Posts Tagged ‘Halloween’

14 Oct

MIXO Madness 0

If you’re a Comic-Con regular, you may have already come across collectible MIXO tins, which debuted at the crazy huge comic book convention this past July in San Diego.

The adorable, yet slightly edgy food-safe tins are the latest creation by Mike Becker, a young and talented toymaker who’s already launched and sold two toy companies. MIXO is Mike’s third go-around at fun.

What’s great about these 8.25-inch (h) x 2.5-inch (w) unfilled tins is that they are unfilled. A blank canvas of sorts. Fill the Skeleton with a mix of Bloody Candy Bones, Spooky Eyeball Gumballs, and Candy Skulls to create a memorable Halloween favor that party-goers will want to keep.

I love the Wonder Woman MIXO tin above. Fill  her up with Starzmania candies and tuck in a Starbucks gift card for a pretty awesome teacher gift. (Sure beats an apple!)

Reis O’Brien, the artist behind all of the MIXO designs, says the Batman tin was the first of the four superheroes to fly off the shelves at Comic-Con. “It disappeared the first day of the show,” he explains.

Reis, who keeps pencils and artist paintbrushes in his Green Lantern MIXO tin, says the “Valentino” Vampire tin was also a hot commodity at Comic-Con.

How cool would it be to fill Valentino with Wax Fangs and blood Red Sixlets and put him front and center on a Halloween dessert table?

The ideas are endless with MIXO tins, and, according to Reis, it’s a line that’s growing fast. Hello Kitty tins will soon be available, as will additional superheroes and other licensed characters.

Here’s a peek at Hello Kitty …


If you catch the MIXO bug, let us know how you fill ‘em up!

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in Candy, Candy Buffets, Gifts, Halloween, Licensed, MIXO, Packaging

Candy that is both “gross” and “large” has weird and wide appeal.

Case in point: The World’s Largest Gummy Brain is a 3.75-pound bubble gum-flavored blob. Sounds totally gross, but after seeing it, I find myself wanting to touch it and maybe even try a piece of the frontal lobe.


Or how about the World’s Largest Gummy Worm? Just looking at this 26-inch worm gives me the chills. Same chills I’d get if I saw a Garter snake in my lawn. Even so, I could see myself shipping one of these to the biggest gardener, fisherman, or worm in my life.

Then, there’s the World’s Largest Gummy Witch’s Tongue, Viper’s Tongue, and Joker’s Tongue. I’ll bite my tongue right now to avoid saying anything tasteless about these 1/4-pound blobs, which are perfect for Halloween 2012.

Tongue factoid: Stephen Taylor, the guy who holds the Guinness World Record for longest tongue, measures in at 3.86 inches. The World’s Largest Gummy Tongues are almost double the size of Stephen’s record breaker. I believe Gene Simmons is now weeping.


I’ll leave you with two more large and gross gummies: The World’s Largest Gummy Frog and World’s Largest Gummy Slug. I double dog dare you to leave the slug on the desk of the biggest slacker at your office.

World's Largest Gummy Frog and Slug

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in Candy, Gluten Free, Gummy, Halloween, Novelty, Soft

Last weekend, my niece and nephew popped in for a sleepover with my kids (A.K.A. cousin camp).  As luck would have it, Greg at Candy.com stocked me with all the necessary supplies to make chocolatey Halloween suckers with the kids, ranging in age from 6 to 10.

So, away we went on Saturday night with our science project. We unleashed our sucker sticks, microwaved each pound of orange, white, and milk chocolate discs, and carefully poured our just-barely-melted chocolates into Jack-O-Lantern and Skull chocolate molds.

The kids loved “painting” the eyes, nose, and mouth on the Jack-O-Lanterns and Skulls with chocolate after the pops cooled (we put them in the freezer). We found that small craft paint brushes worked best.

Another tip? Insert Icing Eyeballs into the molds before pouring in the melted chocolate. I didn’t try this trick, but Greg at Candy.com says it works like a charm.

The kids did everything but microwave the chocolate and had at least two hours of fun creating and eating their treats on a stick. The final products might not be Martha Stewart worthy, but not bad for the young chocolatiers.

I am going to experiment with more molds from Candy.com to see what else we can cook up at the Gillerlain household over the holidays. My son is planning on making chocolate suckers for an upcoming fundraiser in lieu of a standard baked goods sale. My thought is to package the suckers in clear mini cello bags and finish them off with a twist-tie bow. Why not give it a whirl?

If you’re in need of an all-ages and edible DIY project, check out Candy.com’s crazy huge selection of inexpensive chocolate molds and hard candy molds. You’ll find molds in the shape of lipstick tubes, teapots, states, business cards, police badges, pineapples, zodiacs, owls, you name it. (Note: You can use Candy.com’s hard candy molds with chocolate, but you can’t use the chocolate molds to create hard candies.)

Lastly, and most importantly, if you’ve experimented with chocolate and chocolate molds, share your creations and tips. Add your comments after this post or on Facebook.

Thanks!

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Since it’s fall and freaky Friday, it’s the perfect day to ask:

What’s your LEAST favorite Halloween candy?

You know, the one candy you traded out as a kid (or will trade with the neighbors this year).

When I was a small fry, my brother and I would come home Halloween night and go through our stash, trading candy piece by piece. I dumped 3 Musketeers on him and he handed over all of his Almond Joys. It was a clean and fair transaction.

To entice you to share your LEAST favorite Halloween candy (just one!), you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a $25 Candy.com Gift Card. The winner can buy his/her FAVORITE Halloween candy. Watcha waiting for?  Spill it.

Based on the feedback, I’ll post a Top Ten list early next week and announce the $25 gift-card winner. TGIF!

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in 3 Musketeers, Almond Joy, Candy, Contests, Halloween