Holiday Craft Fair Idea: Novelty Candy and Treats

Food can be a hot item at a holiday craft fair, although often you'll find a fair glutted with tables selling similar foods (muffin/cookie mix in a jar, for example). A really fun and unusual holiday booth idea is novelty foods and candies.

You've probably seen some novelty foods at holiday fairs already - "Snowman Poop" (mini marshmallows in a bag) or the aforementioned mix-in-a-jars. You'll want to offer something truly new and unusual - be creative enough with your naming of products, and your booth could be the talk of the fair. You may think this is too difficult or you don't cook well enough to create unusual foods, but it will be much easier than you think and requires minimum cooking skills.

Before you start cooking anything, however, you must check the with the holiday fair organizer to find out their rules governing food sales. Some holiday fairs ban food prepared on-site because of state or municipal laws disallowing the practice. Others limit "bake sale" tables or any foods intended for immediate consumption to charities or service-oriented program sponsors (Lion's Club or a local school for example) and won't allow private booth renters to be competition. Be sure to stress the fact that your idea will sell novelty food items intended as gifts and not intended for immediate consumption, which should be fine for those holiday fairs that wish to limit food vendors. If you find that you are unable to sell food at your holiday fair booth, be sure to check out my profile page for links to other articles about more fun and unique holiday fair booth ideas that will turn a profit.

Once you've established that you can sell candy and treats, you'll want to consider what to sell. This is the fun part, but keep in mind freshness - since most of your sales will probably be intended as stocking stuffers or gifts, you need to be sure that what you are selling now will still be safe and edible by the holidays.

A few ideas: chocolate covered bacon or bacon bark; candy "sushi"; hot chili cocoa mix; toffee covered pretzels; or wasabi truffles. A "homemade candy" search of Associated Content will result in several recipes - put your thinking cap on and tweak them in some way to make them unusual and appealing. You may even find some ready made novelty recipe ideas by searching via google or on a popular recipe website.

Making a candy into a novelty item can be as simple as giving a common candy a creative name, description, or package. For example, you can take an ordinary lollipop, stick it on an inexpensive doll body (either a premade plastic one or even make your own doll bodies out of cloth) and you've got a Dolly-Pop. Your bacon/chocolate combo could be called "Manly Man Candy - because real men eat bacon with everything." It is your names and descriptions which will sell your product, so put a lot of effort into this part.

Because what you will be promoting at your holiday booth is really the novelty more than the actual candy, your packaging and labels will matter a lot. Candy-making has become a popular past time, so most craft stores carry candy-making supplies, including clear bags or tiny boxes for packaging and will not be difficult for you to find. You can print your labels on sticky label sheets or just plain paper and cut to size. I suggest the plain paper since it will allow more flexibility.

This holiday fair table is bound to be fun and should be profitable as well. This article is part of a series of great and unique holiday fair booth/table ideas, so be sure to check out my other articles on this subject for more great ideas.