Earth Day is April 22^nd, and we at BlairCandy.com want to do our part, and help you do yours, to give a little extra TLC to Mother Earth. It is easy to make some small changes to make a big impact!

In the past, we used packing peanuts for securing our shipments. Now, we use packing material that is comprised of 60% recycled material for almost all of our shipments; gone is the styrofoam, because this new option is made from paper!  BlairCandy.com recycles cardboard, too.

What You Can Do?

Switch from styrofoam and plastic products to paper ones, such as eco-friendly hot dog boats and earth friendly French fry trays.

It sounds simple, but to quote Woodsy The Owl, “Give a hoot; don’t pollute!” Habits start young, so be sure to teach children from early on that candy and gum wrappers go in the trash basket, not on the ground.

Think about volunteering for a local “Adopt A Roadway” initiative with your family or workplace and help keep the shoulders of the roads clean and clear of debris or trash. It’s good publicity for an employer, and a great way for children and adults to get involved in the community around the home. Contact AdoptAHighway.net or your local city or town hall for information.

Use biodegradable paper bags instead of plastic ones.  One plastic bag can literally take hundreds of years to break down, and may not ever fully decompose. With an estimated 100 billion plastic bags used every year, you can imagine what kind of problem we have on our hands.

Buy in bulk – with bulk candy, of course! It saves on packing materials, and is lighter on your wallet, too, as the average cost per unit decreases when the quantity in the package increases. Also, don’t be wasteful. If you have leftover candy (think Easter, Halloween, etc.) or supplies (Little League snack stands, family picnics, etc.) that you can’t use, don’t trash them; donate to a local shelter instead. You would be surprised at how much the little things are appreciated by your fellow citizens, and by good old Mother Earth.

We had the pleasure of coming across a hop-tastic Easter candy infographic posing the question “Do We Eat Too Much Easter Candy?” Sure, many of us nosh on our fair share of scrumptious candy on Easter morning…and Easter afternoon…and Easter night, but candy is all about moderation. Like all things, enjoy candy throughout the year in normal quantities, and when it comes to candy-rich holidays, like Easter, Valentine’s Day, and Halloween, treat yourself to all the seasonal candies till your heart’s content. Life’s short, so sweeten it with candy

The candy facts we crave:

• 16 billion Jelly Beans are created just for Easter
• 90 million chocolate bunnies are produced each year for Easter
• 4 million Peeps and Chicks are produced for Easter – each day!
• Each household spends around $131 on Easter candy

Do you concur with these candylicious numbers? How much do you typically spend on Easter candy? What kind of Easter treats do you usually choose- Jelly Beans, Peeps, chocolate bunnies, Reeses Eggs, etc…

Share it with us by leaving a comment!

Easter by the Numbers

Displayed on Care2.com, created by DegreeSearch.org, and credited to Robert Banh

We’ve all heard of “The Luck of the Irish,” but as an Irish lady herself, I can tell you much of that ‘luck’ comes from hard work! In fact, an excerpt from one of my favorite Irish blessings gives a hint at how important hard work has historically been to the Irish – “May there always be work for your hands to do, May your purse always hold a coin or two, May the sun always shine on your windowpane, May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.”

I can still remember a much younger me sitting at my grandmother’s kitchen table sipping Ginger Ale and re-reading that blessing again and again. I didn’t realize at the time that work was a blessing unto itself, but I knew that I loved the little treats high honors on my report card brought! So I worked hard then, and I work hard now, and I’m lucky that my purse always holds a coin or two.

While we can’t expect young children to inherently understand the value of work, the time will come when teaching them is essential. There are countless ways to encourage your children to work hard in all they do, and just as many ways to reward them for it. This isn’t to say they deserve a prize for every dish they wash, but little presents here and there are fun for everyone. After all, you probably wouldn’t show up as often for your job were it not for the paycheck!

With St. Patrick’s Day approaching and “The Luck of the Irish” on our minds, we thought up a fun, festive way to help your kiddos cross some chores off their ‘to do’ list while earning some magical goodies!

