Looking to get more bang for your buck on your next candy buffet? Here are 5 ideas to get you started!
1. Replace a meal: Serving your candy buffet alongside coffee, tea, lemonade or cocktails, can allow you to deduct the price of catering for a traditional meal from your budget, while still pampering your guests. Include some treats with a little nutritional value like yogurt covered pretzels or raisins, candied almonds or other nuts. You may even opt to present some fancy tiered tea platters as specialty treats on your candy buffet. Savory treats also add variety, pretzels of various shapes, dry treats from your favorite bulk section, nuts, and crackers like fish crackers are often popular. The latter are especially fun for “under-the-sea” and “mermaid” kids’ parties. Even colorful cereal can be fun with some themes!
Photo graciously shared by Pinkie Pie
2. Only fill containers about 2/3’s full: This trick will give the appearance of more candy, and allow you to “fill” more containers with the same amount of candy. As long as the container is at least 2/3’s filled, it will look “full.” NOTE: Avoid this trick for large parties. If you know you will have a lot of people, be sure to fill all containers as full as possible to avoid empties and reduce the time spent by support staff having to refill.
3. Use narrow containers: Taller narrower containers will give the illusion of more candy offerings, but be careful to not use top heavy containers, especially with younger guests, as they could more easily tip over and break. Be sure they are easily accessible either by hand or with your utensils. For children's parties, two shorter narrow containers, like mason jars, may be a better fit.
4. Use inexpensive fillers: A pound of sugar costs less than a dollar, while a pound of candy can be 5 to 20 times more. If you do not have many guests to treat, and you want your candy table to look more impressive. Fill your jars about 1/4 to 1/2 with sugar or marshmallows to lift your candy and avoid empty looking jars without the big price tag, or excessive leftovers.
5. Avoid cylinders and “fishbowls”: If you are trying to stretch your candy, unusually shaped jars, especially those with narrow bases like apothecary jars, are your best friends. Drum shaped and spherical containers will hold more candy than “curvaceous” varieties. That being said, if you want to display LOTS of candy, definitely opt for wide, voluminous containers, to reduce time refilling and cut down on container costs.
