Dinner Party Fun for Upcoming Holidays

Now that the first few months of the year are out of the way, spring weather has begun to roll in, and Easter is just around the corner, signifying the first major holiday of the year that’s not celebrated during the winter.

With holidays come get togethers with the family, and almost every family likes to celebrate and spend time together around a dinner table eating delicious home-cooked food.

Heck, even get togethers with friends and coworkers usually end up in dinner parties, too.

As you begin to prepare for hosting such dinners, though, you’re probably thinking of ways to make it inviting, unique, and fun. Try picking up a few small boxes to create some candy boxes for your guests in their seats with their favorite treats. Here are a few ideas on getting started with the upcoming holidays and events.

Memorial Day

A lot of folks like to get together with their family and friends around this weekend in May because the weather is almost always beautiful, the Indy 500 is huge in America, and it’s one of the first weekends that most people get off work for 3 days. Barbecues are big around this time of year, and so are American flags. Decorate your candy boxes with some miniature flags and even some colorful flowers to celebrate the warm spring weather.

4th of July

Again, American flags will come to mind first here, but other cool designs like fireworks, grills, and even pool-related images would fit perfectly on your guests’ dinner boxes that you’ve worked hard to create and specialize for them.

Game parties

Many people take the opportunity afforded by time with family and friends to play board games or card games. Use the gift boxes during your dinner as a way to jumpstart the game night! You can fill each person’s box with a hand of playing cards or a group of Scrabble tiles or, if it’s a mystery party, their character for the mystery.

The whole point of these boxes is to personalize them to your guests’ interests and the theme of the evening, whether it’s seasonal, a holiday, or a special event. Have fun in what you create!

Why Packaging is Important

The way candy boxes are created today tells a lot about the product and the kinds of people that are supposed to buy them. For example, hypothetically, take a Hershey bar out of its wrapper and remove all hints of the brand and place it next to another similar chocolate bar. The average consumers would not be able to discern between the two, and when the only thing a potential buyer sees is cost, they always go for the cheaper option. Therefore, A major reason for a consumer to buy one product than another is the marketing behind the product packaging and the emotions consumers have developed with the brand. Think, why do people buy one energy drink over another? People buy products that are more expensive than others all the time even though they are, for all intensive purposes, the same thing. When the value in the consumer's mind is higher than the cost of a product in general, people buy. 

For this reason, companies are getting creative with their candy boxes because to them it is polarizing for their brands. Humans are an intrinsically visual creature with hundreds of things competing for our attention every day. Everyone is hyper-connected to each other through our cell phones and the internet which is a good thing for viral marketing. However, since we have instant access to an unlimited source of information and entertainment our attention spans for any one thing are significantly reduced. In today's world, it is getting increasingly important to stand out from the crowd and have something new to offer. When a product that is different is developed and knows the market it is catering to the demographic can not help but be drawn to it. Branding at its finest can be a window into a company's soul and their core values. Creating an emotional connection to a brand is what makes consumers buy a product rather than another. That is why with some of the designs that have interesting opening mechanics or art that speaks to the demographic naturally do better. They leave an impression that in some ways is novel but would not be forgotten. Everyone subconsciously judges what the candy must taste like just by looking at the package it comes in. That is why it is important to make it look like melt in your mouth goodness. That is not to say that the actual flavor of the candy in question doesn't matter. A company could have an outstanding package design that just blows anything else away but if the candy itself doesn't taste good people are not coming back for more. 

Lastly, the issue of sustainability for the future is becoming increasingly important for everyone around the world. Now more than ever it is important to think about how something is going to be thrown away. In my opinion, it is always nice to see a company that is conscious of our environment opting for recyclable or biodegradable packaging. Consumers are becoming more aware of this issue and it can give them that extra reason to buy. Packaging is important, it is how we pass judgment on something before we have had a chance to get our hands on it and serves as our initial impression of a company.