HELP! DD Wants A Candy Buffet!

[momof1princess]

it's less than 2 months until DD's 16th birthday, and she has decided she wants a candy themed party with a buffet!

i need expert help! where can i buy the candy in bulk...CHEAP? where do i get the fancy bowls and jars? what should i provide for the kids to serve themselves the candy in? how about what they take it home in? UGH! why couldn't she have just agreed to go to atlanta for a broadway show?!?

HELP!!!!!

 

[Hook326]

it's less than 2 months until DD's 16th birthday, and she has decided she wants a candy themed party with a buffet!

i need expert help! where can i buy the candy in bulk...CHEAP? where do i get the fancy bowls and jars? what should i provide for the kids to serve themselves the candy in? how about what they take it home in? UGH! why couldn't she have just agreed to go to atlanta for a broadway show?!?

HELP!!!!!

There is a huge thread on this from awhile back. Search candy buffet & you'll see it. (Sorry don't know how to post a link on iPad app). Lots of great pics & tips! Have fun!

 

[TempleOT]

I have seen the fancy bowls and jars at crafts stores, like AC Moore. You could also try the dollar store. As far as the candy, try online so you can price it out, as candy can get expensive. Party stores have great cheap containers for taking goodies home in, like Chinese take out boxes and the like. Check out wedding forums for ideas, as candy buffets are popular at wedding receptions. Good luck!

 

[darnheather]

Also check Pintrest! I've seen lots of great ideas there for this kind of party. Sounds like fun. Will probably do something similar for my D when she gets her braces off.

 

[Linaebowl300]

Does she have a theme or a favorite color? Color coordinating candy is really fun for a candy buffet. Candywarehouse.com or oriental trading co, or even Sams Club or Costco perhaps Would be a good place to start to find bulk candy. You could always go to a local candy store and see what they could do for you. Make sure you check for sales on containers for the candy. Could get really pricey! Our local Hobby Lobby always runs sales on things like that. Have fun!

 

[powellrj]

when we did one for DS graduation we got the containers at yard sales and the dollar store. We used pretty cut glass type ones. The dollar store ones were plastic but still looked like cut glass.

For candy we used retro candy like necco wafers, fire balls, dum dum suckers, mary janes, pixy sticks,tootsie rolls and pops, zotzs, sweet tarts, twizzlers, pop rocks, chic o sticks, bit o honey, caramel creams, sugar daddys, turkish taffy, sixlets, smarties, bb bats and cow tails. The reason I picked all of these candies was because they all came wrapped. If you don't mind candies not wrapped, you can go with things like red hots, jelly beans and m&ms.

I used small gift bag type bags like people use for wrapping food gifts like caramel apples.

I got most of my candy at a party store that had lots of different candy.

Check out pintrest there are lots of candy buffet ideas!

 

[brertoad]

Usually Publix (not sure if you have one near you) has BOGOs every week, sometimes candy is BOGO and stock up. If you don't have a Publix, check the Sunday paper and see which grocery stores are having sales.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Oriental Trading usually has some great sales on their candy.


http://www.orientaltrading.com/party-supplies/candy/candy-buffet-a1-551302-1-1.fltr

 

[ShariVT]

We got a lot of candy at Bjs. It doesn't have to be just store bought candy, we also set up a dipping station where the kids could make there own chocolate covered pretzels and Marshmellow and smores all fit with the candy them and gave them an activity. I also had some apples and bananas on hand and they dunked them as well. Another friend made peanut butter cookie dought and let the kids make there own cookies and add the candy from the buffet to it. Or you could make the cookies on lolipop sticks and the kids could also dunk them.

 

[dpswift]

newI would like to second the idea of garage sales and thrift shops for serving containers. You could get elegant ones for next to nothing which would be perfect for a girls birthday.

As far as candy I would buy a few bags a week on sale by the time the party comes along you will have plenty.

I think that one of the ideas in the other thread was to use containers similar to what they serve Chinese food in for take home. I believe that they found colored ones at a craft store.


Another idea for take home containers would be small canning jars decorated with ribbon.

 

[momof1princess]

SO many great ideas! THANK YOU! keep them coming! i've been looking up the prices of the candy online, and it's giving me chest pain! we're going to need to take out a 2nd mortgage to pay for this shindig! it's a good thing she's an only child! lol

 

[disneyhand]

So many great tips already, so here are a couple not mentioned yet.

If your party is during hot weather, chocolate candy isn't a good idea for the buffet part. It gets messy.

One color theme's can make candy purchasing more challenging.

If you buy unwrapped candy for the jars and bowls, you can find plastic scoops and tongs at party supply stores.

Rock sugar candy seems decorative only, I don't think any was consumed or taken away from the party. I even had a hard time giving it away afterwards. I wouldn't use it again.

Make sure your take away container can hold your candy selections. Licorices, pixie sticks and large lollipops don't fit in little containers and I've observed guests struggling with them.

Good luck!

 

[smhogar]

Remember to get some sugar free candy for any diabetics.

