Candy Buffet?

[loverocks]

I have been toying with the idea of doing a candy buffet as "favors" and was wondering what the feeling is on this. At first I was going to do candy/carmel apples but found them to be too expensive ($5-10 each). I guess my questions are: 1- how much candy do you need either per person or total (wedding is approx. 110 guests), 2- is it an easy thing to do?, this is not offered in a "package" at my reception site, so I am assuming it is something I would need to do. Getting it all together is no problem, but what about set up / take down. Who does it?, and 3- how do guest feel about it? Is it a big hit or a flop?
Has anyone done this? If so, feedback/advice/thoughts? I appreciate your help!

 

[loverocks]

here is an example of one from the web....

 

[Independent Gal]

We had a candy table. Each of my (7) siblings and their partners, and DH''s sister told us their fave kind of candy, and we made a table out of it.

We had about 4 kilos of candy for a party of 80 people.

The total cost was about US$100 for the candy and the dishes to put it in.

How we did it was that we went to the local equivalent of ''Home Goods / T.J. Maxx'' and bought several colorful glass and china dishes. Then we went to a bulk goods store and bought the candy. Then we just set it up nicely on a table. Hey presto!

 

[loverocks]

Thanks! And what did the guests think about it - did it go over well? Also - who did the set up and take down the day of the wedding. I am sure that I will be too busy

 

[loverocks]

Hhhhmmm....limited feedback....maybe the buffet is not a good idea? Are there any general opinions?

 

[diamondfan]

I have seen it done at bar and bat mitzvahs and sweet 16''s, though I love the idea myself!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Yep, I am planning on doing this as of now. I have some more photos of buffets if you''d like to see them. It''s not that expensive depending on the candy you buy. E.g. If you go to a post-holiday sale (after Christmas, Valentine''s Day, or Easter) at the drug store you can get candy for a steal! Regular M&Ms and things like that are great. Now, if you''d like to have more personal candy, for example we are still kind of considering using personalized Dove chocolates. Those are expensive, but less expensive than personalized M&Ms.

1. You need enough for each person to be able to make a small bag. Which is kind of hard to judge, but look at the typical serving size on the bag and you can go from there.

2. I think it''s pretty easy. Buy during a sale and get cookie jars or get large glass jars from somewhere like Michael''s. Then all you need is a candy scoop! So far I''ve priced the glass jars from $9.99 to $16.99 each. Someone in your party would have to take it down and set it up if the reception venue was not willing to do that.

3. I think it''s generally a hit with guests. I wouldn''t recommend it for an ultra-formal black tie wedding, but in general most people like it from what I see. Some find it cheesy, but most don''t.

 

[Independent Gal]

People loved it! They ate most of it up by the wee hours when everyone left.

As for the set-up, my dad and DH took care of it. They met at the venue 2 hours before the wedding, put everything together with the help of a couple of waiters... that (incl putting out favors (the candy was not our favor), escort cards, etc etc etc) took about an hour. Then they had time to go change into their tuxedos.

 

[Blair138]

I LOVE the idea-but you should check with your venue if you have not already. My friend wanted to do this and her venue wanted to charge her $5 a head even though SHE was bringing in the candy and doing set up. IMO that was not worth it. But if it''s doable-I vote for the idea

 

[zoebartlett]

That photo looks great! I''ve never been to a wedding that had a candy buffet and we''re not doing one (although we are doing a dessert buffet instead of cake). I''d be slightly afraid that few guests would take part and then we''d have a lot of candy left over. I guess there could be worse things than that though.

Question -- is this something that younger brides tend to do or is this a new trend? I don''t mean that in a judgemental way at all but I''m just curious. I''m just the last one of my friends to get married (by years!) and none of them had a candy buffet. I like the idea personally.

 

[mjso]

I thinik it is a pretty new trend, Zoe.

My brother loooooves the idea of a candy buffet and is definitely pushing for us to have one. But our venue includes it in a package for $750!! Which just seems waaaaaaaaaaaay too expensive for me. I''m guessing they wouldn''t let us buy our own stuff and bring it in since they already offer the service.

My mom also agrees that $750 is rather expensive for some candy and has offered to go to the store and buy some candy and "stand out in the parking lot when people leave and give it out"

Seriously, though, she said that there are other things my venue offers that she''d rather spend the $750 on, like an extra dessert table with added things including Bananas Foster (FI''s favorite dessert) or adding a raw bar to the appetizers.

 

[ephemery1]

I was born and raised in Hershey and had the wedding there as well, so we did a candy buffet... just seemed like a fitting favor for the "Sweetest Place on Earth"! Plus I HATE traditional favors (decorative soap or votive candles or mix CDs or monogrammed wine glasses) that nobody actually wants/uses, and I was determined to avoid that if possible. I figured with something edible, people can either take as much or as little as they want, and it definitely gets used!