Step One: Choose a Few Chores to Reward – The number of chores will depend on how many they have, but let’s imagine they include Dusting, Making their Bed and Vacuuming. Jot these down in a notebook, and move to Step Two!

Step Two: Get Ready to Channel Your Creative Side – The Irish Blessings we all know and love didn’t write themselves, and neither will yours! Don’t worry; this is designed to be fun. Think of the chore at hand and write a little 4-line blessing to give your child a clue at the prize. Let’s assume you will reward them with Green Apple Tootsie Frooties for dusting the living room. Your Irish Blessing might read: None of us like to live among dirt and dust, And this is what makes regular dusting such a must! But fret not for when you have finished your dusting duties, Your taste buds will be rewarded with Tootsie Frooties! OK, to be fair, it’s more of a poem than a blessing, but it’s close!

Step Three: Decide How Magical You’ll Be – Now you’ll have to decide how to gift the goodies. You can always let your child know beforehand that their chores will come backed by treats this week, sharing the Blessings with them, and handing the candy out upon completion. Or, you can make it more magical, which works especially well for younger kids, but can be fun for teens as well. For the magical angle, it will be a bit like a treasure hunt. Let’s take the chore of vacuuming as an example. You can first take the vacuum from the closet and have it ready for them to use. Then, you can place the candy prize in a bag in the spot where the vacuum lives. Once they’ve finished and are ready to tuck it back into the closet, they’ll open the door to reveal their riches! Were they left there by a little Leprechaun? That’s up to you!

Your kids can’t possibly consider work a blessing every minute of the day – no sane person can! But the truth is that it’s more than just an essential aspect of life; it’s a fulfilling one as well. And if candy can help instill that from an early age, we think that’s a pretty sweet deal.

We typically like the keep the Blair Candy blog a pretty happy place, but when browsing the web this morning we came across a spot of sad news – Nello Ferrara, the candy creator of timeless favorites Atomic Fire Balls and Lemonheads, passed away on February 3rd. The Washington Post reports that the 93 year old “died Friday at his home in the Chicago suburb of River Forest surrounded by his family.”

While the news of Ferrara’s passing is upsetting, what we learned about him in the rest of the article and several other articles was anything but! It makes us smile to know the man behind many candies we grew up on and still love today was as sweet as the sugar that is the foundation of his tasty treats. His son, Salvatore Ferrara, shared with The Washington Post that Nello was known for his daily singing, which was shared with those beyond the family when he would turn on the serenading charm at restaurants. Clearly a man who understood the beauty and importance of family, he and his wife Marilyn were married 63 years, and had “mandatory family dinners every Sunday.”

As for what they ate at those Sunday dinners? An article from the Forest Park Review quoted his granddaughter Alana as saying, “He’d be standing in front of the stove cooking for his grandchildren and kids, making spaghetti and meatballs with gravy and sausage. Because that’s what he did. He was a phenomenal cook.” As for what he sang? The article names favorites including Send in the Clowns and Wind Beneath My Wings. Alana mentions that he sang Wind Beneath My Wings to his wife, “and he meant it every single time.”

We’ll always be grateful to Nello for the delicious treats he brought to the candy dishes of our past and present, but are most moved by what a fantastic person he seemed to be. We’re sending warm wishes to his family and friends in this time of loss, and hoping the wonderful memories and strong family connection that was so important to Nello will bring them peace.

Whether you’re trying to raise money for a school team or group, want some help making a charitable contribution on behalf of your company, or need new supplies for a non-profit, a fundraiser can be key in achieving your goals. There are many types of fundraisers to consider, and many fundraising techniques that have been used successfully, but the results can be mixed at best, and several of those types and techniques require a lot of time input that you may or may not have at your disposal. Just like the money itself, time is an asset, and if your schedule is already packed with the team, group, company or non-profit that needs money in the first place, chances are good you don’t have the hours in the day to make countless phone calls or send out requests for donations. This is where a fundraiser with a tangible incentive can save you time, help achieve your donation target, and offer people something fun and flavorful for their support. That tangible incentive would, of course, be candy!

