Louisville Candy Buffet!

A few months ago, I was busy setting up several candy buffets in Cincinnati, and running down to Louisville KY for another!  The wedding we set up the candy buffet for was amazing.  She had lovely pink and white flowers with some gold accents throughout the room.  This is the style we designed her candy buffet in as well!  It looked gorgeous, the guests loved it, and there was not much candy left when we got back... that, in my book, is a hit!!
Here are some pictures, Enjoy :)

Homemade Sweets!

Since starting blogging, I have been constantly on the hunt for candy recipes that are relatively easy to make at home.  Kind of "fool-proof" recipes so that everyone can enjoy making desserts and candy!

One such recipe I found recently was from a blog called "Not Without Salt".  This recipe is archived and the type of candy is extremely popular with all of my candy buffets this year!  It is called Apple Pate de Fruit. These candies are traditionally French and the consistency is much like hardened jam.  Pate de Fruit, whichever fruit you choose is wonderfully chewy, and sugary; much like the fruit slices you buy at the grocery store.

Check out the full recipe at "Not Without Salt"!

DIY Decorations

Today, I found one of the cutest decorations on Project Wedding's DIY site!  The newest DIY idea is Chiffon and Tulle flowers.  You simply cut them out and fasten them together! These are great for parties or just for decorative pieces around your home.  They look beautiful and I for one am planning on using these in a candy buffet coming up soon. Good luck and as always happy planning!

Follow this link for directions on how to DIY 
Project Wedding

Decorative Paper Globes

This is another great idea for all you event

planners out there, or those of you hiring 

event planners!  Such a cool 3-D decorative 

piece that will be sure to liven up your event.  

These paper hanging globes have a tutorial on MarthaStewart.com and are really easy to make.  Check it out here!

Paper Hanging Globes

DIY Centerpiece Ideas!

As most of you know, I design candy buffet tables for a living and have a great time doing it!  It is so much fun to come up with creative designs that match the bride and groom perfectly.  Well, with custom made candy buffets comes a need to search for creative ideas to incorporate into the event I am doing.  I found one such idea on MarthaStewart.com a few days ago!  It is a Doily centerpiece that can look cute at a bridal shower, wedding, engagement party, baby shower, or garden party.  Personally, I will use this idea for many candy buffets to come!   Check out how to make your chandeliers by following this link!

Martha Stewart Wedding Ideas

Why a Candy Buffet?

There is a reason you are seeing candy buffets pop up all over the place nowadays.  The reason is they are just plain fun!  I have yet to meet a person who has not heard of candy buffets and even more importantly doesn't like them.  They are a delight to everyone that attends your party or event and a bright spot to those who "don't really wanna be here...".  Here are a list of reasons I thought of that you would absolutely want a candy buffet at your event!

1)  It's the "new" thing and the "old" thing. 

Let me explain.  Candy buffets are becoming a super popular trend, and are considered a fresh and unique item to have at your event.  However "new" this trend may be,  you can still incorporate the "old" in with it.  You can make it a very formal traditional display of candies and desserts that fit with a more elegant theme!  Bridging the "new" and the "old" has never been this sweet!

2)  It is personal.

Custom-made candy buffets are always made with the bride and groom as the focal point of the display.  A good candy buffet planner will typically include the bride and groom's favorite candy (if within budget) as well as the style and theme they prefer.  Candy buffet planners go out of their way to make it as unique as possible, sometimes including pictures of the bride and groom as young children in the display.

3)  Dual purpose.

I know most of you have heard this before, but candy buffets function as a guest favor and as a decorative centerpiece!  That is the best part about candy buffets.  A lot of people search for a focal point for their event, and candy buffets really are it!  I had several guest favors including a photo booth and a candy buffet at my wedding and the most positive comments I heard were about the candy buffet!  So, if you are wondering why it is "so expensive" it is because candy buffet planners put a lot of time into making custom-designs that will be the life of the party!

4) The Experience.

With Candy buffets you are getting an experience.  I always go back to the "kid in the candy shop".  Those were some of the best times in all of our lives, standing in the candy store and wondering which candy mom and dad would let us have!  You still get this experience if you go places like Cracker Barrel or small mom and pop stores, however where else can you display your affection for candy better than your own party?  By having a candy buffet you are creating a nostalgic experience for your guests and for yourself!

Luau Style Candy Buffets

Good morning and happy Monday to all you candy lovers out there!  This last week has been amazing, being on vacation in Florida, playing in the sand and water, and of course eating lots of food.  Back from vacation now, I am inspired by Luau themed events- particularly Luau themed candy buffets!

