5 Great Candy Crafts for the Weekend

Guest author Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer and mother of three in Southern California.

The creativity afforded to you and your kids (or maybe even just you) by combining candy with crafts on a Saturday afternoon is almost without restriction. Pinterest has shown us the tremendous creativity that can be spawned by a crafty person with some candy and homemade sweet treats.

Maybe you just love crafts and fall victim to the occasional sweet tooth, or you’ve got kids that you want to share a fun crafting experience with. Either way, candy is one of your most diverse and colorful options.

Not only that, but how could you beat a craft that is edible after all your hard work?

So let’s say you want to get into this candy crafting activity. Where do you start, and what kind of crafts can you get through in a typical weekend? Some candy crafts involve a lot of homemade candy, which is something you may or may not want to tackle.

These five crafts are all great places to start, since they won’t involve a lot of time if you just want to try a few to test the candy craft waters.

1. Homemade lollipops — It doesn’t take a lot of research to figure out that lollipops are essentially made of sugar and corn syrup. Most everything else is decoration.

You’ll use your basic ingredients to make a liquid filling that will fill in a mold, and then dry to make your lollipops. It’s no more complicated than that, and you can get creative with different molds and food colorings for your lollipops. If you’re making this with kids, it can be fun to see what decorations they can come up with.

Christmas Candy Cane Craft by Redcom Studios on flickr

2. Rock candy — Rock candy is a classic (and easy) homemade candy item. Add some food coloring and some different candy stick styles and you’ve got yourself an easy candy craft.

You’ll need lots of sugar, some water, candy sticks, and glass jars. The idea is pretty simple, just  make a sugar water mixture that you’ll pour in the jar and baste the stick in. Over a period of five days to a week, the sugar will crystallize around those sticks and you’ll have your candy sticks.

There’s a lot of waiting time, but the prep time is pretty minimal. This one is great to start in the middle of the week, and enjoy the final results on the weekend.

3. Candy decorated sugar cookie — Sugar cookies are easy to make, and lend themselves quite well to extra candy decorations. Try adding candies that are smaller, like M&Ms or Jelly Bellies to decorate the cookies. For some extra color and to help the candy stick, you can use some icing as a base.

4. Dipped pretzels — Chocolate dipped pretzels come in all kinds of different forms, and if you know the basics, the decorating, or “crafty” part is entirely up to you.

Start with your favorite kind of pretzel (pretzel rods typically work best) and some melted chocolate mixed with a little bit of oil. White, dark, or milk chocolate will do fine. Once you dip the pretzels in the melted chocolate, you can follow up by using different sprinkles and even smaller candies to coat the melted chocolate.

Once the chocolate dries, dig in!

5. Peppermint serving tray — If you’re feeling a little more ambitious, the peppermint serving tray might be just the right mix of craft, candy, and challenge for you.

Specific instructions are included in the link, but the general idea is that you melt peppermint pieces down into a platform shape that can be used to server other candy or showcase different foods.

This one makes for a particularly attractive showpiece for the holidays and if you want to get even more creative you can use this as coasters, picture frames and other fun holiday giveaways. Your guests will love this creative flair.

Short and SweetCandy Dipped Cookie Sticksy by Kim Becker on Flickr

Most candy-based crafts and even homemade candies don’t take a long time to prepare, which makes them a perfect activity for a weekend afternoon. If you can get your kids involved, it can be a fun and interesting way to get their sugar fill, instead of just straight out of a plastic bag.

To add even more of a fun flair to your candy, consider coming up with a new way to display the candy that you make! Getting some cute candy jars makes your hard work seem so much more rewarding when you can see everything displayed professionally.

It’s always more fun when you can add your own creative twist.

Guest author Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer and mother of three in Southern California. When the weekend rolls around, she looks forward to having fun with her kids and doing creative projects that they can enjoy, too. Follow her on Pinterest for more great ideas.

Image Credits: Candy Dipped Cookie Sticks by Kim Becker and Christmas Candy Cane Craft by Redcom Studios on flickr.com, used under Creative Commons license.  Colored Candy image by Stuart Miles on freedigitalphotos.net, used by permission.


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