Desserts 4 Today

Candy bouquets make wonderful gifts for all sorts of occasions. Of course you can always order one over the internet. However, to make your gift more special and memorable, you can make one yourself. It's really not that difficult and you'll see that it won't cost as much as the commercial ones. If you are game on making your own candy bouquet gift, here are some basic instructions to help guide you.

PLANNING:

• What is the occasion? - You want the candy arrangement to suit the occasion and also reflect your feelings and thoughts. So, making a birthday candy bouquet will have a different look from a Valentine's candy bouquet. You can use a fun theme for the former and a more romantic theme for the latter. Choose an appropriate theme to guide your design.


• Who is it for? - Consider the recipients favorite candies. There are so many types of candy you can use. Will you be using hard candies, gummies, candy bars, lollipops, chocolates or even retro candies? You may even have to consider sugar-free candies for those that have certain health problems or are following a healthy lifestyle. Don't forget to check if they have any food allergies too.


• All candy bouquet or a floral candy bouquet? - Your bouquet can be made up entirely of candies or you can add some floral touches to it. If you decide to go floral, you can add silk flowers and leaves to your design. Another option is to be a bit crafty and make the candies look like flowers.


• What container are you going to use? - There is no hard and fast rule as to what you must use as a base for your candy bouquet. You can always use a glass vase or a small basket. Some people have used flower pots, coffee mugs and sundae glasses. You can use any container and decorate it to your whim and fancy. The important thing is to make sure your container is heavy enough so your candy bouquet don't topple over. You can weight it down by filling it up with candies.


• How are you going to make your candy bouquet dazzle? - Just poking sticks of candy into a floral foam will not create a big impression. Liven it up with curling ribbons, colored tissue, ribbons, garlands, little mementoes, shredded paper, sparkling tinsel or cellophane wrap.

Candy

Basically, all you need are floral foam, wire, tape, scissors, wire cutters, low-temp hot glue gun with glue sticks and bamboo skewers.

If you are using candy bars, just use the hot glue gun to attach the skewer to the backside of the candy bar. Hold it down for a while to make sure it's secure. Make sure you first wrap the bamboo skewer with floral tape to give it a nicer look. Tie a small bow or curling ribbon to the base of the candy.

If you are using chocolates, you just poke the pointed end of the skewer into the chocolate. Then wrap the skewer with floral tape.

For wrapped hard candies, attach one end of the wrapper to the wire. Wrap wire around the base of each candy. Cover with floral tape.

ARRANGING YOUR CANDY FLOWERS:

When arranging your candy bouquet, you want to achieve a sense of symmetry and balance. How you arrange will also depend on the size of your candy. For example, if you just have lollipop flowers, you could pack them into an oval shape. For different size candies, you can vary the height by snipping the skewers or wires. Let your own creative inspiration be your guide. If you need ideas, you can draw upon basic floral arrangement shapes such as the fan, circular, triangular and vertical arrangement. Don't forget to add fillers or foliage to give your candy bouquet a more pleasant look. One more thing to note is that your candy arrangement should suit the type of container you're using. Once again, balance and symmetry is what you are aiming for.

If you want to make candy bouquets without thinking too hard, get these candy bouquet instruction books that you can download instantly. Step-by-step illustrations that will help you create professional looking candy bouquets even if you've never had any experience before. You might even decide to start a candy bouquet business to earn some extra bucks.