Most candy bouquets that you see for sale are made
with a vase but did you know that you can also use
a box (or boxes) to use as a candy bouquet base?
Your candy bouquet in a box can be large or small.
In addition to an attractive box (or boxes) you will
need wrapped candy, clear tape, wooden skewers
and some type of solid foam (styrofoam or floral).
The foam part of this project can be pricey depending on your size box. These foams came from Dollar Tree.
The difference between a box of candy and a
candy bouquet in a box is that the candy is on top
of the box. Not only that but the candy is standing
UP on top of the box.
To get your candy ready to stand up, you need to tape
it onto a wooden skewer.
(Wooden skewers in different sizes can be usually found in the kitchen area of grocery stores.)
If you want to hide the skewer on a candy bar, pull
up the flap on the backside of the candy and tape the
skewer with clear tape along the side of the flap.
Then pull the flap down over the skewer and tape it down
again to keep the flap down and hiding the skewer.
You can do this with smaller candy bars too.
Not all candy has the flap (or you might not want to bother
with hiding the skewer and taping twice). Just use clear tape
to secure the skewer on the back. For large candy you can
even use packing tape if you have some.
You can work "assembly line" fashion to put the candy on skewers to make it faster.
Put the skewer straight down the middle of the candy as much as possible.
The candy on the right side of the picture has been taped; the three on the left have not been taped yet.
The candy in the above photo was used in a pretty red foil
box I found at Dollar Tree. The candy also came from there.
I think the box was maybe intended as a wine box so it is
tall. I put left over pieces of homemade foam in the
bottom of the tall red box. Then I put the cut-to-fit
piece of foam (with top painted red...optional) on top.
In retrospect, I think I could have packed the bottom
of thebox tightly with newspaper and then
topped it with cut-to-fit foam (red topped).
I tried to keep the chocolate bars as close to the center and
as evenly spaced as possible to keep the box from tipping
when I pushed them into the foam on top.
Try to push on the skewer and not the candy when you are
putting it into the foam. The candy might come off of the
skewer if you push the candy.
Oops! I wasn't noticing how I was taping the candy bars onto the skewers.
If it bothers you to have the candy taped from different ends, take note of that.
To add some more sparkle, I topped it with some
basket filler but that is optional. The cost for that
candy bouquet in a box was less than $10.
Size-wise on the opposite end of the box spectrum are
these little candy bouquets in boxes.
These boxes came from the Dollar Tree also.
What makes them easy is that you don't have to worry
about disguising the foam...the box top does that.
Cut your foam to fill the box and put the lid on.
That weird foam is insulation foam sprayed from a can. The foams mentioned at the first of the post work fine too.
Here is a link if you want to see more about the spray foam...
"How To Use Spray Foam In Candy Bouquets".
Decide where you want your candy to be on top
of the box and poke small holes there with scissors.
Tape small candies onto small skewers or extra long toothpicks
and push themthrough the holes and into the foam.
These little box candy bouquets would only be
about $3 each (depending on the supplies you buy).
The above candy bouquets are done in seasonal boxes
but you could adapt the idea and use non-seasonal boxes
for birthday parties or any other type party.
One of my favorite candy bouquets is made by using
several candy boxes to MAKE a box.
I googled how to make them and came upon a tutorial
by Jamielyn at the I Heart Naptime blog. I basically
followed hertutorial but made a few modifications.
Get four boxes of candy the same size.
These all came from WalMart and were $1 each.
Decide which configuration of boxes you like better
(or try one of each). The Milk Duds boxes are going to
have only the corners touching. The foam area to place
candy bars will be larger. The Skittles boxes are going to
have more contact and less area to put candy bars (but
it looks filled with less candy).
Cut your foam to fit inside what will be the space
available when the box of boxes is glued together.
The Milk Duds boxes were hot glued onto the square
of foam where they would be touching the foam.
The Skittle boxes were glued to each other directly.
The foam was whittled to fit inside the opening.
After the glue had dried, the bottoms of the boxes had
clear tape added for more stability...that is optional.
On the Skittles box tape was added around and under the bottom.
On the Milk Duds box the tape was added only left to right and top to bottom due to the sides not being flush.
Prepare the candy as directed at the beginning of the post.
You can have larger candy in this type of candy bouquet
since you have the weight of the candy in the four boxes
to support it.
I didn't add basket filler to these candy bouquets because the
foam was far enough down that it did not show, but you
certainly could add some if you want to for fun.
You don't have to use the super size candy bars but those were the ones on sale the day I went to buy
candy for these bouquets. Who wouldn't like MORE candy in their bouquet?
The candy box candy bouquets were about $10 each.
If you would like more ideas for candy bouquets, click on
this highlighted link...
Keep your eyes open and "think inside the box" for
fun and creative boxes that could be used for candy bouquets.