DIY Candy Buffet

I am on a roll this week!  Since my wedding is this weekend (eek!) I knew I needed to get going on any preparations that could be completed and packed up before the wedding day.  I knew I wanted to offer a big selection of candy for my guests to assemble their own favors, but I wanted to make the containers special so I decided to copy some of the designs I've seen online and wrap the glass in ribbon for a quick, impactful update.

I can do that!  But without lids... that's just asking for broken glass

I have 6 large glasses vases and bowls in various shapes, picked up from Homegoods, Hobby Lobby and borrowed from my cousin. (Budget $7-9 each if you are going to buy them all)  I went shopping and got 1.5 inch wide ribbon in my wedding colors as well as some 1/2 inch ribbon to layer on top of it.  I also picked up some double stick tape.  Grand total: $18

I measured out ribbon to go around each vase and overlap about a half inch.  Then, I placed 1-2 inch pieces of tape along the ribbon and stuck it to the vases.  I found that leaving a couple of inches between each piece of tape let me adjust the ribbon as I applied it and make my stripes reasonably level.  As with my other projects, I had to remind myself that there's not going to be an inspection... it would have taken a long time to make perfect stripes and I'm just not that patient. (The photos of this step turned out badly, so just imagine me painstakingly applying ribbon to glasses vases)

Then, I headed to Target and found that they sell 42 oz resealable bags of candy like M&Ms, Skittles, Kisses, Reese's Pieces, and Starburst.  The price per pound came to under $3 and that was less than I found anywhere else, so I stocked up on almost 30 lbs of it!  However, I got a little too excited and bought everything on a lunch break visit to Target... not realizing until I got back to the office that I would need to lug it all inside so it wouldn't melt in the Texas heat.  Oops.  That was a bonus workout!

I also bought white organza drawstring bags ($2 for 10!) at efavormart.com.  They're 4x6 inches, which I hope will keep people from packing up half a pound of candy like I saw at another reception.  I've heard that people tend to try and fill whatever container you supply so beware of large cellophane bags.

The finished containers are shown below, and I'll be carefully packing them up so they can be filled with candy at the reception.  Stay tuned for shots of the buffet in action later this month!