With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to celebrate and show your loved ones how much they mean to you.Many people choose to go with flowers, a card, or a box of chocolates. While these options are a quick and easy way to show you care, why not go with something more unique or homemade?
At Home Basics, we carry a number of products that can help you show your loved ones how much you care this Valentine’s Day. We have everything you could need for Valentine’s Day baking, like a heart-shaped cake pan and cake plate to display your cake or cupcakes, as well as a variety of trays and boards in all different sizes and finishes to serve your loved one’s favorite foods.
A particularly fun and unique way to celebrate Valentine’s Day would be to make a candy or dessert bar. This is an especially great option this year because you can keep your celebrations at home while still having a great time. To create your own candy bar, you’ll need a number of jars to keep the different candies in. Lucky for you, Home Basics has a wide variety of jars available on our website. We carry jars made from several different materials, including glass and ceramic. Our jars also come in a range of colors and with different types of lids, such as screw tops and locking lids. With our large selection of jars, you’re guaranteed to find all the perfect jars for your candy bar and anything else you need them for.
While creating a candy bar in your home might sound overwhelming, in reality, it’s very simple. Here are a few of our tips for creating the perfect candy bar:
Stick to a Theme
A guaranteed way to make sure your candy bar looks professional and put together is to pick a theme before starting. For a Valentine’s Day candy bar, this can be as simple as sticking to only Valentine’s Day candies. You can also be more specific with your theme and stick to a single color or color range.
No matter what theme you go with, it’s an easy way to take your candy
bar to the next level.
Create a Plan
Before you start placing your jars and candy, make a plan of how you’re going to lay everything out. This will help you to best understand how much space you’re working with, how many jars you can fit in that space, and how many different types of candy you’ll need. You want to make sure that the jars are spaced out enough that you can see what candy is in each jar. Many people suggest creating zones on your table to keep the candies organized and visible. Put the tallest jars at the very back because these will be the easiest to see from further away. If you don’t have a lot of taller jars, you can always use something like our steel cabinet organizers to make some of your jars higher than the others for the same effect. It’s always best to use larger candies in the back so that people aren’t reaching quite as far into the jar. In front of these taller jars, you can put your mid-sized jars with bulk candies. Home Basics carries scoops, tongs, and other serving utensils to help people reach the candies in these jars. You can put any special items or candies you want to limit or have on display at the very front. For example, special Valentine’s Day Rice Krispies Treats or chocolate covered pretzels.
Get Enough Candy
You want to make sure that you’ll have enough candy for each of your guests. On average, you want between four and eight ounces of bulk candy per person, so if you’re having 15 people over for Valentine’s Day, you’ll need between 60 and 120 ounces of candy. This will cover the candy in the middle row of your display. For the bigger candies in the back and front rows, many people choose to order one of each candy per person. If you want your guests to have extra candy to take home, you can easily increase your order accordingly. The last thing you want is for some of your guests to not get enough candy, so it’s always better to order a little extra to be on the safe side.
Test It Out
One of the most important steps of setting up your candy bar is to test everything out before your guests arrive. This way, you can make sure that
the jars are appropriately spread out, everything is visible, and that nothing falls over when you reach for the jars in the very back. This step is especially important if you have any children coming to the candy bar because
their reach will be limited compared to adults. Taking the time to test everything out also means that you get an opportunity to taste test all the candy
before anyone else comes.
Another significant benefit to creating your own candy bar is that they aren’t limited to just one holiday, and you can reuse the jars regularly. The jars can be used to hold toppings for things like sundae bars or unique dinner parties or to hold decorative items around your home. If you’re looking for another occasion to create a candy or dessert bar soon, it’s the perfect way to celebrate the Superbowl. You can choose candies that are the same colors as your team’s colors or candies that are local to your team’s area. In addition to jars for candy bars, Home Basics also has an entire Game Day Faves section stocked full of everything you need for the big game. There are a number of boards made from materials like bamboo and granite, which are perfect for serving all your must-have game-day snacks on and making stunning charcuterie boards, as well as pitchers and jugs for your siganture drinks.