In our last blog post we talked about how Valentine’s Day can be a special holiday not only for kids and couples, but for all the people we treasure, from friends and family to co-workers and beyond. In fact, many of us may feel especially inclined to share a little sweetness with the special people in our lives who won’t be celebrating Valentine’s Day with a romantic partner; to add a smile to a day when the whole world seems to be telling them that love is in the air for everyone else!  This is what makes a Valentine’s Day fundraiser so easy and enjoyable – people will love the opportunity to gift their friends a sweet treat, and you can hit your goals more quickly in the process.

I’m stealing the idea for the Valentine’s Day Lollipop Drive from my high school, which I attended more years ago than we will openly discuss here! However, I’m sure other high schools had a similar drive, so you might remember it even if we didn’t grow up together. While this idea worked out very well for my school, helping to raise money for the football team, it can also work to raise money for almost any institution where a lot of people work or visit every day.

The price you charge for the Valentine’s lollipops, or whichever sweet you choose, should take into consideration how many you think you can sell, and how much money you hope to earn. There should be a limit, of course – most people won’t spend more than a dollar or two on a small lollipop. But let’s assume you work with 100 people and everyone interested would want to send a special Valentine to 5 friends in the building. If even half of your co-workers participated and bought a $1 lollipop for 5 friends, you can bank $250 in a day! If your lollipop of choice is our Jolly Rancher lollipops, 9 bags would equal 252 lollipops, costing you just $36.81, leaving you with over $200 to devote to your fundraising goal. Pretty sweet!

As for where to sell the lollipops? If your building has a front desk or central area that most people will pass by throughout the day, these are good locations to consider. A secretary or other employee can collect the money for the drive, and keep track of who the lollipops are from, and who they will be going to. Near the end of the day – or the next day, if you want to be sure to capture as many sales as possible – someone can act as Cupid and deliver the Valentine’s lollipops to everyone. Whether or not to make it a secret Valentine is up to the person who purchased the pop!

While Valentine’s Day is typically thought of as a romantic holiday, it can also be a time to share something special with all the people that make our lives happy and full. Don’t worry – we understand completely that this isn’t everyone you know! But in ways big and small, it is many of the people you know, from the lady who always makes your latte ‘just right’ and greets you with a smile, to the guy at work who always tries his best to fix whatever you’ve done to your computer this time, even though he might be busy. Then, of course, there are the people who yield the biggest influence – family, friends, and importantly, pets! All of these people make morning a little bit sweeter to wake up to, and all will surely appreciate a sweet something in return.

One of the best things about Valentine’s Day candy is that most of it is quite cheap. One of the other best things is that it’s delicious, but you already know that! If keeping within a budget is a concern, first consider how many people you’ll be gifting, and who among those people will get a ‘bigger’ gift. For example, if you want to get something for 20 people, spend no more than $30, and 2 of those people will get ‘bigger’ gifts, you can opt for 1 box of Necco Conversation Hearts boxes for just $15.50 (36 individual boxes inside!), and 2 boxes of Cella’s chocolate covered cherries for your bigger gifts. For the smaller gifts, you can give 18 people two individual boxes of Conversation Hearts each – for the larger gifts, you can give each of the ‘bigger’ gifts people a box packed with 12 Cella’s cherries – and you can come in under budget at just $22.50!

Conversation hearts and Cella’s chocolate covered cherries aren’t the only thing on the menu at Blair. Our Valentine’s Candy collection also includes Jolly Rancher lollipops, Valentine’s Hershey’s Kisses, Hot Cinnamon Gummy Bears, and more. And don’t forget to swing by the pet shop for a special treat for your favorite furry, feathered, or scaly sweetie!

