Showing posts with label idea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idea. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

St Patrick's Day Candy Ideas... That Aren't Green

Green, green, and even more green. That's pretty much the theme for St Patrick's Day. This is one holiday that really doesn't do candy very well either. There aren't that many St Patrick's Day candies, and of the small amount that there is, it all seems to be green. This green candy is often not very creative, and not Irish at all.

I've decided to take on the challenge of designing St Patrick's Day candy that's both creative and not green. Keep in mind that I've never actually been to Ireland, or studied Irish culture in any way. I certainly don't want to offend anybody, but I also want to be sure that even someone with no knowledge of Irish culture will know what these are representing.

I'm told that one of the prides of Ireland is their beer. If we think of Ireland and beer one word comes up on top all of the time, Guinness. St Patrick's Day is often a time that many adults take up a pint of Guinness to celebrate the fine people of Ireland, but what about those that do not drink and prefer sweets instead. Why not have a gummy Guinness? It's a strong flavoured beer that would translate really well into gummy form. You could even fill the gummy with a liquid Guinness centre to make it more authentic. Best of all, it represents something very Irish, and it’s not green.

Probably one of the most famous expressions from Ireland is to "kiss the Blarney Stone". You may or may not know that the Blarney Stone is a real stone that with some difficulty you can kiss. Legend has it that if you kiss the stone you’ll be given the gift of gab and flattery. The thing is, most people won't have the opportunity to kiss this stone and gain all of the magic that comes with it. So why not bring some of this magic home, in candy form with a Blarney lollipop. A reproduction of the famous stone made of rock candy is easy to kiss or lick till your heart's content. Why not give yourself some sweet Irish magic on St Patrick's Day. The trick here is to make it look as much like real stone as possible, the only green you might find is a bit of moss growing on the bottom.


It seems that almost every holiday has some kind of hollow chocolate treat available, except St Patrick's Day. It's a no brainer that a chocolate leprechaun would be perfect for the kids to celebrate this Irish holiday. The leprechaun could be size appreciate, and you could have smaller ones as well. Best of all, like many holiday hollow chocolate treats, this one could be filled with more treats. The best, and most obvious filling could be gold coins, however Lucky Charms would be cool too. The fun of breaking open a small Irish fictional character, to reveal a whole bunch of chocolate coins would be great. It would also answer the question as to where they hide their pot of gold. My only hope is that they make it out of tasty milk chocolate; white chocolate coloured green would not be great.

As usual these candy ideas are free for the taking for any candy maker out there. All I ask is if you make them please send me some to try. It's about time that kids were brought into the St Patrick's Day fun. By the end of the day parents will be drunk and kids (myself included) can enjoy a wonderful sugar buzz. Most importantly, they're not green.

CC

Monday, April 22, 2013

This Week In Candy

Every so often I like to have a brainstorming week.  This is the week where I look at ideas I want to write about and plan out how I want to present them.  Do I want to send these ideas out to a magazine or newspaper, do I want to post it here on the blog, or do I want to tuck it away in my brain because it's really a stupid idea.

We're also planning a quick trip to Berlin for a few days, to see the sites, but also to enjoy some of that world famous German chocolate.  I have no specific plans on places to taste test sweets, so I'm open for any suggestions.

Finally, last week we went to the opening of the art show for our sister site Beware The Cheese, and had a great time.  For the few lucky folks that read last weeks "This Week In Candy" and approached me with the secret words, I hope you enjoyed your chocolaty treat.

Well I'm going to go sit in the corner and write out some ideas.

CC

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Stuff I Want To Try

Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter - Made by: NestlĂ©  - Why: You mean there wasn't a peanut butter Kit Kat already? - Click here to learn more about this treat.

CC

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Trying to Get an Agent/Publisher - Rejection 5

As you may or may not know, I'm trying to sell a Candy Critic book idea. If you know (or are) someone that can help me out, say hello.  If not, please enjoy my now regular posts of rejections I've received from agents and publishers.
"Unfortunately, your query does not meet our particular need at this time, but thank you for giving us the chance to review your work. Good luck in future."

