Ten years ago I ran a side business making centerpieces for Bar and Bat Mitzavahs. They were large, hotel ballroom type affairs filled with loud music, bad food, lycra-clad dance teams, and people named Mel. I loved it.
My work was not much to look at. It was a lot of soccer players. Magician hats. Balloons. Balloons. Balloons.
It sounds like an easy gig, but catering to 12 and 13-year-old clients is rougher than you might expect. Lack of opinions. Comparisons to older siblings. Marsha. Marsha. Marsha.
One time, a client’s mother wanted the table markers to be giant candy bars (coordinating to real candy bar place cards, naturally). I think they were expecting me to carve them out of foam or something, but with a 200 person event with 20 different tables, that just wasn’t an option. So I made due; I bought a Snickers bar, ate said snickers bar, flattened the wrapper, took it to a copy shop, had them print out a blown-up enlargement, then folded it back to look like the real thing. Presto!
Personally, I thought it was awesome. The client thought it looked “too much like a trade show” and decided to switch to a garden party theme at the last minute. Urghhhhh. What is the Yiddish word for dithering indecisiveness?
Anyway, somewhere in the process I realized this concept could be applied to something bigger than just a one-time centerpiece. Why not stuff the thing with candy and give it away? Why not take the thing and hang it on a wall? Delicious, three dimensional art anyone?
Making this is easy. And it cost five bucks. $1.89 for the Snickers bar. $3.00 to have the copy shop enlarge it to 11”x17”…add scissors and double-stick tape, that’s it.
In addition to the candy bar you purchase (and eat) for the wrapper to take to a copy shot, I suggest you buy a second one to use as a model when assembling. It will look far more realistic if the folds are in just the right place.
Hungry? Why wait? Grab a Snickers.
AP, your website isn’t displaying in Google’s RSS reader anymore, in case you were interested.
@Tracylee, Yes, that’s correct. I’m trying to encourage people to visit my website directly. I’ll still publish teasers to various feeds so people can decide if they want to click through, but generally yes, all of my RSS and email feeds are truncated at 500 characters. Thanks for following up 🙂
Okay, I’ll allow it… but only for you ;-D
So does that mean “Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE …” actually translates to “Please come visit my beautiful web site?
You are too smart! So can you change the name on the candy bars? Like Junior Mints could become Junior Wilsons? Hershey’s could be Harvey’s? Mars bar could be Mrs. bar? Gummi Bears could become Betsi Bears? Do you do weddings?
Hilarious and cute! My candy-obssessed nevvy would freak if he got this!
Where do you live that a Snickers bar is 1.89!? Holy moly. Also, this is amazing! P.S. I also see: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE …in my Google Reader.
Hmmm….that error code is really odd! I just tinkered with the HTML code — I’m hoping it worked. Mine looks OK on this end, but maybe different browsers handle it differently. Either way, thanks for bringing it to my attention 🙂
amazing
It’s turning up fine on my Google Reader.
no error code in google Reader here.
there is a mobile app called “Greader”that is actually -not- a Google app altho its downloadable thru Google Play Store. causes weird codes sometimes.
PS: love the giant treat bag idea….ive been looking for a pinata idea and think this is the one kids will love!
Love the idea of a GIANT Candy bag too – but need to check out the price of candy bars. Don’t think they are 1.89 either. Of course, haven’t bought any lately. Don’t think they are that high. What did you put in the treat bag?? Lots of little bitty snickers??? That would be awesome!!!
I have seen these $1.89 guys. They are for those impulse buys when you are trying to be good and shopping for something else.
I was wrong — there were not $1.89, they were $1.99. I just took a picture to show y’all: http://instagram.com/p/WSZQiDwN8j/ Yes, this is urban living at its finest!
A couple of friends forwarded their email of my feed this morning and got the same error code. It’s a mixed bag and I don’t know the cause. If you experienced the same thing on the post today (Bramble Patch) please let me know. I’m hoping it was just a one-time glitch!
Great idea!