Do you recognize that logo in the image above? You just might if you’ve been shopping with us since the beginning at BlairCandy.com! We took a little trip through the Wayback Machine at Archive.org to take a nostalgic peek at what BlairCandy.com looked like back when George W. Bush was taking his first crack at the whole President thing, Train was filling the radio airwaves with “Drops of Jupiter” and we were all getting comfortable with being among those that got the opportunity to live in a new millenium! Yes, the year was 2001, and BlairCandy.com was celebrating it’s first birthday. Needless to say, there were oh-so-stuffed goodie bags full of candy at the party!

While our brick and mortar store here in Altoona, PA has been selling sweet treats for 73 years, and certainly isn’t about to retire, our online store hasn’t quite hit its teenage years just yet. In the world of online stores, 12 is actually pretty mature, although you might not recognize that maturity if you were at the office during one of the many practical jokes we play on one another! But when the time comes to get down to business, we set the jokes aside for a bit. We’re always learning, changing and evolving to better serve you, and aren’t afraid to mix things up in the quest to create the best buying experience for our customers. That experience includes bringing you tried-and-true tasty treats at pocket-friendly prices, new products that just might become old favorites, and creating an easy-to-navigate site that lets you find what you’re looking for fast while also being easy on the eyes! We see lots of ugly sites out there, and we don’t ever want to be one of them. J

To celebrate our 12th year online, we’re having a virtual party, and you’re all invited! Keep an eye on the Blair Candy Twitter, Blair Candy Facebook and Blair Candy emails for more information on superior sales and fun contests. We may have sprouted a few more gray hairs around here since we opened our online doors in the year 2000, but we still know how to have a good time!

2011 was a banner year for all of us here at Blair Candy, and we couldn’t be more thankful for it! We appreciate all of our loyal customers and can’t wait to ring in 2012. As the champagne corks pop and the bubbles flow this New Year’s Eve, our candylicious team is excited for all the New Candy for 2012! As you’re belting out Auld Lang Syne when that glittering ball drops (or prying your eyelids open to stay awake!), come along with us as we get ready for the sweets 2012 has in store for us.

M&M’s Mint Dark Chocolate – Mint and chocolate have long been refreshing pals, and they’re coming to us as the small, round chocolate candy favorites that we know and love. Dark chocolate is also known for its health benefits, so let’s clink to health and M&M’s Mint Dark Chocolate at midnight!

3 Musketeer Coconut – I certainly want 3 Musketeer’s signature chocolate-coated nougat to be a part of my 2012, and now that they’re adding coconut flavor to that nougat? Oh, what a slice of heaven. It has 40% less fat than most candy bars, so I can still stick to those weight loss New Year’s resolutions I’ll totally not keep this year!

Jolly Rancher Crunch n Chew – Jolly Rancher has continually reinvented itself, from hard candies to gummies and lollipops. We’d love to add some jolly to our 2012, and with their hard outside and chewy inside, we’re ready to sink our teeth into 365 days of cherry, green apple, watermelon, and blue raspberry.

Pez Muppets – Did you love the Muppets movie as much as we did? We can’t get enough of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Elmo and the gang, and they’re in Pez form for 2012! Keep a pack in your pocket, and you’ll be in for a sugary delight to make your 2012 a candy-coated one.

Our New Year’s resolution this year? Simple – make it a sweet one. As Ernestine Ulmer’s delicious quote goes, “Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.” Nostalgic Candy will never be forgotten, but oh, we’re toasting to a 2012 filled with candy and chocolate fabulousness. Happy New Year!

Here at Blair Candy, we’ve already got Valentine’s Day on our minds weeks before we’ve packed up the Christmas decorations and put our presents in their proper place. Don’t get us wrong – we aren’t ‘holiday rushers’! We like to devote our personal time and energy to the current holiday season no matter what it may be, but when we’re at work we have to prepare for the next special day on the horizon. And that is precisely why we were placing orders for Necco conversation hearts and Valentine Peeps while we were still listening to Christmas music and sucking on candy canes. Yeah, we can holiday multitask with the best of ‘em!

But our multitasking abilities go beyond this talent alone. We’re also good at multitasking while working – you know, answering an email while checking out the fresh candy stock while perhaps browsing Etsy.com a bit? And that’s precisely what happened this morning. Once I caught sight of the Necco conversation hearts – bags and boxes upon bags and boxes of sweet sentiments – I quickly remembered all the fabulous accessories the countless talented artisans of Etsy have whipped these sweet wonders up into, or used as inspiration for awesomeness!

