Last Minute Holiday Shopping

Tis the season where you start to panic! Do you have gifts for everyone on your list? Anyone you missed? Hopefully, none are naughty, and all are nice! 

Get your last-minute holiday shopping today on our new website at Illinois Nut. Do not wait any longer to send off your holiday gifts. We need those orders by the end of the day on Monday, so we can ship them out in time for Christmas.

Three Christmas Gifts

What is better than giving a last-minute chocolate combination that says Thank You in 17 different languages. Since Christmas is a time to be thankful for what you have, we could think of no better gift to give for the holidays.

Who are you thankful for in your life or in your professional career this holiday season? 

Maybe you want to give our Chocolate Christmas Tree Pretzels
to someone special. We have three different Lactose/Dairy-Free varieties: White Seeds, Red and Green Seeds, and our non- Lactose/Dairy-Free Red and Green Seeds.

Nothing better than sharing Christmas tree sweets around the Christmas tree.

Finally, send a gift basket to get everyone in an office or home something special. Something like our Corporate CEO gift basket. The gift basket comes with an assortment of salted mixed nuts, toffee almonds, bed bites, fruit and nut mix caramel balls, as well as our hand made Fantasia Confections. 

Our Fantasia confections in the Corporate CEO gift basket include chocolate pretzels, kettle popcorn, a 1 lb of English Toffee, and a 1/2 lb box of assorted miniatures topped with assorted hard candies.

Get in the holiday spirit of giving

Show those around you how sweet you can be for the holidays by raising the candy bar this holiday season.

For those looking to ship out goods, remember that your orders need to be in by the end of the day tomorrow.

If you are in the area, and can deliver your holiday goods yourself then visit our store at 3745 W Dempster in Skokie. Call us at 847-677-5777 for any questions you might have.

Finally, have a happy holiday from our family to yours!

Thanks,

David

10 Fun Ways for Your Kids to Play With Candy

As the holiday season approaches, it is always good to think about how your kids can enjoy their candy to utmost. That is why we want to discuss 10 fun ideas for kids to play their candy.

10 Fun Ways to Play with Candy 

1. Nibble at the Chicago Skyline- First, take advantage of our Chicago skyline chocolate. Have your kids ever wanted to nibble the skyline as they drink hot cocoa over the holidays? Then this could be their chance as they nibble at the city. 

2. Stack chocolate building block lollipops on top of each other- Maybe your kids are more interested in building blocks than monsters? If that is the case, then they can build whatever their mind imagines with our chocolate building block lollipops.

3. Hold a fake court session with our chocolate gavel- Maybe that want to hold court during the holidays. Let them decide on the holiday decorations or choose a dish to eat for the holidays.

They can hear arguments from the bench (the parents) and then decide upon a just food to eat or decoration to use. Finally, instead of banging the gavel, they can eat the chocolate gavel.

Win-win for everyone!

4. Try to eat Chinese food with chocolate chopsticks- Not sure about you, but some of my fondest Jewish Christmas’s revolved around eating Chinese food with my family. 

A token of that fond memory is our chocolate chopsticks. You can share this with family members who want to partake in the memory…and the chocolate.  

5. Play a trivia game. You can create a number of different question games with Mike and Ikes. Make every color a specific category of questions. Decide on a game that would be fair and enjoyable for the whole family. 

6. Guess the number of jelly beans in a jar- Sometimes the oldies are the goodies. This is a great game to play when you have a number of kids to watch for the holidays. Perhaps a sleep over or school holiday party. 

Count up the jelly beans in advance. Then allow everyone a fair chance to guess the number of jelly beans in the jar. The closest guess wins a prize (jelly beans).

7. Use for holiday decor- Use the candy to create super-sweet Christmas ornaments. Additionally, you could use the candy for other projects during the holiday season. Parenting.Com mentions how you can use candy for decorating the gingerbread house or Christmas card wrappers.

8. M&M’s war- Not to say that I never did this, except every time I ate M&M’s as a child. The idea here is simple.

Take two M&M’s. One for each hand, and then squeeze each M&M at the same time. You eat the first one to burst in your hand, and the M&M goes on to the next round.

For full instructions, check out Science 2.0

9. Sour Face Sour Bears- Find out who can make the sourest face after eating a sour bear. The candy that has given kids weird looks for years is a fun and entertaining game that is easy to learn.

Have the kids line up, and make sure you have more than one adult to be the judge. Then give each kid a handful of sour bears. They have 2 chances to win the sourest face award.

10. create a cool sundae with a mousse cup as the base- Who does not want an awesome sundae in the middle of winter.

Okay! Well, it is still a fun time for kids to play with sundaes. Like miniature snow parties inside the house with less mess.

Just take one of the Illinois Nut mousse cups and ice cream. Then fill it with all of your favorite sundae toppings. Voila!

Final Thoughts

There you have it! You now have your favorite, fun ways for kids to play with their candy. Choose the candy game you like most, and see what your kids think.

Then let us know in the comments what you think is the best candy game of the bunch.

Corporate gifting

 It might sound a bit early, but the holiday season is right around the corner. With everything from Halloween to Hanukah & Christmascoming up over the next few months, this is a banner time to express how much you appreciate your clients and vendors.

That is why I wanted to bring up a few corporate gifting ideas now to ensure you get the best return on investment possible.

5 Ideas for Corporate Gifting

1. Express gratitude- The first key to a good corporate gifting program is you need to express gratitude for the other persons help. A branded gift through Illinois Nut can be the perfect way to show this gratitude.

By doing so, you not only show gratitude, but also create an experience for the customer to remember you for future business.  

2. Give gifts people want- Do you remember when you were a kid and you got the ugly sweater from a relative? Nothing worse than giving a gift that the recipient does not like. It does more harm the good when you do not consider your recipient.

The best way to avoid this challenge is to think about what your clients want for the holidays.

For example, one of the reasons so many corporations choose our English Toffee and Clusters Gift package is because they are pure decadence. People can buy carrots any day they want. However, delicious chocolate is always remembered.

 

3. Ensure your gift is helpful to the entire office- No one likes being left out. Therefore, if you do send gifts for the holidays, make sure it is something that the entire office can enjoy. That way there is no favoritism.  

A great gift for the entire office is a corporate gift basket. Unlike other items like a tie or chocolate bar, everyone can have a little.

The executive might enjoy the tie, but a corporate basket makes you a favorite to everyone in the office.

Since business is always changing, you never know who your next client could be.  

 

4. Be ahead of the curve- While every other company is preparing to give a gift in December, you should avoid being part of the pack. Instead, give gifts when your competitors do not.

For example, Halloween is the perfect time to give a treat not a trick. What better way to tell your clients how hauntingly happy you are to work with them.

Furthermore, you might want to also consider gifts for Thanksgiving as well! Despite the popularity of Thanksgiving in the United States, very few companies send out gifts of thanks during this time of the year.

Generally they wait until the holiday season is in full swing. That is too late to stand out from the crowd. However, providing gifts on Halloween and Thanksgiving can make you unique!  

5. Be a creative procrastinator. If you are late in sending out gifts during the holidays, then consider instead sending out New Years holiday gifts instead.

That way you can help your clients ring in the new year, and you again stand out. Who else provides gifts during the New Years?

This could be your chance to blow in the New Year with our Spell It In Chocolate Happy New Years gift!

http://www.illinoisnut.com/shop/details.asp?id=1832

How can we help with your corporate gifting?

Let Illinois Nut and Candy help you with your corporate gifting this fall. Let us know how we can create a custom solution for your corporate gifting needs. Call us at 847-677-5777. Thanks!