 

[DisneyCrazyX5]

I found these,
http://www.dollartree.com/household/home-decor/vases-bowls-containers/500c542c543/index.cat

 

[nene0182]

We did this for our wedding three years ago. We bought most of the containers from thrift shops and the candy from candy warehouse since we were looking for candy in certain colors. We ordered favor bags from nashvillewraps.com and just decorated them with a personalized sticker. I sold the containers on Craigslist afterwards since I didn't have a need for them.

 

[Egdisney]

My sister had a candy buffet at her wedding. She did brightly colored candy as her theme. The Dollar Tree is one place I would consider looking for containers, as well as thrift stores. You may also consider craigslist, as many people buy the containers for their wedding and then resale them. One thing that came to my mind to use was Mason jars, but it would depend on how fancy you would want it to be.
For the kids to load up the candy, 1 idea would be to buy cardboard chinese containers. You can get them in many colors at party stores or online. That is what my sister used at her wedding, it was very cute!

 

[sullins5]

Just decorated a candy bar for a wedding.
Containers? You can get lots of pretty glass decanters or vases at Marshall's, TJ Maxx and even Walmart, cheaper than most places. Ex... 24.99 at Target, but 12.99 at Marshalls. We used these, and then some from my home. Afterward, I used them filled with pears or fillers in differing rooms to decorate and at Christmas, they make a stunning display of Christmas ornaments on the dining room table. So, lots of uses for those glass ones.
You can find pretty, clear scoops online. Mix and match glass bowls, cylinders, decanters, and even floral vases to hold candies. Super easy!
Also...you can look for take home containers by checking out cellophane bags (Hobby Lobby always has 40% off coupons) , wedding favor boxes and bags, and/or jewelry bags. Keep in mind though..the BIGGER the bag, the MORE the kids try to fill it!
And try the endcap clearance at Target! I just bought 24 small silver boxes from Target clearance for $2.50. I figure I'll use them for something like candy treats! HTH's!

 

[Samandmom]

Do you have an Ikea near you? I got most of of my containers from Ikea and dollar tree.

Here is a pic. The big bowls are from Ikea. I originally bought some clear plastic ones from the dollar store but after we did a mock set up we realized the bowl was cheap and cracked from the weight of the candy. The other glass containers are also From Ikea. In those had tootsie rolls, fruits tootsie rolls, Hershey kisses and hard sucky candys. I put the wrapped candy in those since all everyone had to do was put their hand in the jar and grab a handful. The jars are small but I had someone restocking it. The Ikea containers range from $3-$5. I bought colored lunch type bags (they come in differnt sizes) from Michaels and put on stickers with my dd communion info. Also I got small clear plastic cups that people could fill and eat the cany right away.

 

[Dancemomof3]

My youngest daughter asked for a pink party last year and wanted a candy buffet instead of a pinata. Luckily her birthday is in October and there was lots of Breast Cancer Awareness candy out there, including candy corn in the bulk section at our local grocery store. I bought a lot of the candy at Party City, gumballs, rock candy sticks, pixie stix. For dishes I actually bought opaque plastic bins and baskets (not like Rubbermaid, these were cute) in different shapes at the dollar Tree to fill in with the glass mixing bowls, vases, wide mouth mason jars and glass cookie jars that I borrowed from my mom (like the candy shop jars but she always used them for cookies). I also found a large trifle bowl at a yard sale that was the centerpiece filled with m&m's. I put boxes underneath some bins and put the brightest pink candy in the opaque bins. We used white paper bags that the kids decorated. This was for a 7 year olds party but the paper bags were the cheapest, easiest to customize thing I could come up with. To decorate the area that is where I hung the happy birthday banner and hung streamers and large tissue paper flowers over it.

I had a couple of adults manning the table to help scoop candy and make sure kids were not and to make sure kids were not taking too much. I only opened up the candy buffet after the kids had all eaten lunch, I kept it covered with a tablecloth before that

 

[Rosiekins]

I have done a few now. Those Apothecary jars are lovely but so darn expensive and can be hard to find! I hit up IKEA and got a ton of fun jars there that look like you would find them in a old fashioned candy store. Which would be the perfect look for a candy buffet.

Color coordinating can be pretty but it might raise the cost a lot. The first one I did I was able to coordinate the colors cause it was a Valentine Tea and it was right around Valentines day. Plenty of pink, red, white colors in the stores.

Since you are doing a Candy theme why not go with an old fashioned candy store for you buffet theme. Halloween candy will be coming out soon so you can load up on that when it is on sale! If you can get to IKEA they have the best jar prices and I reuse mine all the time for things in the kitchen. Plus I love the idea of Mason jars. They would be lovely for things like loose M&Ms, Skittles etc. Plus you could use them for the taller candy too like Pixie sticks! Also you could just use simple brown or white bags like you would might have gotten candy in 75 years ago. You could make a stamp or a sticker with a logo for you daughters birthday, So and So's Candy Store.