A vintage candy buffet is a beautifully easy theme to accomplish. Lollies, party supplies, a walk down memory lane and some surprises at the back of your cupboards are all key ingredients in how to create a vintage candy buffet. It looks feminine, atmospheric, evoking rose-tinted memories of the past. A vintage theme is suitable for a large variety of occasions from wedding anniversaries and weddings, to engagements and birthdays or bridal showers, and even baby showers. First let’s look at the all-important lollies!
Many lollies have retro or nostalgic value. They bring back happy memories of our childhoods. Many lollies have barely changed throughout the generations. They’re simply perfect as they are.
- We’ve been eating Jelly Beans since 1861, although of course there’s a wider variety of flavours and colours now.
- The modern Ice Cream Parlour Mix Jelly Beans by Jelly Belly look very vintage with their wonderful speckled pastel colours, with a contrasting deep chocolate. Ice cream parlours no longer exist, but your grandparents may remember them as a favourite outing.
- Mini Fruit Sticks, Conversation Hearts, Marshmallows, Milk Bottles, Chocolate Beans and Chocolate Buttons, Musk Sticks have all been around for many years. Conversation Hearts were originally called Sweethearts, and were invented in 1901. They now display contemporary phrases often found in mobile phone texts.
- As for fairy floss, it’s been around since the 18th Century.
- And popcorn has been around for thousands of years!
- Products such as TNT Ice Cream Sour Straps capitalise on vintage flavours. Here we have the classic Neapolitan ice cream combo of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. With a very modern zing. Neapolitan ice cream was invented in the late 19th Century.
- Newcomers like Britecrawlers and Sour Apple Rings just, well, somehow know how to fit right in to a vintage theme!
How to set up your vintage candy buffet
- We’ve given you some candy options, now here’s some ideas on how to set up your vintage candy buffet.
- A pretty tablecloth that drapes to the ground will immediately give you a decorative base to work on.
- But as you can see from the high tea style in the picture above, a tablecloth may not even be necessary! Vintage-style teacup boxes used as risers, on a bare white table, could be all you need.
- In the first two pictures below, a lace runner and retro glass milk bottles with blue and white striped straws front and centre have captured the vintage style.
- The elegant cupcakes are iced in pale blue and white. Pale colours and pastels are very vintage.
- The design of the compotes containing the Ice Blue Cadbury Chocolate Hearts and the lollies shown above date back to the Art Nouveau period in the first two decades of the last century.
- Cake stands available at Candy Bar Sydney all capture the designs of vintage eras.
- Apothecary jars are very popular for candy buffets, whether the theme is vintage or modern. Their uses date back thousands of years, although the glass ones have been around for around 200 years or so, and their designs are deliberately vintage.
- White ostrich feathers give a very 20s razzle dazzle feel.
- Even metal scoops are vintage – they’ve been used in kitchens and food stores for over 100 years and their design has hardly changed.
- More accessories to set the scene may be at the back of a kitchen cupboard. Who hasn’t inherited retro or vintage china cups or a floral tea set from a relative?
- A compact lolly such as Chocolate Beans looks delicious in vintage cups.
- If you truly haven’t any old cups and saucers, then pay a visit to your local second hand store where elegant china is often one of the most commonly found items.
- Stacks of old books can be used as risers.
- That china teapot your kids have been using for tea parties in a sandpit will also hold lots of lollies.
- Contemporary high tea china collections often have vintage designs.
- Lacy tablecloths instantly illustrate the old-fashioned style. If you don’t have one, all fabric stores have lace fabric, which doesn’t need hemming. If it’s not wide enough, a length used as a table runner over a plain cloth looks just as effective.
- Vintage lace bunting looks pretty used as a backdrop.
- Costume jewellery such as strands of faux pearls, draped over candy jars, make easy and ultra-feminine decorations. As do lace ribbons. I found a lovely example by Pretty Little Vintage on Pinterest.
- Paper lace doilies placed under candy jars will easily enhance a vintage look.
- Lacy cupcake wrappers such as the Vintage Girl Pink Die Cut Cupcake Wrapper by Martha Stewart look very pretty on a simple plate.
- And lastly, a simple bunch of flowers is the finishing touch. Roses and carnations are the quintessential vintage flowers.
- Pop them in a vase, a vintage glass bottle, or a traditional-looking glass jar.
- Something as simple as baby’s breath will also do very nicely.
How to create a vintage candy buffet