Favors Sneak Peek: Fillings

(Personal pic, click to get the full effect.)
Ever wonder what 50 bags of MnMs might look like? Well, here it is. You're looking at the almost 40 pounds of Peanut MnMs that we need to fill 150 favors.

The favor fillings have been up in the air for awhile. Green Peanut MnMs were always my first choice, but up until recently, I had let them go as a viable option. Off topic, I just read on Wikipedia that green MnMs are allegedly an aphrodisiac (lol). When I first started researching them, I was only able to get them through an MnM store. Luckily, there's one in Orlando, and my favorite groomsman (my BF Brew) was willing to pick them up for me. However, they were going to cost us $11.99 a pound. I didn't know exactly how many we'd need, but I guesstimated (incorrectly) about 20 pounds. That meant, we'd have spent $240 on the candy filling alone. Talk about busting the budget! I had to come up with a new plan.

So then I toyed with filling them with caramel corn - a personal favorite. Unfortunately the PHI doesn't really do caramel corn. Then I considered jelly beans. They'd be pretty cheap, but they just weren't us. If we had to pick a candy we both love, we'd choose Peanut MnMs. Every time.

Well, the MnMs/Mars gods must have caught wind of our struggle. Why else would they, for the first time in my recollection, released bags of all green MnMs for Valentines Day and put the girl MnM on the packaging? I made it my business to ride over to Target to pick up a bag. Turns out we could fill 3 favors with one bag, so we'd need about 50 bags. Plus, since Target charged me less than $2.50 per bag, it was cheaper for us to buy lots of small bags rather than order them "wholesale" from the MnM store. After crunching my numbers, I happily went back to Target to purchase 50 bags of MnMs. Yes, I got some funny looks from people (because I pushed them around the store in a cart), but overall it was a smooth transaction.

I knew, that by purchasing them at Target, they would go on sale the day after Valentines Day. What I didn't know was if I'd be able to get 50 bags the day after Valentines Day. I had to find out. So the PHI and I loaded all 50 bags into the car, and drove over to Target...just to see. We were planning to either return the ones we bought and buy more, or try for a price adjustment. Turns out 1) Target doesnt do price adjustment, and 2) Target had 2 bags. Just two! So our gamble would not have paid off and we'd still be here brainstorming favor fillings, rather than looking at a (wonderful) huge pile of MnMs.

Take home message? Idunno what the take home is here. This is by far the craziest thing I've done for the wedding. I guess the message here is: Don't be afraid to do what you gotta do to say within your budget. For most brides, that means contracting services and negotiating prices. But, if that happens to mean wheeling a cart full of MnMs through Target, then so be it.

Just be sure to let me know so we can talk strategy before you head over there.

♥