A sweet idea for your next party
Photo courtesy kristin_a/Flickr
I attended a wedding several years ago for which the bride had set up a candy buffet. It was the first time I’d ever seen such a thing, and I remember being struck by how lovely it was with all its bright colors and promises of decadence.
It seems candy buffets have grown even more popular since then, for everything from kids’ birthday parties to bridal showers and weddings. There are several reasons for this. First, candy is often beautiful, and a spread of different candies arranged in pretty vessels is really a feast for the eyes. The many colors of candy available makes it easy to customize the look of a candy buffet to match the wedding colors or the birthday boy or girl’s favorite hues.
Many of you are probably already aware that M&Ms can be ordered in special colors with custom lettering — at that wedding I attended, they had the bride and groom’s names printed on the M&Ms.
If you want to set up a candy buffet, you can purchase the candy at the grocery store or wherever you typically buy candy. But there are also lots of sweet websites where you can buy bulk candy and special-order candy. Check out A Candy Store, CandyWarehouse, Party City, Dylan’s Candy Bar and more. Make your buffet extra special with chocolates from local places such as Baylee’s Best Chocolates, ChocolatePaper, Nancy’s Candy Company or The Chocolate Spike.
Part of the fun of having a candy buffet is creating the look for it. As we all know, candy looks best when it is displayed in glass containers. In this photo, a variety of different sizes and shapes of glass containers were used to create the buffet. Add more glitz by tying ribbons in coordinating colors to some of the vessels, adding vases of bright flowers to the display, or sprinkling glitter around the bases of the containers.
Click this link to see a gallery of different pictures showing how you might arrange your candy buffet. Click this link to see some ideas for the different kinds of vessels you can buy to fill with candy. If you don’t want to spend a bunch of money on vessels, you may be able to find some at discount stores such as Dollar Tree, Big Lots, T.J. Maxx or Marshall’s. And I know craft stores such as Michael’s and AC Moore carry glass containers.
Have you ever created a candy buffet for an event or seen one at a party you attended? If so, what other ideas can you offer?
September 11, 2012 - 9:48 AM
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Yep, I was so excited to create a candy buffet for my Halloween wedding … I thought it would be such a playful wedding favor (and get guests “trick-or-treating”). But it turned out to be an expensive, time-wasting flop. I think it was the poor placement of the table (and it was competing with so much other food/cake/cocktails). I would try the candy buffet again — but only if that was the star of the party. I wrote about our candy favors (and more cost-cutting Halloween wedding ideas) on my personal blog >> http://bit.ly/cmM2CL
Oh, that’s too bad. A candy buffet does seem like a good idea for a Halloween wedding.
I remember the buffet at the wedding we attended being placed in a very visible location, and maybe the key was that they only had a few different kinds of candy.
I do think a candy buffet makes more sense for a kids’ party or a shower where there are fewer guests and they are sure to see it.
I think that is a really cute idea! I might consider it for my wedding.
Has anyone seen warheads hard candies for sale locally?
Maria, check Fresh Market. They have an ever-changing selection of old-school candies in the display next to their coffee bar. Of course, you’ll pay through the nose there…
Thanks Tass. I found them at CVS out of all places.
“Old-school” makes ME feel old at 19 haha. But I remember a time when there used to be warhead pucker face contests set up in walmart
If anyone cares…Cadbury is releasing their Cream Eggs from Easter as Scream Eggs for Halloween!!! So happy!!!
Noodle, in the back of my head under “Things I’d Love To Eat But Never Will”, I envision a S’more made with a Cadbury egg split the long way and marshmallow.