A tip I found very useful for the candy buffets I design and the candy buffet my mom and I did at my wedding was to add a little "twist" to the candy. Another words, mix it up a little! A lot of people tend to like chocolate, but to have just brown chocolate for your candy would be boring visually and would not do much to stimulate your taste buds either! Likewise, the same amount of people would pick candy that comes out of the candy dispensers in the mall, just because it reminds them of their childhood. However, these candies all typically have the same textures and the same basic flavors.
So, again I say...put a little twist in it! If chocolate is your favorite- remember you will pay a huge premium for chocolate- try centering the buffet around two choices that are the loves of your life :) If you tend to go for runts, nerds, pez, etc...try mixing it up with different textures.
Here's a couple of candy types for candy buffets. Be sure to include at least 3 varieties in yours!
1. Wrapped candy ( aka blowpops, tootsie rolls, taffy, mints, individual packed chocolates)
This will let the guests grab some without having to have scoops in each dish.
2. Hard candy or Soft candy
Things like fruit slices and individually wrapped twisty mints are a cool looking compliment
to each other.
3. Different flavors
If you have one type of mints, you most likely will not need another, regardless of if it is a
hard mint, soft mint, or wrapped mint. Unless that is the goal of your candy buffet, to have a
flavor theme running through it, I would not suggest having more than one flavor of
candy presented.
4. Shapes
One of the coolest things in candy buffets is finding candy that fits your personality! So
pick different shapes for guests to look at. You do not want to buy all round candy, which is very
easy to end up doing! You could buy round french mints, and then have cylindrical candy sticks.
You could also buy individual wrapped chocolate squares instead of the regular ball shaped
chocolate.
5. Sizes
The last thing is size! It is so much fun when you see candy buffets with long candies,
short candies, skinny or wide candies! Picking lollipops, rock candy, and flat candies that you
can display in various ways makes the event fun and unique!
Remember, when you display your candy, not everything has to be in a bowl, dish, apothecary jar, or vase. Sometimes, if it is wrapped or hard candy, you can lay the candy on the tablecloth to fill up space and add new dimension to the display!
