfinger, Chuckles (we can all laugh about our age now, can’t we), Mr. Goodbar, Oh Henry and a product from my era, the 1950’s, M&Ms. Celebrating a high school class reunion is a great occasion to set up a candy buffet featuring your high school colors. Celebrating your hair style back in those days . . . hmmm . . . not so much!

necco wintergreen mints

A candy buffet adds a sweet touch to almost any event!

Something new has endless possibilities for your candy buffet. Did your new neighbors buy that house next to yours? Why not throw them a “welcome to your new home” party? If it’s spring time how about a candy buffet done in all pastel colors? Candy Favorites has pastel M&Ms, gumballs, Hershey Kisses and even licorice. Add some 5th Avenues and Milky Ways. What a great way to welcome them to your great neighborhood!

Did someone have a new baby? Pink and blue candy buffets will welcome in that bundle of joy. Fill candy jars with Baby Ruths and Pacifier Pops for some added laughs.

Learn how to add creative touches to any event!

Any special day should have a candy buffet!

Something borrowed brings to mind sleepovers! You get it . . . you’re actually borrowing your children’s friends for a fun filled night, where they stay up late, watch movies, play games and eat candy!  Tootsie Pops, Fun Dip, Gummie Bears and Dubble Bubble Bubblegum will keep the laughs going.

Once I walked down to our basement at one of my daughter’s sleepovers and saw every kid glued to their phone. “Ok, all phones off, everyone make two teams,” I laughed. Then I gave each of them a wooden stick and the first one in line got a Life Saver. “The first team to successfully pass the Life Saver from one person to the other by holding your wooden stick in your mouth wins a prize.”

See who can blow the biggest bubble with bubble gum. Ask them to guess how many Jelly Belly Jelly Beans are in a jar. Play Minute to Win It to see how many M&Ms each kid can suck up with a straw and transfer them in a bowl. It’s amazing how candy can be such fun!

nestle crunchAnd lastly, Something blue. Why not set up a blue candy buffet at your next Pitt, West Virginia, Penn State, North Carolina, Michigan, or Notre Dame football game? There’s blue Air Heads and Nestles Crunch. Whether it’s your high school team or your favorite pro sports team, the possibilities and color combinations are endless.

So celebrate life with candy. Whether it’s a birthday, new home, sleepover, tailgating with friends, or saying “I do” with the one you love, a candy buffet fits into any special occasion or reason for a party! So go on! Throw the rice! Blow out the candles! Giggle with your friends! Yell for your favorite team!

Life is about moments. Create them. Don’t wait for them. Life is sweet. Celebrate it!

Candy News

Decking The Halls: 6 Candy Buffet Ideas For Your Holiday Party

December 4, 2015 by

holiday_ candy_ buffetTis the season to “Deck the Halls” and show your employees how much you appreciate all the hard work they bring into the office everyday. What better way to celebrate hard work, the successes of the past year, and get ready for challenges ahead than by throwing a memorable event for all the members of your staff?

Take your end of the year celebration to the next level by building a fun and tasty candy buffet to share with the members of your staff. The theme of your holiday party will dictate the color scheme and candy selection, so you’ll want to make sure you have your motif selected before you begin your candy-planning. Having trouble coming up with a plan? We’ve got a few ideas below to help you create the perfect candy buffet.

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?
When a fresh blanket of snow has fallen, usually snowmen are the first things that come to mind! Though the weather may not be ideal to build a snowman, these humanoid snow sculptures can still bring the perfect frosty feeling to any holiday gathering. Choose from our selection of bulk white candies, to create an aura of freshly fallen snow, or to fill festive snowman candy dishes. Finish off the theme by offering Gummy Snowmen, Peeps Marshmallow Snowmen, and Gummi Christmas Snowflakes.

Candy Cane Creations
Sticky and minty these red and white striped treats are a staple this time of year! If you’re looking for an easy color scheme, and an even easier selection of candy to feature, try pulling a little inspiration from a Christmas classic.

