Pages

Monday, September 20, 2010

DIY Candy Buffet

I am on a roll this week!  Since my wedding is this weekend (eek!) I knew I needed to get going on any preparations that could be completed and packed up before the wedding day.  I knew I wanted to offer a big selection of candy for my guests to assemble their own favors, but I wanted to make the containers special so I decided to copy some of the designs I've seen online and wrap the glass in ribbon for a quick, impactful update.


I can do that!  But without lids... that's just asking for broken glass

I have 6 large glasses vases and bowls in various shapes, picked up from Homegoods, Hobby Lobby and borrowed from my cousin. (Budget $7-9 each if you are going to buy them all)  I went shopping and got 1.5 inch wide ribbon in my wedding colors as well as some 1/2 inch ribbon to layer on top of it.  I also picked up some double stick tape.  Grand total: $18


I measured out ribbon to go around each vase and overlap about a half inch.  Then, I placed 1-2 inch pieces of tape along the ribbon and stuck it to the vases.  I found that leaving a couple of inches between each piece of tape let me adjust the ribbon as I applied it and make my stripes reasonably level.  As with my other projects, I had to remind myself that there's not going to be an inspection... it would have taken a long time to make perfect stripes and I'm just not that patient. (The photos of this step turned out badly, so just imagine me painstakingly applying ribbon to glasses vases)

Then, I headed to Target and found that they sell 42 oz resealable bags of candy like M&Ms, Skittles, Kisses, Reese's Pieces, and Starburst.  The price per pound came to under $3 and that was less than I found anywhere else, so I stocked up on almost 30 lbs of it!  However, I got a little too excited and bought everything on a lunch break visit to Target... not realizing until I got back to the office that I would need to lug it all inside so it wouldn't melt in the Texas heat.  Oops.  That was a bonus workout!

I also bought white organza drawstring bags ($2 for 10!) at efavormart.com.  They're 4x6 inches, which I hope will keep people from packing up half a pound of candy like I saw at another reception.  I've heard that people tend to try and fill whatever container you supply so beware of large cellophane bags.

The finished containers are shown below, and I'll be carefully packing them up so they can be filled with candy at the reception.  Stay tuned for shots of the buffet in action later this month!

9 comments

  1. Wedding this weekend!!! Holy moses! Congratulations and enjoy!

    The candy buffet looks like it will be great. We did one for our wedding too and it was a hit! People were swarming the table. Be sure to tell your photographer to get some pictures of the pretty candy before the people arrive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm doing a candy bar at my daughter's 1st birthday party in Ocotber! I'm using chinese takeout-like boxes as the favor recepticle. I am hoping that works out for us.

    Good Luck on the wedding!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks ladies! I think we'll be wishing we had more candy rather than packing up leftovers. I can't believe the wedding is here already. So much to do!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congrats and Best Wishes on the wedding! As a fellow cardigan junkie I really enjoy your blog. I've started one of my own that you might enjoy:
    http://rinascrimento.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks beautiful! Best wishes!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's going to be wonderful! Can't wait to hear all about it- good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  7. You're absolutely right about people filling the containers - at a wedding I attended recently, about half of the guests took ALL the candy (in too-large cellophane bags) before the bride and groom even arrived at the reception! The bride couldn't believe all of her "reserves" of candy were already gone. I think they bought 50 pounds. But - again - they handed out much larger containers, probably 4"x8" bags.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks everyone!! I'm so excited! I wrote a slew of things to post automatically while I'm away, so you won't miss me at all. :)

    Chelsey - I've convinced myself I need more candy just in case. I saw the same thing happen and my little bags still hold more than I'd like people to take.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...