To create a Luau themed candy buffet requires a creative mind and lots of bright colors.
Luau themed candy buffets can be bright, colorful, fun and informal or they can be slightly subdued with a more formal touch to it.  

The colorful, bright, informal candy buffet can definitely brighten up a room and can add a Wow factor to any event.  This bright theme typically is displayed at informal weddings, birthday parties, and social functions. To create this theme at home or have your local candy buffet maker do it for you, just think bright, colorful, and island fun.  Tiki torches, mini flip-flops, palm branches, and exotic looking fabrics and ribbons would work well for this theme.

The other way to go with this theme is a more formal approach. This can be a wow factor in it's elegance and high-end exotic look.  Use things like real orchids or other exotic flowers surrounding the display.  Having real fruit and real palm branches will help this display as well.  Use some sea shells round the display, but not too many.  You want this display to look full but not overcrowded.

There is a variety of candy that can be used for both of these displays, it is up to you to choose which ones.  My personal recommendations would be candy fruit slices, starbursts, tropical jelly beans, different colored gumballs, mike and ike's, and pixi stixs.  There are so many more to choose from, think tropical and fun!  Enjoy

Chocolate Covered Sweets!

Almost anything dipped in chocolate I would consider amazing! Chocolate covered pretzels, strawberries, marshmallows, peanuts, bacon?-(apparently this is a newer phenomenon ;)), and the list goes on.  The one thing that did not cross my mind when looking at chocolate dipped goodness, is cherries! 

Here is a recipe I found recently for chocolate dipped cherries.  Chocolate dipped cherries are a unique twist on the traditional strawberry, and can be used to mix up your dessert buffet a little.  The best part about unique sweets is they are super easy to DIY, so check out this recipe and get ready to try it at home!


Recipe:
Our Share of the Harvest

Children's party pics

Here are two more pictures that we took for our children's buffet.  These ones, as with the rest of them, are meant to inspire creativity!  They look awesome and the best thing is that children's buffets use some of the least expensive candy--making them a fun and more cost-effective treat!
Enjoy!

Copyright CandyShopBuffets

Copyright CandyShopBuffets

Our pictures!

Some of you have already seen these pictures on our Facebook page, but for those who haven't here they are!  These pictures were taken from our photo shoot with Hooligan's photography.  They showcase the simplistic design and nature that a candy buffet display can have.

Pictures are meant to inspire the imagination.  While these pictures are taken from complete candy buffet displays we had set up, Tony and Tamara captured individual pieces from our buffets to evoke creativity and imagination amongst our readers!

 Take a look at these pictures and just imagine what we could do with your candy buffet display!

Copyright CandyShopBuffets

Copyright CandyShopBuffets

Copyright CandyShopBuffets

Copyright CandyShopBuffets

Copyright CandyShopBuffets

Copyright CandyShopBuffets

Copyright CandyShopBuffets

Popcorn Buffets: Coming to CandyShopBuffets!

Fun Scoops that you can display your popcorn with!

Candy Buffets are amazing, but if you are not a "sweet" fan, you may not be in love with the idea of designing a whole buffet around sugary goodness!  Well an alternative, that will be offered at CandyShopBuffets, is a popcorn buffet.  With a popcorn buffet, you can select a wide array of flavors for your guests to nibble on.  You can just have "salty" popcorn or just "sweet"popcorn, or you can combine the two if you want your guests to have their pick!

The favor bags for these can be decorated with an old school theme, in keeping with the traditional red and white popcorn design.  The favor bags can also be a more understated brown or white paper bags with a formal design to them!

The possibilities for popcorn choices are really endless!  Caramel is guaranteed to be a popular one, but chocolate and caramel popcorn chunks in a "cookie bar shape" can also be a fun idea.  Obviously still popular with our salt lovers is cheddar, sour cream, and plain old salty popcorn.

Popcorn buffets are a really fun concept and are sure to make your guests talk as they would with a candy buffet!  CandyShopBuffets is excited to bring this unique idea in to our product line!

Colorful "Confetti" popcorn to add dimension to your buffet!

These are the standard popcorn bags you can use for guest favors!  

Variety of Popcorn that you can fill your table up with! The more it overflows the better it looks!

Cupcake Tower

Cupcake Tower, a photo by PinkCakeBox on Flickr.

Cute cupcake tower by pinkcakebox.com! Beautiful colors and a sweet arrangement :)

Cupcakes have become really popular in lieu of a wedding cake during the last couple of years.  Theweddingvendor.com recently did a post about these sweet desserts and how they can be utilized in several different ways!

Check out this article and start planning your dessert table today!