CC

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Trying to Get an Agent/Publisher - Rejection 4

As you may or may not know, I'm trying to sell a Candy Critic book idea. If you know (or are) someone that can help me out, say hello.  If not, please enjoy my now regular posts of rejections I've received from agents and publishers.
"Dear Mr. Stewart,

I'm sorry that the volume of unsolicited material we receive makes this sort of form response necessary.  We've read your material, and I'm sorry to say that we don't think it is right for the specific talents of the people working at our company at this time.
Publishing is a tough business, and the response of any individual agent—or indeed dozens of agents—is not necessarily a comment on the inherent value of the project. Every agent has individual tastes and individual business requirements. We wish you the best of luck in finding the right path to publication.

Sincerely,
__________________________"

CC

Monday, August 29, 2011

I'm Google +ing

I've decided to set up my Google + account to post whatever I'm working on at that very moment, for candy critic and any other projects.  It's still evolving at this point, but why not join me on this silly adventure.  I may even occasionally open up a video chat thing now and again while I write reviews.

My Google + stuff is here.

CC

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

New And "Improved"

People always tell me that when they try a candy treat that they haven't had since they where kids it tastes "different".  It's always a disappointment to people because they go out to buy these treats to not only get a sweet fix, but also to live a little bit of nostalgia.  The excuse that people give themselves is that their tastes buds have changed so it'll never be the same as they remember.  Well hold onto your hats people, because what you didn't know is there's a good chance that it in fact has changed.  Candy companies alter their products almost constantly, adding more crunch, changing the amount of cocoa, all kinds of "fixes".  While many of these fixes go unnoticed, if you don't eat a treat for a while and then try it again it can be pretty severe change.  What I propose is this, I think candy companies should, for a few months at least, go back to basics.  I want a Kit Kat bar that was exactly the same as the one I had when I was a kid.  Maybe have a special edition bar for nostalgia sake.  Let people compare and see if these little changes actually improved the treat, or at the very least re-live their childhood a little.

Click here to read about how 3 Musketeers has "improved".

CC

Friday, March 18, 2011

Go Team Lollipops

The link below goes to an interesting article about a simple idea that seems to be taking off.  Mark Lenhart had the idea of creating lollipops in the shape of college mascots.  With a bit of leg work and licencing negotiations it appears that this idea is starting to really work out for him.  After all what could be more fun than sucking on a George Town Bulldog?


CC

Monday, August 16, 2010

Candy And Cartoons

In India there's a new cartoon series that will feature a direct association with a candy brand. Now I don't mind when my favorite cartoon has a snack endorsement as long as the quality of the treat and the cartoon stay the same. I hate it when entertainment and candy mix together and lower the standards for either or both.


CC

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Dino Egg Hunt

I've never thought of mixing the idea of a Dinosaur Egg with a Chicken Egg at this time of year. But why not, I mean it's already strange that we get eggs delivered by a bunny, why can't they be dinosaur eggs.


CC

Friday, November 20, 2009

Rooftop Coffee

So apparently this guy drives around with a fake cup of coffee on his roof and tweets the reactions. I think I may have to try this but I’m going to go bigger and a little more style. I’m thinking a full on birthday cake.

Click here to follow his tweets.

CC

Monday, September 28, 2009

Full Home Brew

I really don’t like coffee but I figure if I were to go for a cup roasting and brewing the entire thing at home would be a great way to do it.
CC

Friday, June 19, 2009

I have a favour to ask.

Yesterday I decided to go to the Tokyo Midtown Mall. This mall is one of the fancier malls in Tokyo, you can tell this fairly simply.

First of all there’s a full on art gallery in the mall, now this isn’t just some place to get things framed that happens to have a few pieces up, this is a full blown art gallery.
It also has a really impressive roof over the outdoor portion of the mall. So I guess it’s not really an outdoor portion anymore.
It also has benches that look really cool, but don’t really work to their full capabilities.
I went to this mall in search of their fancy fruit store. I went to the fancy fruit store to check out prices for fancy fruit. I’m asking you a favour because I can’t really afford to buy any kind of fancy fruit right now. So What I’m trying to say is, would you folks be so kind as to donate some money towards the “Buy Chris a fancy fruit so he can see if it’s that much better than regular fruit” campaign?

In Canada



In the US




Just click on this donate button and give what ever you want. I’ll take the results on August 1st and put it towards the most expensive fruit I can buy. The cheapest thing I found in the store was a lemon for 174 yen that’s about 2 bucks. The priciest single piece of fruit I found was a melon that sold for 22,000 yen that’s about 250 bucks. There’s lots in-between but let’s go for the melon.

Thanks in Advance.

Chris