Sweeten the Bar and Save!

Don't get confused by the title, I like to create a little mystery to get you to read on.

This entry is about my uncle's favorite part of the entire wedding extravaganza: The Candy Bar. Now you might think: woo, candy... and then top it off with an eye roll. However, if your families or guests are anything like ours there are loads of children, or "immature" adults, and come on... how many kids do you know who don't like candy? So there are a few tricks to a successful candy bar, and a few helpful hints to make it a little less of a dent on your wallet.  First of all, we'll talk candy.. because that's what you came for right?

The biggest thing? Think about your guest list. Lots of families? Several older people? Try and think about your various candy types of people. Younger kids are going to opt for suckers and m & m's, teenagers are more likely to go for the common candy types (skittles, laffy taffy's, etc) and the older folks are likely to choose less-sweet sweets like candy corn and licorice or just plain ol' chocolate. Make sure you have something for everyone but plan according to your guest list. Meaning don't buy eight bags of candy corn if you've got just under a 1/4 of your people in that candy-type group. I'm not a fan of candy corn or any of it relatives thrown into the "Autumn Mix" so we didn't get much of that just in case we didn't have a big turnout.Unfortunately, I've found that candy is the last spot you want to be chintzy on. People notice. Trust me, they do. Or at least I do.

Its important to not get labeled candy. Meaning unless your wedding is before Halloween or V-day, don't get the candy with hearts or goblins printed on them. It gives the impression you're cheap and opt for past-shelf-life candy. Don't go for generic candies, everyone knows they don't taste as good. Instead find other ways to save elsewhere so that your candy bar can be extravagant.

The absolute biggest way we saved? The jars! You may be surprised to hear that since many vases cost a small fortune individually. The quickest way to stock up and save green: your local Salvation Army. Not one of these vases cost more than a dollar, and some were as little as a quarter. $avings Tip: Check with your Salvation Army for "Quarter Days." These are when certain colored price tags are only a quarter to purchase! Yes, they are all glass vases. The only plastic items in the lot were the bowls and the scoops. The bowls were a dollar each at the local dollar store and the scoops, sadly were full-priced. But they were bought the day before the wedding. So if you can find similar scoops in your Salvation Army travels: GET THEM. I wasn't sure if I needed them, but then decided last-minute (every person's worst nightmare, but even worse for a bride) that I did. $avings Tip: Search your kitchen and local garage sales for jars too! We had just gotten some new flour/sugar containers for our kitchen (that we'd registered for) and so the containers with silver lids actually came from our kitchen! Hello Reuse! To create a mildly cohesive look we took two of our colors, in ribbon, and tied them around the vases. And then set them out on a clothed table, with some burlap squares under them (they were also on the guests dining tables).

Now when divvying up the candy, don't be afraid to get a little crazy... Just watch the people you designate to set it up. One groomsman and the maid of honor, whom shall remain nameless were actually seen shoving handfuls of candy in their mouths while setting up! Don't be afraid to mix it up. In one of the containers with the silver lids we put all three kinds of m&m's together (regular, peanut and peanut butter), and in the other we put the gummy bears. Since the m&m's and the gummy bears were not individually wrapped it was important that they were in containers with lids. We also had Lego candy made (from a local confectionery, another splurge, that yes, you could build with) that we couldn't put out until right before the reception as it had no wrapping to protect it. But that was what the plastic bowls were for. While we probably should have had another set of scoops to prevent cross contamination most of the kids were just using their hands anyway.Since the majority of the candy was wrapped, once the jars were filled, we just scattered the rest of the candy all over the table. It looked like one delicious beautiful mess. And it was a hit!


Now, what were these sugar-fiend guests doing with their candy? Well we preassembled some bags for the candy, and we had smaller organza bags for the gummy bears and m&m's so they weren't floating in the paper sacks. Using regular old lunch sacks ($avings Tip: Store brand works just fine and you get more than if you were to buy them from the dollar store) we took a simple hole punch and tied the same blue ribbon through it. Now, we went for a pretty simplistic look for a lot of our wedding decoration. Skipping on streamers and the honeycomb bells and typical wedding decor. But if you want to get more festive with your candy bags, I've seen them with monograms stamped on them, and decorations added. You could also do those little Chinese take-out style boxes. The sky is the limit. Make sure you stock extra bags and be prepared for lots of extra bags with stuff in them hanging around on tables once guests leave. Everyone forgets where they set their candy and then they just go up and get more.

There is a lot about the wedding I will never forget but one of my most favorite things was seeing all the kids get excited about the candy spilled all over the table. My uncle has since decided that for his tenth anniversary he's going to have a reception just so he can have a candy bar. It was a major success!

THE BIGGE$T $AVING$ TIP ABOUT CANDY BARS: Everyone will have satisfied their sweet tooth before cake is served so you can cut down on the amount of cake you need. We had a large guest list and only had our "cake-baker" make about half the amount of cake, because you already have the top tier of cake to take home, you really don't want that much extra cake. So you can significantly cut back on the sheet cakes or the tiers to your cake. It works wonderfully.

Tune in next time for more Wedding On The Cheap! Until next time, Happy DIY'ing!