Creative Sweet Treats for Every Occasion

Image courtesy of the Popcorn Board, popcorn.org

Our Favorite Fun Food Ideas for Holidays and Events

Holidays and special occasions are a perfect opportunity to boost your sales while showcasing your creativity! With special promotional ideas, you can make sweet treats that customers will love to buy and share with family and friends. Let this list inspire your own creations throughout the year!

Christmas

The biggest gift-giving time of the year deserves all the best treats! There are many ways you can customize your holiday treats. Have fun with these festive ideas.

• Snowmen

  • Use popcorn mixed with melted marshmallows to create a snowman out of popcorn balls. Decorate with candies, sprinkles, licorice, or gum drops. Get the recipe from popcorn.org.
  • You can also make snowmen by filling clear plastic containers with plain popcorn, then decorating them with a snowman face and ribbon as a scarf. See example on Pinterest.

• Christmas Tree

  • Transform a popcorn ball into the shape of a Christmas tree! You can choose to color the popcorn green with Signature Blends Green Color Only Candy Glaze or use food coloring to color the melted marshmallows. Add M&Ms or other candies as decorations. Link to recipe here.

• Ornaments

  • Ornament popcorn balls are a festive addition that can be customized with sprinkles, candies, food coloring, etc. The perfect finishing touch is the mini candy cane on top. Here’s the recipe.

• Winter Wonderland

  • Make a winter wonderland platter using popcorn for the main design, then accent with fudge and use cotton candy for snow.

For even more delicious holiday treats, see our blog for 5 Holiday Menu Ideas to Make Customers Smile This Season.

Valentine’s Day

The way to anyone’s heart is through the stomach! Valentine’s Day is one of the top holidays for spending. Your customers will love these treats that are both tasty and delightful!

• Heart-Shaped Popcorn Pops

  • Take popcorn balls, color them red or pink, shape them into hearts, and put them on a stick – Presto! You’ve got popcorn pops. Here’s one example of how you can make your own.

Customers will fall in love with these other Valentine’s Day recipes, like chocolate-covered strawberry fudge, pink hot chocolate, Cupid’s Popcorn Mix, and candy apples.

St. Patrick’s Day

Fun for all ages, everyone will enjoy celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with green-colored foods and rainbow-themed treats.

• Popcorn Shamrock

  • Create a popcorn platter in the shape of a shamrock. For flavor and color, try Signature Blends Green Apple Candy Glaze. Or make individual popcorn shamrocks by using a cookie cutter to shape them.

• Pot of Gold Popcorn

  • Caramel corn as gold, coupled with sour rainbow candy makes a treat that’s perfect for any leprechaun. Form into balls or package together in clear bags. (See the Pot-O-Gold Popcorn Bites recipe.)

Find more green food recipes for fudge, waffles, funnel cakes, and cotton candy!

Image courtesy of the Popcorn Board, popcorn.org

Easter

Go beyond chocolate bunnies and jellybeans to make truly memorable Easter baskets. These treats will keep the celebration hopping!

• Popcorn Easter Basket

  • What could be cuter than these adorable miniature Easter baskets made of popcorn? Topped with jellybeans and licorice twists, your customers won’t be able to resist these Easter treats.

• Rainbow Pastel Popcorn Balls

  • Made with melted marshmallow Peeps candies, you can create popcorn balls with multiple pastel colors. Link directly to the recipe. For added fun, form into egg shapes instead of balls.

• Easter Bunny Bars

  • These fun and pretty bars are made by creating a popcorn cake, then decorating it with sprinkles, mini marshmallows, and candy-coated miniature eggs. Sell as a whole cake or cut into individual bars. Visit popcorn.org for the full recipe.

Image courtesy of the Popcorn Board, popcorn.org

Patriotic (Memorial Day, 4^th of July, Labor Day)

When getting together to celebrate patriotic holidays, you want your customers to have red, white, and blue treats that will stand out!

• Red Hot Poppers

  • The secret ingredient in these patriotic popcorn balls is red hot cinnamon-flavored candies! Use a red licorice string, red and blue candies, and sprinkles to make these treats truly spectacular.