My mom went a bit overboard and bought tonnnnnnnnnnns of candy online from candy supply stores, as well as local stuff from Chocolate World. We probably had 30+ different kinds. We also purchased little gift bags and stuck monogrammed "Thank You!" stickers on them, and I made a big framed sign explaining it all. Then the Hotel provided a bunch of glass bowls of different shapes/sizes and little silver scoops, and matching linens, and set up a gorgeous display for us (about an hour before the reception started to wind down). We got a lot of positive feedback from guests, and I'd estimate 80% of the candy was gone by the time the Hotel disassembled it at the end of the night.

So if your venue is used to handling weddings, you may want to check with them before you start buying stuff... they could have it on hand already, even if they don't offer it as part of a package. And they may be willing to do all the assembly/disassembly for you as well. Ours didn't charge for any of that, but it was a $$$$$ venue, so they were willing to cater to pretty much whatever we wanted/needed.

 

[Independent Gal]

Date: 5/15/2008 8:47:49 PM
Author: ZoeBartlett

Question -- is this something that younger brides tend to do or is this a new trend? I don''t mean that in a judgemental way at all but I''m just curious. I''m just the last one of my friends to get married (by years!) and none of them had a candy buffet. I like the idea personally.

Well, I''m an old bride (teehee!)...well, over 30 anyway, and we did it. I also would guess that 80% of our candy was gone. For us it was partly that all my siblings and especially my SIL absolutely LOVE candy. It''s kind of a thing. So by serving each of their favourite candies, it was kind of a way of honouring them / including them too. But c''mon everyone loves candy! Never too old for candy.

Cute story: When SIL and DH were little (4 and 6), SIL said to DH "Let''s go outside, and you can walk me up and down the street, and then everyone will see us and they will think that we are so cute that they will give us candy."

Aha! I love that story.

 

[applequeen]

I did a candy buffet for my wedding favors. We used "premium" ( I don't know if that's the way to describe it or not... but you know... the good stuff) chocolates in wrappers that matched my wedding colors. The caterer placed them in large glass containers on a table where we did a coffee bar. My husband comes from a family that's very anti alcohol so we did a coffee bar in place of a real bar (although I really could have used a drink!

) . We had a variety of coffee flavors, creamers, chocolate covered stirring sticks, etc. . The whole room had a cozy "coffee shop" smell to it which worked great for an early March evening wedding. Anyway the chocolates and coffee were a huge hit (according to my mother she's been to two weddings at the church since that have done the same thing). We made sure there was plenty so that everyone who wanted to could take some home with them.

*** Just wanted to add that we planned the wedding in 2 1/2 months so we did this partly out of conveniece (a total lack of any other good ideas that we could put together quicky and easily) but people seemed to really like it. I remember that when one of my friends got married several years ago we spent hours putting together her favors. I really did not have the time to do that and I think people appreciated the simplicity of it.... that was my theme for the wedding... simple (that doesn't look simple) and elegant. I don't know if it's an age thing (I"m 30 and was the last of my friends to get married) or more that people want to give favors that are useable (and what's more useable than something edible that almost everyone likes).

 

[blondie23]

I am also doing this for my wedding. We decided against doing candy that matched our colors and decided to pick candy that we love and that has variety...something sweet, chocolate, sour, hot, hard, soft, etc:

M&Ms, Sour Skittles, hot tamales, jelly belly jelly beans, lollipops, hershey's chocolate, starburst, jolly ranchers

I also designed clear chinese take-out containers with our monogram on them for people to put the candy in

we're having 80 people and bought 50 punds of candy at Sam's Club for $100...the vendor will supply the containers

 

[loverocks]

I''m so glad to hear positive feedback about it. I am not a ''young'' bride, I guess, at 30 yrs, so initially I was worried it might see a little childish. I too wanted to get away from favors that might not really get used by the guests, so I figured candy is edible and who doesn''t love a little sweet stuff. Blondie- I too was going to do the chinese takeout thing also - I think it will add some fun and visual interest.
Thanks for the advice on set up and breakdown. I will really have to think about who to have do this. I am hopeful that my venue will allow this as it is a full service hotel (Hyatt), so I am not sure how they feel about outside food, etc.

 

[Miranda]

The last wedding we attended had one. I thought it was a great idea and it was a huge hit. The bride''s favorite candy was Smarties so they had lovely glass containers filled with them in addition to rock candy, lollipops, and many other treats.

I''m with ephemery...I love the idea of edible favors!

 

[musey]

The one wedding I've seen this at, it was a big flop. The containers were still mostly full as we were leaving.

BUT, this was likely because the candy was kinda generic cheapy stuff, not the more recognizable crowd favorites.

 

[blinkydoll]

We will be doing a candy buffet!

I am getting those chinese containers--prob the frosted ones and decorating them.
We haven''t decided the candy yet-- i''m hoping the week before to get all that bec i don''t want it to go bad.
Wow!! i didn''t even think about asking our venue if they would charge us to bring that in. Eek! I better check!

Anywho-- I have worked a bunch of weddings that did this-- and It makes a great presentaion.. looks cute.. and the guests seem to enjoy picking the candies they they like!
Good luck!

 

[monarch64]

I''ve never seen one at a wedding, but I love the idea!!!