Sweet Things Are Made Of These – CandyTopia Pop-Up

“Sweet things are made of these, who am I to disagree?  I travel the world and the seven seas, everybody’s looking for something.”  (Eurythmics Sweet Dreams lyrics)  Anyone else here an 80s fan? Anyone else here a sweets fan?  We are!  So when we traveled to California this past Spring, we made sure to stop by Santa Monica’s CandyTopia pop-up ‘cuz hey, who can resist the lure of candy? And if you’ve been following us on Instagram or this blog, you know we love a pop-up!

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Similar to the Museum of Ice Cream, Candytopia takes people’s passion for a sweet treat and explodes it into a Willy Wonka style, wonderland filled with fun and discovery in every room. In other words, expect a lot of Instagram-able immersive experiences!

Get those cameras ready!

The first room, which looked like an old boy’s club library, is where you’ll meet your host, a lady who entertainingly describes the rules of this candyland.  It is here where you’ll get your first glimpses of candy artwork, which really is pretty amazing if you look closely to admire.  You’ll also get to sign their ginormous guestbook and sample a Lindt chocolate.  The next room, was light, bright and reminiscent of the Disney Movie’s Frozen scene.  Ice crystals hung above, a mirrored ice throne awaited and jellybeans disguised as famous works of art decorated this palace.

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You can imagine my Frozen fan’s delight when she saw that she could play pretend in this glorious castle!  Here we are sharing the throne, with her appropriately dressed in Elsa’s costume.

Each room had its own look and feel, sometimes transporting you to magical places, sometimes underwater, 

It’s a wild and wacky world where candy eating is encouraged.  Tasty samplings included candy bracelets, lollipops, and swizzle sticks.  You’re sure to be on a sugar high!

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Psychedelic spaces and ball pits are two of the common themes that run through most pop-ups (as presented in one of my past posts) and this one did not disappoint!candytopia, candy museum, candy popup, nyc popup, la popup, candytopia Strangely enough, in LA, this pop-up had so few people running through it, we felt like we had the place to ourselves!    That right there, may have been the real treat.  Because as NY-ers, we are accustomed to waiting in lines for that Instagram-able shot.  Here, we jumped in and found ourselves in an enormous pool of marshmallows all by ourselves!  It was incredible!

This immersive Instagram heaven had colorful moments at every turn. But one of our favorites was the room with unicorns and flying, farting pigs. Yes, you heard me right..but no worries, these silly pigs blow confetti at you and poop our chocolate bars ha!

candy popup, unicorn, rainbow Jackie Sorkin, candy stylist, star of TLC’s Candy Queen and celebrity event planner describes Candytopia as a place where “an eccentric chocolatier and a daredevil pop star had a whirlwind romance, got married while skydiving, and had a glamorous, glittering love child who grew up to rule a small nation.”

Sound good?  It was deliciously fun!  And we are so thrilled to share the exciting news that Candytopia is traveling to our hometown, New York City August 15th at Penn Plaza!  Tickets go on sale July 19th!  Sign up here to get your personal alert to buy tickets!  You heard it here first!

You won’t want to miss out on these “colossal candyfloss constructions!”

 

 

How to host an ice cream social that will have them screaming for joy here.

For ideas on how to host a sprinkle themed party or play date, click here!

My recommendations for the top 5 trendy NYC ice cream spots are here.

 

What if an eccentric chocolatier and a daredevil pop star had a whirlwind romance, got married while skydiving, and had a glamorous, glittering love child who grew up to rule a small nation?  Welcome to Candytopia, where colossal candyfloss constructions meld with a tantalizing taffy twistedness!

Explore our sprawling sanctuary of confectionary bliss, tastefully curated by Hollywood Candy Queen Jackie Sorkin, realized by master fabricator Zac Hartog, and brought to life by life-long retailer, John Goodman. This four-month interactive art installation celebrates the vibrant colors and flavors of our favorite sugary delights across over a dozen environments, from flying unicorn pigs to a marshmallow tsunami. Bring your family, your friends, and your sweet tooth for an experience like none other!

