The newest fun alternative to the more traditional wedding favors and treats is a wedding popcorn buffet for your wedding guests to enjoy. While popcorn might be fairly new to the wedding reception it can be traced back thousands of years to New Mexico where archaeologists found ears of popcorn Native Americans enjoyed way before the Europeans arrived in America. This buffet might be cheaper even than a candy buffet and most likely different for those attending, if you do not buy the gourmet popcorn offered by many companies today Here’s some ideas to get you started.
Popcorn
The new, very trendy gourmet popcorn is vet expensive but don’t get me wrong, if cost is no an object then go for it. However, if you’re reading this, it’s likely you’re working with a (possibly tight) budget so you simply buy plain popcorn in large bags or pop your own and make it gourmet yourself — it’s easy by adding your own flavoring. Popcorn Flavors and Flavoring. There are a load of popcorn flavoring available now such as nacho, white cheese, chili, chocolate, chocolate marshmallow, sour cream and onion, caramel, cajun and many more. To make gourmet popcorn just put plain popcorn in large bags, add in the flavoring you want, seal the bag, and shake vigorously to until the popcorn is coated evenly and SURPRISE!!! you have gourmet popcorn. You can also find a lot of chocolate and caramel popcorn recipes on the Internet so make you own chocolate or caramel popcorn; you may already have recipes of your own to use. Popcorn Mix-ins. You can also mix popcorn with a variety of different things; just add them instead of, or with, the seasoning.
Here are some of the things you can add to the popcorn:
- Raisins
- Dried fruit pieces
- Dry roasted nuts
- Honey roasted nuts
- M&Ms (plain, peanut and almond, and others)
- Reese’s Pieces
- Hershey’s Kisses
- Rolos
- Other chocolate pieces
- Sour and sweet candies
- Mini-marshmallows
- Cereal like Fruit Loops, Cocoa Puffs or Chex
- Just use your imagination!
Popcorn Containers for Buffet
Display Yummy Popcorn Balls on A Lovely Tray. There are many ways to display and serve your different kinds of popcorn. Apothecary jars with wide openings looks great, and have a little scoop available and a small bag or bowl for the guest to use. Retro looking galvanized containers make a great way to offer the popcorn to guests also. Attractive clear bowls show off the colors and flavor, just be sure to have scoops with each container for the convenience of your guests along with something for them to scoop the popcorn into. You can offer mini popcorn balls on sticks for an interesting look and treat; you can do this with or without seasonings and mix-ins. There are available small attractive popcorn boxes you can have on the table for filling and taking home at the end of the day. Bottom line is use your imagination and theme as a guide to what you use for containers; just remember they should be easy for the guest to get the popcorn out off!
How to Setup and Display the Various Kinds of Popcorn
Now that you have all these tasty treat it is the time to plan the buffet table display to show them off to the fullest. One of the easiest things to do is the have the containers at various heights or levels. This can be done by simply using a sturdy box tipped upside down, or books stacked at different heights. Cover them in an attractive way with theme colored or white napkins. Tips to Help You
Adorable Popcorn Filled Bags for Wedding Favors. You should appoint someone prior to the wedding day to make sure that the containers remain filled, you want the table to look inviting and full the entire time. Have a bowl of hand wipes at the table as popcorn can get messy or sticky on your hands.
I cannot finish this without suggesting that if a popcorn buffet is more than you wish to do, there are other ways to have popcorn be part of your wedding party:
You can make different sizes of popcorn balls on sticks. Get an attractive container and put florist foam tightly in the bottom of it. Arrange the popcorn balls in the foam and cover the foam with interesting wrapped candies. It now becomes a really neat centerpiece and invite the guests to take from it and enjoy. Or how about making cellophane wrapped popcorn balls and tying them tightly with your theme-colored ribbon or raffia and arranging them in a big bowl as a table centerpiece. Again you invite your guest to have one as an extra treat. You may buy popcorn favor boxes or favor bags and fill each one with popcorn and have them at each place setting as a wedding favor. You might want to think of a way to personalize the box with your names and wedding date, there are a number of ways, just put on your creative hat and let the ideas flow. Well there you are and I hope that a wedding popcorn buffet is something you will like to do on your special day. I found this good video from Fine Cooking that shows you how to make caramel popcorn (of course you can add you mix-ins also). There is a neat party or reception idea at the end using origami paper so check it out — you can see the results in the video image below!