Stand Out with Instagram-Worthy Holiday Treats

How Instagram-worthy are your holiday treats?

Sure, they taste delicious, but how would a potential new customer know if they’ve never tasted your confections? No surprise, social media, like Instagram and Facebook, can be an effective tool for reaching consumers, however if A.) you’re not sharing photos of your products on your social media sites daily or B.) they don’t stand out from other holiday gifts, you could be missing out on a massive opportunity to gain new customers this season.

A study by Forbes has shown that 78% of consumers’ purchases are impacted by companies’ social media posts. So, if you’re looking for a boost in sales, consider transforming these classic confectionery treats into holiday showstoppers to help your business standout this season.

Rudolph Rice Cereal Treats by Bomboy's Home Made Candy; Mrs. Claus and Elves, Food Network; Ice Cream Cone Elves, Elf Cookies by Bearfoot Baker

Rice Cereal Treats

Cookie cutters aren't just for cookies. They also make a great tool for creating fun seasonal chocolate-covered rice cereal treats. Make the most out of your collection of cookie cutters, by repurposing common shapes to create new and unique designs. After realizing that their gingerbread man treats weren’t selling as well as other designs, Bomboy’s Home Made Candy gave the tired cookie cutter new life by turning it upside down and transforming it into Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. This little reindeer proved to be a hit!

Make fall and summer designs last into the holidays! If you have cookie cutters shaped like a ghost or even an ice cream cone, just flip them upside down to transform the shapes into cute elves. Did you know a pumpkin cookie cutter can be repurposed to make a jolly Mrs. Claus?

Santa Apples, Baked with Love; Mrs. Prindables Reindeer and Snowman; Reindeer with Pipe Cleaner Antlers, Design Dazzle

Caramel Apples

Traditionally a fall treat, a little creativity can help transform caramel apples into a festive holiday gift. For inspiration, mimic Santa’s jolly belly by adding his signature black belt and big gold buckle around a red caramel apple coated in red sprinkles or luster dust. Bring Frosty the Snowman to life by adding a jumbo marshmallow to the top of a caramel apple before dipping them both in white chocolate. A few chocolate chip “buttons" and a red licorice scarf will help tie it all together. Lastly, add candy eyes, a red nose and antlers, of course, to create everyone’s favorite reindeer out of a classic chocolate-covered caramel apple. There’s lots of ideas online for creating Rudolph’s antlers—from the easiest to the most realistic, you may want to try pipe cleaners, pretzel twists or sugar cookies for your antlers.

Need help perfecting your caramel apples? Check out these past blog posts for tips on making caramel stick to apples or learn why you should flip your caramel apples upside down.

 

Snowmen, Two Sisters Crafting; Gingerbread Men, Munchkin Munchies

Marshmallows

Jumbo marshmallows make a quick and easy canvas for creating holiday magic. Put three jumbo marshmallows on a stick, coat them in white chocolate and decorate to make marshmallow snowmen pops that are too sweet to pass up. Click here to watch a tutorial by Two Sisters Crafting. All you need to make adorable gingerbread marshmallow pops are, your choice of caramel-coated marshmallows or marshmallows covered in peanut butter confectioner’s coating, some piped white chocolate and tiny sugar decorations.

Nutter Butter Reindeer, Vande Walle Candies; Oreo Reindeer, Oh Nuts!

Sandwich Cookies

If you don’t think of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer when looking at your favorite sandwich cookies, changing your perspective may increase your holiday sales. When RCI member Vande Walle’s Candies coated Nutter Butter sandwich cookies in chocolate and embellished them with a pair of candy eyes, pretzel twist antlers and a bright red nose, these cute reindeer treats reportedly “flew out the door,” they were so popular with their customers! For another spin on this idea, try substituting the Nutter Butter cookies with Oreo cookies on a stick.