The article is by www.cutiepiecupcakes.ca and a must read.

Cupcakes on Wedding Vendor!

Photo Shoot!

Our candy buffets are being shot by a professional photography team in Cincinnati today!  We are headed to Eden Park and getting some closeups of our wonderful tasty treats.  Tony and Tamara Deal with Hooligan photography are great to work with and have been a great asset in this process. 
Check out their website to find out more about them!

Hooligans Photography

We can't wait to see the photo's they shot and will post them as soon as we get them!

Candy Making and More! From Betterfly.com

This is for all you sweet lovers who want to learn how to make your own candy/ desserts OR if you already know how to make them and want to turn your skill into an income! 

Betterfly.com is a site designed for people from all different skill-sets to sign up to teach their skills to the local community.  It is a really neat site ranging from knitting classes to opera lessons with a little bit of candy in between! The other really cool thing about this site is that you can book and pay for any class you take right on their site.  Once you are done with your class or booking your class be sure to review your experience on their site for future consumers!

There are "tens of thousands of service providers are listed on Betterfly’s 300+ Category Pages where you can search by price, location, verified reviews, availability and more."--Betterfly.com

Here is a screen shot from their Confection Making page!

 

So go and click on their site at Betterfly.com and check out what they have to offer!

Did you know? : The Cost of Candy!

Candy Buffets can turn out to be quite expensive!  From the large containers to be filled to the types of candy chosen, it can be more costly than many brides would have thought at the beginning of their candy buffet venture.  If you have never purchased a large quantity of candy before, then the prices of them can seem astronomical, especially if you are paying it all at once.  Many brides go to after holiday clearance events for candy as well as some other super sales thinking that they are saving a great amount of money.  Sometimes this is true, but oftentimes it is not the case. 

Did you know? #1

The truth about candy is that the smaller the bag, the more you pay for it.  A small clearance bag of candy will most oftentimes cost just as much as buying in bulk.  So, save yourself the trouble of waking up at the crack of dawn and finding the post-holiday super sale.  Buying online is most likely the cheaper route!

Did you know? #2

The average bride does not realize how much she has spent on her candy buffet after everything is purchased. 
When calculated the average bride spends $100 on vases, $30-50 on decorations, $30-50 on favor bags, $10-15 on scoops and tongs, and upwards of $200 on candy for a wedding for 100 people. 

That can amount to around 400 dollars!  That is a lot of money and is time consuming if you go it alone.  However, candy buffet business owners are available to help design, and produce your candy buffet for not much more than you would do it yourself.

Did you know? #3

A candy buffet should not be an “afterthought” at a wedding.  It is likely to be the most talked about feature of your wedding, and you should invest in it as you would hors d'œuvre’s and other appetizers.  The average amount for an appetizer at a wedding is around 300-400 dollars per appetizer for 100 guests.

Did you know? #4

Candy buffets are not just a decoration.  They are a focal point, a talking point, and a wonderful favor for guests to take home with them.  Bride’s maximize the benefit of having a candy buffet by treating the candy buffet as a favor and a decorative piece!

Did you know? #5

Candy Buffet planners are more than happy to assist you in planning your candy buffet.  The first thing you need to do when planning your candy buffet is come up with a budget.  If you have a budget for it, a candy buffet planner will be able to better assist you in coming up with the correct style and candy types for your needs!  For a guest list of 100 people you can plan on spending anywhere between $350-600 on a candy buffet.  This may seem like a lot of money, but it is well worth it when you get the Wow factor you’ve been wanting at your wedding.

As Featured on WeddingVendor.com!

Hi everyone!

Check out WeddingVendor.com today for my published post on candy buffets!  The article highlights the Do's and Dont's of planning a spectacular candy buffet!   WeddingVendor.com is a great resource for brides looking for professionals to assist them in their wedding planning.  They feature multiple vendors with a variety of categories to make the selection process quick and easy!  So check out their website today and check out my article today at the following address

Candy Buffet Tips- WeddingVendor.com!

As always, feel free to contact me at candyshopbuffets@gmail.com or on our contact page with any questions, comments, or if you would like us to start planning your candy buffet!

Enjoy!

-Dani G.

Candy buffets, as you know, are becoming a popular trend to sweeten up your events!  The most popular events still are weddings, bridal showers, and kids parties!  Well, just this last weekend CandyShopBuffets sent out a candy buffet for Tasha's Bridal Shower.  We designed it and Sherry, Tasha's mom, set it up with some personal touches!  Here are some of the great pictures her mom took!

  To plan your next candy buffet, please contact us at 513-549-0555