Build Your Own Gingerbread House Candy Buffet
For a festive and unique office party experience, invite your employees or coworkers to create their own take on a holiday favorite! Gather all the essentials like gum drops, M&M’s, and mini candy canes, with any new additions of your choosing, and see just how creative the group can be. The best part? There are sure to be leftovers to share!

You’re A Mean One, Mister Grinch
He’s lean. He’s mean. He’s…green? If you’re looking for a fun anti-theme to make your holiday bash stand out, Dr. Seuss fans’ favorite recluse, The Grinch, may offer just the inspiration you’re looking for. Fun bright greens and yellows could dominate your candy buffet. And don’t forget to add Brach’s peppermints and candy canes to give just a hint of classic Christmas treats!

Ugly Holiday Sweater
It wouldn’t be the holidays if there weren’t a few awkward sweaters making an appearance! Take the fun of the traditional ugly sweater and channel it into a holiday party that your coworkers are not soon to forget! Invite everyone to don their most atrocious sweater and add the finishing touches to your soirée with a candy buffet to match! Bulk colored candies offer the perfect opportunity to play with festive color combinations, and these Ugly Sweater Christmas Chocolates will fit right in, too!

Happy New Year!
5…4…3…2…It may be a little early to begin the countdown into 2016, but your office can still ring in the New Year with something sweet. Let the traditional blue and silver of the season guide your decoration and candy selections as you prepare to say goodbye to the old, and hello to the new!

With these themes, planning your office holiday party will be a cinch! Now send out those invites, don’t skimp on the decorations, and prepare to have yourself a holly jolly time!

Candy News

How Sweet It Is: Building the Candy Buffet of Your Dreams

July 22, 2007 by

(from Favor Ideas)

So — you’ve caught the candy buffet bug.

You’re not alone. More and more brides want to see a tower of sweets at their reception.

Motives differ: some like how buffets allow guests to hunt and pick according to their personal sweet tooth.

Others like the fairytale flavor. Candyland, Babes in Toyland, Willy Wonka: some of our earliest dreams of abbondanza involve forests where gumdrops hang from trees, chocolate runs in rivers and pillars are peppermint sticks.

But just as with Hansel and Gretel, there’s a catch to the candy buffet. Namely? Pulling off a successful one involves a touch of magic.And if that makes you nervous, rest assured you have company. Because a candy buffet isn’t free. Like any other “wow” aspect of a wedding, it’s part of your overall investment. And while the waitstaff might pass the hors d’oeuvres and the venue lay out the linens, you could be on your own when it’s time to design the candy buffet.

But not to worry: here are some tips from the pros for translating that bountiful delight in your head into a mouth-watering reality at your wedding.

The Secret to Sweetness

Scan all those photos of candy buffets throughout the web, and you’ll quickly spot two things.One, buffets are monstrously popular. And two, while some are a feast for the eyes, others seem to fall short of the heights their planners must have hoped for.

So what’s the secret?

Here’s number one: buying enough candy. Sounds simplistic, but it’s key.

“The first thing I tell brides — you really can’t do candy as a hard commodity. It’s more a decoration,” says Jon Prince, president of online candy giant CandyFavorites.com.

“I talk to hundreds of brides. They’ll say, ‘I’m having 200 guests, and I want to give each guest 3 ounces, so I guess I need about 37 pounds of candy.’ Sounds reasonable, and 3 ounces might be enough to actually satisfy your guests, but visually? It won’t be enough to make a presence.”

Prince suggests that instead of seeing candy by the numbers, brides take an aesthetic approach. “You choose the flowers because they’re beautiful,” he says. “The candy buffet should be too.”

And unlike flowers, Prince adds, candy serves double duty as an edible item. “Still, you have to budget the candy buffet into your wedding expenses. It doesn’t work well as an afterthought.”

But what about the wedding planners who suggest buying a pound of candy per person?

Prince says buffets work best when you plan by the eye, not the numbers.

“To make it look gorgeous, I’d start with the table, not the guest count. I’d take five to 10 types of candy, and buy 15 to 20 pounds each, whether you actually need that much or not.”

