How to Make Your Own Personalized Candy Bar Wrappers

I got married in August 2007, and I was very much a Do-It-Yourself bride. I was involved in every aspect of wedding planning and I was intent on making sure that our wedding was special and personal for all our guests. From our wedding ceremony to our reception, to the music and the table decorations, I made sure everything was perfect for our theme (beachy - starfish, sandollars, and aqua and green). I was a bit stumped, however, when it came down to the favors. I wanted something customized for our theme and that our guests would love - and the traditional jordan almonds just was not going to cut it.

I browsed several wedding bulletin boards (weddingchannel.com and the knot.com) and found the most adorable favors I had ever seen: customized candy bar wrappers that reflected the couple's theme and personality. These were usually wrapped around Hershey Bars, and looked adorable. When I finally found these, my wedding was only a month away, so I didn't have a lot of time to order something that may or may not work; I was also having a problem finding exactly what I wanted. You can order personalized candy wrappers online, but nobody offered the colors I wanted, much less the theme. Most of them had wedding bells on them, which were totally not my style - I was going for a more contemporary look that would work with my beach theme. On a mission, I decided to make my own.

Making your own Candy Bar Wrapper Template
For my personalized candy bar wrappers, I used Microsoft Word. I used the original candy bar wrappers from Hershey Bars as a template, and I literally held them up to the screen(I had my view set to 100%) to make sure that my dimensions matched the measurements of the candy wrappers. I made a giant text box for the wrapper, and then added WordArt , clipart, and additional text boxes so that my wrappers matched the original Hershey Bar wrapper.

I took several (and I mean several!) attempts to get all the boxes to line up, and even more to get the colors to line up. I added a "Nutrition Facts" box that listed the cute ingredients of our love... laughter, patience, and silliness, and made sure everything added up to 100%. I also added a bar code so that the candy bar wrappers looked authentic. Finally, I played around with all the fonts to make sure our names looked whimsical and fun, and added our wedding date so that these would be not just a fun favor, but a memento of our special day.

I printed these on shiny brochure paper I got from Staples. I found that the best paper was between 3 and 6 millimeters. Anything thinner won't reflect the gorgeous colors your choose, and anything thicker is to stiff to bend easily around your candy bar. I printed them out for regular-sized Hershey Bars and the giant-sized Hershey Bars, about 100 each, and spent about $25.00 on paper. I bought my candy bars at Costco (about $9.99 for a box of 36 regular and 15 giant). I cut the wrappers out with a 12-inch paper cutter and sealed the wrappers around the bars with the roll-on glue lines used in scrapbooking (about $2.50 for one). All in all, I made 200 candy bar favors for less than $75.00, which was far less than I would have spent on any other of the favors I was considering.

We used these as the centerpiece of our Candy Buffet, and they were a huge hit. Guests could not believe that we had such a personal and adorable favor, and were even more shocked when they found out I made them myself. It was wonderful to have such a personal gift to share with our guests! Because I spent so much time making this candy bar wrapper template, I understand what a big stressor it can be to undertake it yourself. While I recommend it highly, the following link will take you to my own template, which you can use as a pattern for your own. Feel free to download them to your computer and play with the colors, the fonts and the clipart. These favors add a special sparkle to your already luminous wedding, and will keep your guests talking for weeks!

http://www.box.net/shared/9bfw5oyqso

Good luck!