What’s more fun than throwing candy in a bowl to make a Candy Salad? Put our Candy Salad recipe in a jar and it’s ready to gift for Valentine’s Day, as a favor for a Valentine’s Day party, bridal shower, engagement party, or even a birthday gathering. (Swap the red and pink candies for black and orange and it works for Halloween, or go red and green for Christmas or blue and white for Chanukah!) You can pick any palette you like and make it all one color, or a combo of your favorites—choose the hues of your favorite team for a Superbowl party, for example. Or, do one with all wrapped candy, or mix and match.
Giving sweets to your sweetie is a fun idea any time of the year. They can take your love with you to go—and a salad in a jar is so much more fun when it’s made of candy rather than lettuce. (Not that we recommend this as a replacement for your deskside salad—more of an addition to.)
A candy salad is the easiest way to upgrade drugstore candy, but you can use anything you want as long as it holds up and isn’t too messy. (We went red, pink, and yellow candy and seasonal shapes for Valentine’s Day.) Choose treat options that won’t break with mixing (this is not the time for fragile candy, or powder-covered candies that will make everything else messy).
Pour them into a bowl, and mix the Candy Salad with salad servers.
Then, if you want to turn the Candy Salad into a ready-to-give Valentine or party favor, scoop some up and pour it into a jar. You can choose the jar size to fit the occasion—re-usable canisters for a single Valentine’s Day gift, jam jars for party favors.
Decorate the jar with our downloadable label—which comes blank, so you can write in your own love note, and pre-printed with Sweets for My Sweetie. Or, pick any label you like, or decorate it with stickers. Then, fill it with drugstore candy in your chosen color palette. Whatever you fill your Candy Salad Gift Jar with, it will be a sweet surprise for your family and friends—and a fun, fresh way to give them some sugar. To watch us make our Candy Salad, click here.
If you’re making a single jar, and find yourself with leftover candy, no worries! Turn it into a candy mosaic or candycuterie board! Or, fill a clear glass with the candy and nestle a votive candle inside as a sweet centerpiece.
What You Need
Downloadable Candy Salad Jar Label Template
Sticker Paper or White Paper and Double Stick Tape or Glue Dots to Affix Label
Scissors
Candy of Your Choice. We used:
Heart-Shaped Cinnamon Lovers
Mini Starbursts
Smart Sweets Fish
Brach’s Mellowcreme Roses
Brach’s Cinnamon Jelly Hearts
Haribo Be Mine Mix
Haribo Gold Bears
Swedish Fish
Sugarfina XOXO Bento Box
Mixing bowl
Salad servers
Jar of Your Choice. Some options:
Plastic Canister with Gold Lid
Heart-Shaped Glass Jar with Cork Stopper
Glass Container with Gold Lid Handle
How To:
Step 1: Collect the candy. Order an assortment from the links above, or pick up your favorite sweets from the local drugstore.
Step 2: Mix candy. Pour all bags of candy into a large mixing bowl, and use salad servers to combine your ingredients.
Step 3: Transfer the candy salad into your jar, and screw the lid shut.
Step 4: Download our printable heart-shaped label, print, and cut out. Attach it onto the front of your Candy Salad jar for an extra-sweet touch!