More than ever, consumers are looking to social media for unique and memorable gift ideas this holiday season. Posting photos of your festive holiday treats on social media regularly will help your company capture the attention of consumers while they’re making their shopping list this season.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.

Hot Chocolate Bombs: The Best Thing Since Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Although this is not a new concept, interest in "hot chocolate bombs" has skyrocketed since the beginning of October—in fact, it is now considered a breakout trend according to Google Trends. In case you’re wondering what this means, if Google Trends identifies a topic as “breakout” it means there has been a tremendous increase in searches using a specific topic or keyword. Watch this viral social media video demonstrating a hot chocolate bomb from Wisconsin-based bakery, Sweets by Jen.

Elevate your hot chocolate experience with this season’s breakout trend, hot chocolate bombs. Essentially a chocolate sphere, when placed in a mug and drenched with warm milk, the hot chocolate bomb melts away to reveal hot cocoa mix and other sweet treats inside, like mini marshmallows.

Sweet Tip: We believe the marshmallows are the key ingredient to create an almost magical effect. As the chocolate sphere melts and opens up, the marshmallows pop out and rise to the top of the hot chocolate.

How to Make Hot Chocolate Bombs
Take a sphere mould and make a hollow chocolate shell. Once the chocolate shell has set, it’s time to fill it. A popular option is to fill the shell mould with generous portions of hot cocoa mix and mini marshmallows. Other ideas may include crushed peppermints, chocolate chips, toffee bits, mint chocolate pieces or even holiday sprinkles. Seal the two pieces of the mould together and decorate with a drizzle of dark chocolate or white chocolate swirls, topped with more sprinkles, crushed peppermints or whatever your heart desires. 

Photo credit: Vande Walle's Candies

RCI member tip: Vande Walle’s Candies uses a golf ball mould and rolls the finished product in white chocolate.

Don’t Have A Sphere Chocolate Mould? Don't Sweat!

Photo credit: Coco Jolie

If you don’t have a sphere mould consider using a round truffle mould and filling it with hot chocolate mix and a mini marshmallow or two. Since they’re smaller than the typical hot chocolate bombs, package multiples together and instruct users to use two or three "truffles" to make one cup of hot chocolate. You may not get the same effect as the large spheres pop open, but you’ll have the benefit of being able to use your existing truffle packaging.

Photo credit: Bruce's Candy Kitchen

RCI member, Bruce’s Candy Kitchen put a witchy spin on this concept by dropping a mini marshmallow cluster into a mini muffin tin and topping it with Sixlets^® candies and sprinkles to represent bubbling witch’s brew. After the mixture sets up, they insert the cluster into a plastic cauldron. These frighteningly cute cauldrons are sold as part of their Halloween Hot Chocolate Kits, complete with hot chocolate mix, extra sprinkles, candy corn and a chocolate-covered Oreo^®.

Photo credit: Nothing But Chocolate

RCI member, Nothing But Chocolate fills a large hollow pumpkin mould with pumpkin spice hot chocolate mix for two or more servings. Consumers are directed to heat milk on the stovetop and drop the entire pumpkin into the simmering milk. For Christmas, Nothing But Chocolate uses an ornament mould to replicate the concept. 

How to Package Hot Chocolate Bombs
As with any confection, your packaging can really set the tone of the presentation. For shoppers who aren’t familiar with hot chocolate bombs (yet), we recommend utilizing packaging that allows shoppers to see the product, as well as instructions on how to use it.

Cello Bag with Ribbon
A clear cello bag is a classic and simple packaging solution, tie it with a colorful ribbon and cute name tag with instructions to create a festive and eye-catching look.

 

Photo credit: Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company

Acetate Tube
This clear acetate tube creates a sleek and modern look that would fit nicely in a Christmas stocking. Packaged as a set of three, it allows you to upsell the product and offer a “variety pack” with three different flavors.

Photo credit: White Rabbit Chocolatiers

Acetate Cube
This chocolatier uses a clear acetate cube to package their hot chocolate bomb. A metallic gold sticker describes the product as “exploding with mini marshmallows and chocolate hearts.”