If you ever dreamed of nibbling your way through Candyland or scoring a Golden Ticket, you’ve come to the right place. Treat yourself to Candytopia, and let your tastebuds and your imagination soar!

15 Fantastic Frozen Party Ideas

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Is your child a Frozen fanatic?  After all these years, I thought my soon-to-be 5 year old would have “let it go.” But alas, Frozen fever is still hot in our household!  We’ve collected countless Elsa, Anna, and Olaf toys not to mention the costumes, castles, and games.  And with our snowflake decals still up from Christmas, we decided to put them all to good use by hosting a fantastic Frozen play date.  We were in the peak of winter freezing our you know whats off so a Frozen posh play date did seem quite timely.  As with all my posh play dates, I did some asking around and got some fabulous small businesses to collaborate in the production.  Amanda’s Parties To Go for instance, supplied us with all the decorative printables.  She had gorgeous items ranging from cupcake toppers, banners, thank you cards, tent cards, to centerpieces and food flags.  And the designs perfectly mixed my love of modern graphics with a clean, blue and white palette.  frozen party, frozen party ideas, kids party ideas, frozen decorations, frozen party decor As a bonus, she also jam-packed her printables with amazing menu ideas with her pre-printed tent cards!  Using some of her suggested ideas, and some of my own entertainment ideas, I’ve collected 15 fantastic fun-filled ideas for your very own fab Frozen event!

