Sweet Wedding Ideas

One of the hottest wedding and shower favor ideas these days is candy. Personalized candy wrappers with your name and wedding details offer an alternative to the traditional tulle and ribbon wedding candy, the ubiquitous Jordan almond. Whether you choose a bar of Belgian chocolate wrapped in embossed foil or a chocolate candy rose with a personalized ribbon and tag, personalized candy favors are the kind of sweet treat that guests love to take home.

Most companies that offer personalized chocolate candy wrappers give you a wide variety of styles and kinds of candy to choose from. A particular favorite with many brides are miniature 1-inch square chocolate candy. Bright foil candy wrappers read more

 

 

are stamped with brides, grooms, wedding bells and doves to further the happy couple's wedding theme. Full size candy bars with personalized wrappers average about $1.75 apiece. For a bit less, you can have your name and wedding date imprinted on Hershey's miniatures like Krackel, Hershey's Special Dark candy bars and Mr. Goodbars. A package of 100 miniature candy bars costs about $50.

There's more to personalized candy wrappers than wedding bells, though. How about a chocolate or bubblegum candy cigar to announce the birth of a new child? You can purchase chocolate cigars with personalized candy bands or wrappers in "It's a Girl" pink and "It's a Boy" blue from any supplier of personalized candy bars. Nearly any occasion can be marked with personalized candy favors or gifts. Whether you're looking for candy shower favors or unique, personalized fund raising candy, personalized candy wrappers could be just what you need.

Some of the more unique candy favor ideas that we've seen are outside the realm of personalized candy wrappers though. One of the most adorable is the bubble-gum buddy bride and groom. Using a full size gumball for a base, the maker uses royal icing to form clothing and features on two of the cutest little wedding favors that can grace your wedding tables. Other candy favor ideas take their cue from the season of the year. Miniature wreaths made of starburst peppermint candy are perfect party favors for the office Christmas party, for example, and candy corn makes great candy fillers for wedding and shower favors at Autumn weddings and parties.

Finally, any wedding favor that can be made with candy Jordan almonds can also be made with the quintessential romantic candy of all time - candy hearts. Whether you choose foil-wrapped chocolate hearts or candy conversation hearts for a more whimsical look, how can you go wrong? Candy hearts and romance just belong together - naturally.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Visit this Food Website and Majon's Food directory.

Dark Chocolate Sales Soar on News of Health Benefits
by Marv Parker, Senior Candyologist

Perhaps the biggest news in the candy lovin’ world has been the fairly recent revelation about the health qualities of dark chocolate.

According to the Nutra-Smart.net website, “published studies are accumulating that suggest cocoa and dark chocolate may decrease the risk factors of some lifestyle related diseases including ...read more

Yet another reason for us chocolate lovers to rationalize an additional chunk of chocolate each day. It must be pointed out however, that the discussion is about dark chocolate, not the more popular milk chocolate version. Dark chocolate bars can range from 30% to 70%, 75%, or even above 80% for extremely dark bars. Personally I prefer a little fruit mixed in with mine (Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut comes to mind) to add a bit of sweetness, or toasted almonds. I use a 72% cacao content Belgium chocolate for my sauces and ganaches, so I am definitely getting the benefits, such as they are.

And I am not alone. Ad Age reports that sales of dark chocolate are up 40% this year. Of course one reason for this significant increase is that candy manufacturers are promoting their new dark chocolate bars as health foods, which might be a bit of a stretch in that dark chocolate still contains calories and fat, but it certainly has caught the public’s attention.

More and more people are now willing to try dark candy products and the media is fanning the flames of interest with frequent coverage. As Ad Age stated “Chocolate has nuances and the fact that people want to taste and learn about them is evidenced by the fact that more and more chocolates are stating their cacao percentages and countries of origin on the label.”

An additional potential health benefit comes from several clinical trials that have supported the notion that cocoa (or dark chocolate) may be useful in fighting high blood pressure. As an example, an Indian tribe in Panama, noted for their lack of high pressure, is known to be heavy cocoa consumers.

Whatever. Most of us are gonna continue eating dark chocolate and if it’s good for us too, hey that’s just one more reason to enjoy it.