How Sweet It Is

A celebration of any kind isn’t complete without a sweet treat. Since most kids – and many adults – have a sweet tooth, why not incorporate candies, chocolates and other sugary goodness into your bat or bar mitzvah party?

A Theme

“Everybody has their own style, so it’s probably best to find out what the child wants as a theme for their party first,” says Stephanie Soliman, owner of The Candie Cart in Yonkers (thecandiecart.com). “What’s popular now are candy buffets where youngsters pick out their favorite sweets and incorporate it with the theme of their party.”

For example, many bar and bat mitzvahs use the colors blue and white in honor of the Israeli flag. “We can dip Oreos into chocolate and put blue and white sprinkles on them,” says Soliman.

If the party has a tropical theme, think about using light and bright colored noshes, such as jelly beans, sour patch kids and macaroons. The confectionary choices and color options are endless.

“Some people want to include every candy, such as M&Ms, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Hershey kisses and sour candies,” says Soliman, who uses an actual cart to create a festive dessert area for the partygoers. “Marshmallow twists are also popular now and they can come in different colors.”

No Limit

What makes these sweet selections perfect for bat and bar mitzvah parties is that guests aren’t limited to one sweet. Instead, you can let guests choose what kind of cake, candies or cookies they want to enjoy from a dessert bar. In Dobbs Ferry, The iPic movie theatre (ipictheaters.com) offers guests a selection of Bespoke Candy bars, and guests can fill their goody bags with their favorite flavors. They also offer a wide selection of other sweets, including cakes, such as chocolate s’mores or a housemade cookies bar such as warm toffee choco chip, gingerbread, double chocolate and oatmeal raisin.

“Keep in mind if you plan to have a warm weather outdoor event be cautious when selecting chocolate items as they are prone to melting,” says Alex Velez, iPic Entertainment’s event sales manager. “You also want to ensure that there are no guests with any allergies to nuts, if you want to offer candies that have nuts added.”

“In the fall you can use chocolate covered apples wrapped in a bag as a favor,” says Soliman.“You can also give out personalized mugs with hot chocolate inside as favors, with chocolate sticks, peppermint shavings, marshmallows and hot chocolate.”

Chocolate fountains are also a popular option. Guests can be provided with a variety of sweets to dip – fruit, pretzels, caramels and more. Soliman also encourages parents to choose sweets that were popular from the year that the child was born.

Do It Yourself

If you need more ideas or want to create a do-it-yourself dessert or sweets bar, consider scanning Pinterest and searching with the keywords “bat mitzvah” and “bar mitzvah” for a host of ideas. There are websites, such as candywarehouse.com, orientaltrading.com and candycrate.com, that can ship candy to you – even in a specific color – that you can use to fill bags or mugs.

Willy Wonka, the fictional candy maker once said, “We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams,” so when you’re putting together a menu of sweets for your son or daughter’s momentus celebration, think as big and out-of-the-box as you can.

Lisa Iannucci is Westchster-based freelance writer who admits to having a sweet tooth.