He adds, “When it comes to candy, the more the merrier. If you have a large table overflowing with candy, you have presence. The biggest disappointment I hear is that the candy buffet didn’t look substantial.”

 

Like a Kid in a Candy Store? Here’s What to Buy

Okay, so now you have a handle on those numbers. But between the heaping bins at upscale food markets and the galaxies of candy choices online, which temptations do you choose?There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules, says Prince.

But are there any trends afoot? Any rush for a particular kind of candy?Not really, he says. Instead, it’s the season’s colors and themes that are driving brides’ choices.

To illustrate, Prince describes an all-white Miami wedding where the couple set up 20 to 30 pounds each of white candies, placing the unwrapped varieties in jars, martini glasses and other interesting containers, and piling custom-wrapped mint rolls in front. “It looked fantastic,” he says.

Then there was the bride with an Emilio Pucci theme, who ordered her candy in a stylish palette of brown, pink and green.

Mark Kingsdorf of The Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants concurs: it’s the themes that shape candy buffets. “And like everything else in weddings, candy buffets are getting more and more personalized, with more and more variations.

“Of course, ‘Everything old is new again,'” he adds. “So you see things like retro candy buffets. At one wedding we did the candy bracelets and necklaces on the elastic cords; the little waxed bottles filled by sugar water.

“There are very few themes you can’t do with candy. Beach weddings are fun, with all those boardwalk choices: saltwater taffy, caramel apples, fudge, peanut brittle.”

“I like to focus,” explains Prince, “but the focus can be anything. Candies you personally like, or a theme, or a texture. If you’re having an all-white wedding, you’ll want an all-white candy buffet. If you’re having a destination wedding in an exotic location, you could choose dramatic, Caribbean types: Island Punch Jelly Belly beans.

“In the end, you want ‘presence.’ Mies van de Rohe once said ‘Less is more,’ but he definitely wasn’t talking about candy buffets.”

Fashion a Feast for the Eye

You’re set. You’ve narrowed down your choices… and you’ve got the goods. Now how do you add those visual touches that turn your buffet from “aww” to “jaw-dropping”? For starters: choose cool containers. “One of the more striking displays I’ve seen put the candy in William Yeoward and Baccarat,” says Prince.”Basically — and this is a good idea — the couple matched their candy containers to their floral vases.”

Don’t have quite that much fine crystal waiting in the wings? Here’s a budget-friendly alternative from Kingsdorf. “Find some interesting containers: different shapes, different heights. Personally, I’ve used a dozen different containers from Ikea, and the most expensive one was about $10.”

He adds that clear containers are best, to show off the contents, and that container mouths should be wide enough for the scoops.

“To make the whole look pop, raise some of those containers on the table.” Kingsdorf explains an old catering trick is to take a catering rack or a milk crate — “the kind that restaurants and supermarkets get their milk delivered in” — turn it upside down on the table, and cover with a cloth.

“A nice bunching fabric gives you spill and texture. Put some of your containers on top of that.”

The final touch? A floral arrangement. Or more cheaply, some complementary pillar candles in your wedding colors.

Kingsdorf adds that your most personal touch could be the candy bags. “At one of the weddings I did recently, the couple went to a dollar store and got a bunch of takeout containers in red, one of their colors.

“They personalized each container with a little sticker, which was inexpensive and very cute. Anyone could do the same thing: use a tag or little rubber stamp, or stickers.

“Just find a way to add that custom touch.”

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It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (for Candy)

So why are candy buffets so sizzling hot these days, anyway?Simple: they’re a huge hit with guests. “Favors can be a tough choice,” points out Kingsdorf. “Depending on your guests, you might find yourself picking up a ton of personalized CDs or bottle stoppers at the end of the night. But when it’s edible, people eat it … or take it home. I think a lot of brides are cueing into that.”

Prince adds, “It’s just a trend people are enjoying right now.

“But when you really dig down,” he muses, “it’s not about the product at all. It’s about nostalgia.

“In a lot of weddings, two people are taking a major step toward adulthood. The candy buffet lets them connect back to any fond memories they have of childhood.

“Candy is powerfully reminiscent,” he concludes.