Candy Buffet

I came across the idea of a candy buffet in a magazine and instantly fell in love with the idea. My fiance thought it was an un-needed expense since we were on an extremely tight budget. He told me I could have my candy buffet if I could keep it under $100. Anyone know how much the average candy buffet costs? Around $500! Well ladies, this buffet cost around $150 and it fed 120 guests.

Here's how I did it:

• Buy your candy scoops from http://www.orientaltrading.com/. You can get 3 scoops for $3. Michaels will charge you $5.99 for two scoops.



• Get your large lollipops from CVS, Walgreens, or Wal-Mart. They sell them for $1 a piece. This is the cheapst you will find them. Don't take the wrappers off if you intend to use them for decorations-they will break instantly.



• Have family and friends keep an eye out for inexpensive, bright colored boxes. The colors make it seem like there is more on the table than there really is.



• Target has the penny jars ranging from $4.99 to $5.99. They aren't heavy duty, but look nice. The majority of our containers were purchased from Wal-Mart for less money than what Target was charging. We found boxes for $7.00 that had martini glasses and margarita glasses (4 in a box) at Bealls. The best deal we found was at Ikea. Their containers were heavy duty, very large, and the most expensive one was $4.99!



• I compared many bulk candy providers and these two companies had the best prices: http://www.ohnuts.com/ and http://www.bulkcandystore.com/



• Be on the lookout for candy sales after major holidays. The candy will freeze and you can get many bags of jelly beans and hershey kisses for $.29 a piece.



• Publix had the best prices on twizzlers.



• I was nervous that I wouldn't have very much candy, so I made brownie bites to fill up the buffet. These were a huge hit. Publix had the brownie mix on sale, buy one get one free. I was able to make over 400 brownies for less than $8! I used mini cookie cutters to cut out the brownies, topped them with homemade chocolate buttercream icing (so you couldn't see any flaws or cracks), dusted them with powdered sugar and placed them in mini cupcake papers. Everyone thought they were catered. I saw these same brownie bites at the bakery for $12 a dozen.



• I used bright wrapping paper over the table cloth. It really brought the colors together.



• I bought the cellaphane bags from Michaels for $6.00. I created our monogram stickers on Microsoft word and stuck them to the bags for a customized look.
  
  Some things to remember:



• You don't need scoops for every container. Many of the candies are wrapped already. If you run out of scoops, use spoons.



• Purchase your candy early. It will save you tons of money on shipping.



• Purchase colored tissue paper. It can be used anywhere to brighten up the buffet and lift some of the candy in some of the containers.



• Make sure you eat some of your candy or else there might not be any left!