There’s nothing like fresh candy right out of the vending machine. If you’re about to head into a movie, you can’t go without a bucket of popcorn and maybe a Hershey or Mars bar for a sweet alternative to salt and butter. While your popcorn is popped fresh onsite, you can be sure that the candy packaging machine used to wrap your Hershey bar is top of the line because you don’t want to be eating moldy, spoiled candy. 

It’s with this idea clearly in mind that home gourmands who specialize in making sweets like cookies, cakes, and even candy such as chocolate bars, fudge, and bark, often find themselves searching for the perfect packaging idea so they can give away their sweets to friends and family as gifts. 

According to a Martha Stewart article, the perfect way to package the homemade candy you’re planning on giving away for Christmas, for instance, is in a handcrafted tin, jar, or box. You can select simple and easy packaging ideas that even the kids can assist you with. These might constitute “cute containers” that mimic Christmas or Chanukah decorations, clip art, and printable templates to help you construct the perfect packaging solution for your homemade candy.  

Here are just a few homemade candy packaging ideas you might want to try out during the holidays or on any occasion for any season. 

Wood boxes

A dried cranberry, toasted coconut, and pistachio “bark” are a spin on what’s considered a classic Christmas holiday fruit-and-nut combination. You can use a regular box or even a wooden box template with bands to create sweet treats that look like you purchased them for top dollar in a gourmet shop. 

Faux Bois (False Wood) Gift Bags

You can package candy bark made of almonds and bittersweet white chocolate in translucent cellophane that will show off the faux bois or what’s known as false wood. This is said to create a nice, homey effect. 

You can tie the package with an attractive ribbon while adding a faux boisgift bag to complete the gift package. 

Brittle Box that’s “Made with Love”

Says Stewart; you can make a chewy ginger-sesame brittle in your kitchen and package them in round chip-wood boxes. For a final touch, you can attach a label that reads, “Enjoy,” “Happy Holidays,” “Season’s Eatings,” or even “Made with Love.” 

The friends, family, and loved ones who receive this gift will appreciate it because you took the time to create something special and unique just for them inside your kitchen. 

Ribbon Holly Gift Stocking Stuffer Boxes

You can use a Martha Stewart template to create “elegant folded card stock gift boxes.” These can be adjusted to any size, which means you can fill them with all varieties of delicious homemade candies and use them as terrific stocking stuffers. 

Gift Labels with “Sweet Tidings”

Says Stewart, pecan-sea salt drops are the perfect sweet treat for the holidays or for any occasion. They can be presented in handcrafted ballotin boxes to which you can attach a clip-art gift label that contains messages of “Sweet Tidings,” “For Your Birthday,” or “For Being a Friend” to the recipient. 

Full Flavor Stamps

Flavor stamps are a great idea for gift-giving during any season and for any occasion. You can attach hazelnut flavor and milk chocolate stamps to a button-closure envelope for a handcrafted package of homemade chocolate-hazelnut toffee that goes great with coffee. 

There are a wide variety of barks and brittles to utilize for flavor stamps. These include orange zest, dried cherries, crisped rice, wafer cookies, macadamia nuts with lime zest, dried cranberries, pistachios, marshmallows, and graham crackers. 

What you create is purely up to your imagination and your taste buds. 

Homemade Candy Box Wrapping

Professional homemaker Martha Stewart believes presentation is everything. Therefore, there is an art to presenting your gifts of homemade candy to its recipients, especially for the homemade candy box wrapping you choose.  

You can wrap candy boxes in simple but stunning solid-color red, which is great for the holiday season. Or you can use white paper and then wind a variety of colors and ribbons of different widths around them to create a stunning presentation. 

You then fill out a white gift tag and make sure to thread your ribbon through the card. 

Maksim Bogdanov