Product Review: Make Your Own Candy Kits

As the Holidays approach are you looking for a last minute, unique gift idea for kids?  How about something to do with your child(children) over winter break?  I've got some ideas for you!

I was privileged to try and review a product from GleeGum.com.  They sent me one of their DIY Candy Kits.  I was able to choose between Chewing Gum, Chocolates of Candies.  Each kit includes natural ingredients, simple instructions, and info about the history and origins of familiar treats. 

Now anyone who knows me, assumes I would have chosen the Chocolates.  You would have been right...except this wasn't for me so I went with what the girls wanted...GUM.  No surprise since Mimi (their grandma) gives them gum every time she sees them and the are always asking for it. 

I waited for a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon to pull this out and have them help me make gum.  They were thrilled!  The kit is intended for kids 8+, but my 3 and 5 year old did just fine with it.  Of course I had to help them with it, but they didn't mind.  Our kit included information about where the chicle comes from to make the gum, how it's collected, and other basic information about the Sapodilla tree it comes from.  The kids enjoyed listening to the story of Eduardo from Guatemala who collects the sap from the trees to make the gum.  It was also interesting to introduce the girls to the concept of Fair Trade and products we can purchase that help people in other areas of the world. 

The kit comes with everything you need to make the gum.  (All I needed was a spoon, cutting board and a rolling pin). They even send you a tray to melt the chicle in because it's so sticky.  Word of warning....DON'T use your good spoons to stir this product.  I had to throw one of my spoons away because I couldn't get the chicle off it.  I might have been able to if I really tried (they suggest using melted butter) but it just wasn't worth the effort! 

Here is a picture of the girls kneading the mixture and getting the flavor into the gum.  They send you two packs of flavoring in the kit and thankfully both girl wanted a different one so they each make their own flavors of gum.  You can even experiment with it and change it to your preferences.  You can add food coloring or different powdered flavoring such as Kool-Aid or Jell-O. 

My girls loved making this.  We used a pizza cutter to cut these into thin strips and the girls wrapped their gum in aluminum foil so they could save it for later.  Most nights after dinner they choose to eat another piece of their gum instead of typical candy or dessert-type foods.

These kits are sold at gift stores nationwide and online at GleeGum.com.  There is a store locator on their website and I was happy to see there are 2 stores in our town where we could purchase some of their products (natural food stores).  However their DIY Kits are primarily sold online and were not available in our town. The kits retail online for $13.95 each and thankfully for us, you can purchase a gum refill kit $6.95.  :)  Right now Glee Gum is running a Holiday Special and you can get all 3 kits for 30% off (currently at time this post was published the holiday price is $29.30 for all 3 kits!)

We definitely enjoyed making this DIY Gum kit and my kids are still talking about it.  I'm excited to try the Gummies or Chocolates next...or maybe they'll choose gum again! 

You can also check out other Glee Gum products by heading over to their Facebook Page (Glee Gum) and on  Twitter (@gleeguy).