Colorful Foil
If you want to highlight a variety of flavors and fillings, consider wrapping your hot chocolate bombs in colorful foil. Not only does this make for a colorful and festive look, it is easy and encourages consumers to try different flavors.

Photo credit: ChocolatesU

Short on time or staff? Wholesale Hot Chocolate Bombs!
While we are loving this fun holiday trend, we understand that COVID-19 has presented many candy makers with restrictions that make it challenging to develop a trendy, new product for the busy holiday season.

If you love the idea of selling hot chocolate bombs, but you don’t love the idea of making them yourself, consider wholesaling “Hot Chocolate Balls” from RCI member ChocolatesU. More like a solid hot chocolate truffle, instead of a hollow chocolate shell, their Hot Chocolate Balls are made with "the best quality couverture chocolate, cocoa powder and honey," delivering a rich, more chocolatey cup of hot chocolate. Hot Chocolate Balls are available in six flavors, as well as several limited-edition flavors for the holiday season. Click here to learn more.

Cheers to hot chocolate season! We hope this has inspired you to create your own sweet version of hot chocolate bombs and meet the growing demand for this trendy product.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.

Ready-To-Gift Wedding Favors That Wow!

The wedding industry represents a sweet opportunity for confectioners. Offering ready-to-gift wedding favors will help eliminate one more item from the bride’s long list of to-do’s before she says “I do!” By focusing on personalization and packaging, your wedding favors are sure to stand out and WOW the wedding party and their guests.

Sources: The Perfect Blend Coffee Favors; The Paper Shoppe CA/Etsy; Champagne Gummy Bear Favors, Beau Coup; Caramel Apple Favors, Evermine; Mint To Be Favors, The Kraft Moon/Etsy; Sweet Chocolate Heart Favors, Little Indie Studio/Etsy

Personalized

Personalization can help achieve a greater impact without having to spend a fortune on materials. Print directly onto craft paper treats bags or purchase printable labels. Your local craft store will have a variety of paper punches in various shapes and sizes from a 2-inch circle punch to an ornate gift tag punch.

RCI member, Dietsch Brothers, uses a Cricut^® cutting machine to create personalized tags to accompany their wedding favors. Dietsch Brothers offers a simple order form for event tags. The order form includes options for tag shapes and six choices of messages. Clients can further customize their tags by adding their names and/or wedding date, in addition to choosing between cream or white card stock, as well as the color of text to match their wedding colors.

If you’re not interested in purchasing equipment, Canva is a great alternative for creating professional-looking custom designs even if you have zero graphic design experience. This user-friendly platform offers thousands of custom templates and stock images, as well as easy-to-follow tutorials claiming to make you a “design pro in minutes.” Canva offers free and paid subscriptions. 

Sources: Merci Beaucoup gift box, Mon Joli Paquet/Etsy; Hot Chocolate Tube, Custom Favours/Etsy, Mini Popcorn Boxes, Erickson Design/Etsy; Macaron Boxes, Cookiebox Store/Etsy; Chocolate-Covered Coffee Beans Favor, Evermine

Packaging

Even if you offer individually wrapped confections, a winning wedding favor is all about the presentation. The right packaging can help create a memorable way to commemorate the newlyweds and thank their guests for partaking in their nuptial ceremony. From sleek and modern to playful and crafty, there is packaging to fit every couple and every budget.

Sleek folded boxes in matte white or clear acetate tied with a satin bow, offer a luxurious touch. For a more creative and playful approach, hot chocolate mix can be packaged in food-safe tubes. Adding personal touches to ordinary packaging (like the mini popcorn boxes and coffee cups with customized sleeves pictured above) makes it feel elevated and fun.

Together with personalization, classic or creative packaging could help soon-to-be-wed couples fall in love with your wedding favors. Share your creative wedding favor ideas in the comments below.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.