  1.  Host a screening or simply have the beloved movie playing in the background turning the TV into themed decor.  What’s a Frozen party without Frozen, the movie after all?
  2. Dress-up! We encouraged our little guests to come dressed in their favorite Frozen gear and also shared our Frozen wardrobe with them so that they could play dress-up and accessorize upon arriving.  The costumes become part of the decor in doing so!frozen party, frozen themed party, frozen party ideas, how to plan a frozen party
  3. Create a crafting corner encouraging kids to make a snowflake, wand, or crown.  Angela’s Party printables included signs for all of the above activities!  We made our first-ever snowflakes together by cutting out white (and also perfectly coordinated blue and white patterned) papers.  The kids were so excited to unfold the snowflake and see their creations come to life! frozen party activity, frozen party ideas, frozen themed party
  4. “Wanna build a snowman??frozen party ideas, frozen party, frozen party entertainment, frozen party crafts Build a real one outside while wearing tiaras if it happens to be a snowy day.  Or do what we did, build a snowman out of marshmallows, chocolate chips, pretzel sticks and candy corn!  The printable set has the perfect sign for this activity.  And I found Ziploc bags with Frozen characters printed on them to send them home with Olaf!
  5. Kiddie Kareoke   Will your child not stop singing, Let It Go?  How did I know… Use their love of singing as entertainment for everyone and host a kiddie kareoke!  frozen games, frozen themed party, how to plan a frozen partyWe had an Elsa blue microphone, so it seemed natural to have a Frozen Kareoke moment but your singalong could simply be belting out tunes along with the Frozen soundtrack  and any old microphone (or wand turned into microphone).
  6. Play Frozen games. We had a matching game, an I Spy game and a Frozen book with character pieces displayed for the kids to pull out and play with to their heart’s content.  If you don’t have any of these, don’t fret!  Simply play a game of freeze tag or play music and have them dance until you make it stop and say, “FREEZE!”frozen party, frozen themed party, frozen party ideas, how to plan a frozen party
  7. Paint your nails Elsa and Anna colors!frozen party, frozen themed party, frozen party ideas, how to plan a frozen party, frozen manicureThink, Elsa, blue, white, glitter, and Anna pink!  The almost-5 – year old kids painted their own nails and I was truly impressed at their level of concentration and skill!  Juliet here creatively decided to paint each nail on her hand a different Frozen-themed color and it turned out great!!
  8. Make snow cakes frozen desserts, frozen themed desserts, frozen themed foods, frozen party ideas, frozen kids party, frozen party ideasWith the printable tent card as our inspiration, we created rice krispy treats.  You could create these with white snowflake sprinkles or white and blue M&Ms for an extra sweet Frozen surprise.
  9. Color Anna, Elsa or the entire cast!  I don’t know any child that doesn’t enjoy coloring so we made sure to include a coloring station at our play date.  Kids got to choose from several character coloring sheets already included in Angela’s printables set and had fun coloring to the soundtrack of Frozen playing in the background. frozen coloring sheet, frozen party ideas, frozen party, frozen party theme
  10. Play catch with a snowball!  ffrozen party, frozen themed party, frozen party ideas, how to plan a frozen party We played catch with my furry, white Christmas ornaments but you can use any white ball or heck a real snowball or a stuffed Frozen character!
  11. Add some Frozen flair!  Whether this means decorating your child’s room, her car/bike/scooter or clubhouse like we did, the kids will have fun using the printables to stick on their favorite characters and sayings.  Juliet helped me pre-party to decorate her clubhouse as well as add signs all around the house for me. frozen party, frozen themed party, frozen party ideas, how to plan a frozen party
  12. Set up a Dessert and Snack station.  Olaf Arms (mini candy sticks or pretzel sticks), Elsa’s ice crystals (blue rock candy), Olaf’s cookies (snowflake cookies), Frozen’s favorite fruit (mixed fruit), snow pudding (blue jello), Anna’s Apples, and Kristoff’s candies are what we featured.  frozen party desserts, frozen party ideas, frozen kids party theme, how to throw a frozen partyAnd it was easy, given Angela’s Parties To Go already labeled and included printables for all these items.frozen themed party menu, frozen themed desserts, frozen party ideas
  13. Food and beverage To warm us up on this very Frozen Friday, I made some chili and garlic bread and offered melted snow (water bottles and seltzer waters covered in the party labels), along with a hot cocoa bar.frozen party ideas, frozen party food, frozen party menu, frozen kids party frozen party decor, frozen party printables, frozen party theme SP Sweet Creations sent us the tableware (see the paper plates, straws, and paper cups)  It was the perfect addition to this pastel party!frozen party ideas, frozen party theme, how to throw a frozen kids party, frozen dinnerware, frozen tableware
  14. Toys galore! girls party themes, frozen party ideas, frozen party food, frozen party menu, frozen kids partyIt’s all about the toys at this age.  Pulling out toys for the kids under one theme, helps everyone to focus and helps us mommies to keep some semblance of order around the house.  I don’t know about you but I manage the overflowing toys and prevent boredom by rotating (i.e. hiding and pulling out) toys.  One day we’ll have a Play-doh play date, another day it might be a Barbie play date, or yet another it might be a Shopkins party. Yes, I’ve planned and hosted playdates with all those themes…check out the links!  This way, all the toys don’t get mixed, scattered and lost.  The kids can focus and get excited for the toy theme of the day.
  15. Snow bubble and Elsa Soap favors  Custom-made, Frozen-themed bubbles courtesy of SP Sweet Creations were a big hit amongst these little ones. https://www.etsy.com/listing/533932537/frozen-party-frozen-birthday-frozen They had fun trying to make the biggest bubbles possible and chased each other around with the bubble wands.  We gave one away to each playmate along with stickers, snowflake hair elastics and adorable glitter soaps in Elsa colors made by TLC for U.frozen favor ideas, https://www.etsy.com/listing/585782977/frozen-soapfrozen-party-favorice?ref=shop_home_active_9  These customized soaps can come with glitter and the Elsa character or with any small toy hidden inside!  The kids had a laugh attack playing with the soap in the shower…while still in their Elsa dresses!! https://www.etsy.com/listing/585782977/frozen-soapfrozen-party-favorice?ref=shop_home_active_9SO much Frozen fun!  What is your favorite idea?  And do you know any Frozen fans that would like this? Make sure to share the post and give it some love with a comment below!
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