• Red, White, and Blue Popcorn Balls

  • When you use Signature Blends, you can make your popcorn balls colorful and flavorful! We recommend using Blue Raspberry Candy Glaze, Red Cherry Candy Glaze, and Vanilla Candy Glaze. Take a little bit of each, then roll together to make a red, white, and blue popcorn ball.

Show your star-spangled spirit with these patriotic foods like Firework Fudge, Patriotic Pop Slush, and Red, White, and Blue Funnel Cakes.

Image courtesy of HungryHappenings.com

Halloween

These are some of our fall favorites! When you want treats that make an amazing first impression, look no further.

• Halloween Popcorn Pumpkin Balls

  • This is a cute, classic, beloved snack that will suit adults and kids alike! Form orange-colored popcorn into balls and add a tootsie roll for the stem and green taffy for the leaf. Here’s a recipe you can reference.

• White Chocolate Popcorn Skull

  • Using a skull-shaped pan, popcorn, and fudge, you can create a frightening, yet fun appetizer for your Halloween parties. Inspired by this recipe from HungryHappenings.com.

• Spooky Popcorn Spider Web

  • Fun for any Halloween party, this recipe takes popcorn to make the web, then uses mini popcorn balls mixed with melted chocolate to create the spiders. For an added touch, use cotton candy to make it even more web-like.

• Witchy Popcorn Balls

  • Green popcorn balls are transformed into little witches with the help of a waffle cone, black jelly beans, candy corn, and licorice strings. Recipe is courtesy of popcorn.org.

• Green Halloween Zombies

  • This recipe really lets you get creative with the decorations! Red candy eyes and candy corn teeth, plus fruit shoestring candy for hair makes this treat spooky yet fun.

Get inspired by even more fun fall food ideas!

Thanksgiving

Start a new tradition by incorporating these creative treats into your Thanksgiving celebration.

• Turkeys

  • Make your Thanksgiving memorable with Turkey-Shaped Caramel Popcorn Balls. Use candy corn and candy eyes for decorations and you’ll be set with treats everyone will enjoy! Find the recipe here.

• Turkey Popcorn Treat Bags

  • Oh so simple! All the food ingredients you need are popped popcorn and yellow, brown, orange, green, and red M&Ms. Just fill a plastic glove with colored M&Ms for each finger to make the tail feathers, then fill the rest with popcorn. Use googly eyes and orange construction paper for the beak. Check out the recipe here.

Sports-Themed

You’ll be the MVP when you share these fun treats with your team! No matter what the sport, these treats will capture attention and are sure to give you some new fans.

• Football

  • Perfect for Super Bowl parties, take caramel corn mixed with melted marshmallow, spread it out flat, and shape it into a football design. Then drizzle with white chocolate.
  • Or for individual servings, create football-shaped popcorn balls. This recipe uses cocoa powder for coloring and added flavor.

• Baseball

  • An average popcorn ball can be a home run when you add red shoestring licorice to make it look like a baseball.

• Basketball

  • Use Signature Blends Orange Candy Glaze to make your popcorn balls an orange color and flavor. Then add stripes using black decorating gel.

Other Special Occasions

• Breast Cancer Awareness Month

  • Pop up pink popcorn! There are a number of ways to make your popcorn pink. Use the Signature Blends Pink Color-Only Candy Glaze. Or try this recipe and make it straight from the kettle with Cherry Pink Glaze Pop®.

• Graduation Parties

  • Honor your graduate with popcorn party favors! You can color them in the school’s colors as an added special touch.

• Baby Showers or Gender Reveals

  • “Ready to Pop” makes such a perfect baby shower or gender reveal party theme! And when you combine that with pink and/or blue popcorn, you’ll deliver an experience that guests will enjoy.

Ready to make these ideas a reality? Our concession specialists are here to help you make your holiday treats a success! They can consult with you on the best practices and recommended products. Find your nearest Gold Medal dealer and get started today.

Do you have a holiday treat idea of your own that you’d like to see featured? Please send it to us at [email protected]. We’d love to share your success story!