We can’t possibly feature every conversation heart creation on Etsy.com that we love – after all, this morning’s search for ‘conversation heart’ yielded 872 items! But we’ve chosen 3 favorites that we think would make a wonderful Valentine’s Day gift for the conversation heart lover in your life. Just don’t forget to include a bag of conversation hearts they can eat, too!

Conversation Hearts Soaps – With an Etsy Shop name like SoStinkingSweet, we were already in love!  That love only got stronger when we started perusing her virtual soap shelves and found not only the adorable oversized conversation heart soaps, but also “Goodie Goodie Gum Drops” soap and soap on a stick that serves as a delicious-looking double for a Neapolitan ice cream bar. Getting clean just got even sweeter!

Conversation Hearts Valentine Cards – The Etsy artist behind the craftynikki shop creates some of the coolest, cutest Valentines you’ve ever seen! But for as darling as her set of Vintage Valentines are, it’s the Glitter Candy Hearts cards that have won me over most. Each set of 6 mini cards is just $3, making these aww-dorable and affordable!

Conversation Hearts Jewelry – If you’re looking for fun Valentine’s jewelry you can wear all year round, take a peek at the micahjonesstudio Etsy shop! Crafted from sterling silver, these pieces are as fun and fresh as costume jewelry, but have an unmistakable quality and wearability that costume jewelry often doesn’t. My favorites include the “Soul Mate” ring, which would make a truly touching gift for a partner or close friend, and the blue conversation heart necklace accented with a clear, heart-shaped CZ. Though I might like the second one so much because blue conversation hearts are my absolute fave! Well…blue and white. And pink. And yellow. And really every color except orange. (Sorry, orange!)

The Christmas shelves at your local big box store may be bare, save a few broken candy canes and chipped mugs filled with cocoa packets, but we’ve still got plenty of sweetness in stock. And if you order today before midnight (EDT) you can save 10% storewide! Simply enter the code “SANTA10” at checkout and 10% will slip away into sugarplum dreams.

Judging by the number of orders we’ve had rolling in, this was definitely a year for waiting until the last minute! (Don’t worry – most of us haven’t bought our Christmas candy yet either, and we work here!) The 10% savings will apply to whatever temptations you’ll find at BlairCandy.com, but we thought we’d put together a short list of popular picks to help keep your shopping short and sweet if you’re in a time crunch. Or should we say if you’re in a Junior Mints Peppermint Crunch?! It’s a mighty tasty crunch to be in, for sure.

Candy Cane Trees – Awesome for every age! With our 10% off coupon code, these cute and clever candy cane trees come in at just over a buck apiece, making them a fabulously affordable little gift – and, they’re already decorated. (With little candies, of course!) These also make adorable little ‘favors’ – perfect for adding extra seasonal spirit to your holiday table. Simply place a mini tree at each place setting, and step back to admire the festive forest of peppermint pretties!

Old Fashioned Ribbon Candy – A Taste of Christmas Past! Is it simply not Christmas until you’ve had your first taste of spun sweetness wrapped into ribbons? I’m with ya! This very box has found itself on the coffee table for Christmas as long as I can remember, and every year the pink and red ribbons are the first to go! I think a ribbon candy monster must sneak into my house at night and eat only the pink and red before company arrives. Because I would never do such a thing, oh no!

Pez Dispensers – Many to Choose From! I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t have a soft spot for Pez and the collectibly-cool dispensers those tiny tabs of sweetness come packed in. Kids and adults alike can’t help but smile at the countless incarnations of Pez that have rolled out over the years, and Blair is excited to offer 11 different sets to choose from. Each box comes packed with 12 individually wrapped Pez dispensers with candy. Your set choices include: Disney Princess Pez, Star Wars Pez, Hello Kitty Pez, Marvel Comics Pez and many more!